Something Evil

There's a few touches that make you think "yeah, maybe I can tell Spielberg was behind this", but I don't think you'd ever guess he was involved if you didn't already know.

An insubstantial bit of TV-movie-of-the-week cheese, delivering the closest you were going to see to one of the then-hot demonic possession movies on CBS on a Friday evening. But it's still Spielberg, so if you like interesting shot setups it's constantly delivering on that front, and Sandy Dennis is a far better actress than something like this particularly needs to work, so it comes together well enough. The Santa Clarita Valley, however, does not do a very convincing job being Bucks County.

This has a very made for TV vibe to it and it drags a bit during the middle portion but the acting is pretty good and the effects although limited are put to good use.

A couple creepy bits and it's a nice little time-waster. Gets a little too silly in the end.

Quite a spooky effort, and Dennis gives a bravura performance. Unfortunately though it goes a bit through the roof at the end, with Whitaker doing his (unexplained) Damien bit. An interesting idea to not tie the weird doings to any specific past tragedy, but ultimately the terror comes off a bit unfocused. And SS still has a few too many tricks from the 60s up his sleeve. But great montage-like footage of Dennis chasing Whitaker through the trees...you don't see stuff like that in too many TVMs!