Evilspeak (1981) review (SPOILERS)
Evilspeak was video cassette #17 on the infamous "video nasties" list of VHS rentals banned in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. What is the "video nasties" list? Well in the earlier 1980's, right as video rentals started becoming popular, some uptight British mothers, led by Mary Whitehouse, forced local British cities to prosecute certain video releases for obscenity. To assist the local authorities in identifying obscene films, the Director of Public Prosecutions released a list of 72 films the office believed to violate the Obscene Publications Act of 1959. Evilspeak remained banned for a number of years as part of the Video Recordings Act of 1984, thanks to its gory climax and themes of Satanism. In fact, back in the United States, Warner Brothers, insisted that some of the most graphic bits of violence be cut out in order to avoid an X rating.
The overt Satanist themes really smack you across the face with this movie. Anton LaVey, the satanic boogeyman of the early 1980s, really loved Evilspeak and told people that this film did a great job of explaining the Satanic faith, LeVey and fellow Satanist, Magus Peter Gilmore promote this film as an accurate depiction of Satanism "a fellow who is treated unjustly and then gets revenge on his cruel tormentors".
The other prevalent theme in this movie is the awesome and mysterious power of the then new technologicaly wondrous home computer. The lead character, Stanley Coopersmith (aka "Cooperdick"), uses his computer skills to translate the book from Latin into English. The translation describes Estaban as a Satanist and the book contains rituals for performing the Black Mass along with a promise by Estaban citing "I Will Return". Today this anachronistic portrayal of the power of an Apple IIe is laughable. Viewers in 2018 know that is not how computers worked in the early 1980s. The depiction of computers is hilariously outdated. Now that we know what they are - and, more importantly, are not - capable of, it's somewhat funny to see the paranoid way Evilspeak views computers. Stanley Coopersmith's trusty Apple IIe even answers questions. 'What are the keys to the kingdom of Satan's majesty?' Stanley types, and this possessed Apple comes back with the precise ingredients and rituals. No, there's no internet and no Google, because this is 1981. It just knows... Additionally Coopersmith appears to be taking a Latin class. He must have a Latin-English dictionary, so why would Coopersmith waste the time programming a computer to translate the Latin text? The way computers are portrayed as powerfully evil in this movie reminds me of the same paranoid way Hollywood and T.V. movies portrayed Dungeons and Dragons in the early 1980s.
I could write a book about the minor character, Kowalski, played by young black actor, Haywood Nelson (Dwayne in the TV show "What's Happening"). How did he get a Polish last name? Why isn't Kowalski playing soccer with the rest of his class? In the soccer scen, Kowalski is dressed in jeans so he is obviously not playing. Yet, the coach explains in the very next scene that everyone plays sports and that colonel requires that everybody plays two out of four quarters, but apparently not Kowalski. Better yet, why is Kowalski in the locker room after the game and why he is he showering after not having played? The movie sort of sets up Kowalski and the friendly but monstrously large cook (Luca "sleeps with the fishs" Brasi) as good guys who will possibly save Stanley Coopersmith from his Satanic fate. Well, they fail.
For the most part, the script and the plot are fair, but there is one unforgivable oversight. The Reverend Jameson is established as an expert on the Military Academy's chapel because he made a study of it and started to do a little reading. The Reverend tells the rich mom of Bubba Caldwell, while she is touring the campus, that the founder of the chapel's order was a certain Father Estaban and that the land that the school sits on was given to Estaban's order of monks when they fled the Inquisition. Reverend Jameson, with a straight face, further explains that rumor has it that before he was executed, Estaban vowed to return and extract his revenge...the signal would manifest itself on these very grounds. The rich mom of Bubba simply replies "hmm how interesting". BUT WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN? WHAT SIGNAL? WHAT SIGNAL WAS MANIFESTING ITSELF ON THESE VERY GROUNDS AND WHEN DID THAT START HAPPENING? This bit of dialogue makes no sense to the viewer and should make no sense to Bubba's rich mom.
Rather than go with trendy synth pop, composer Roger Kellaway, who had been Oscar nominated four years earlier for "A Star is Born", put together a choral soundtrack with dabs of electronica. The soundtrack works real well in this film and helps to set the right tone making scenes that would normally seen absurd have a scary feel to them.
Night Court fans are sure to recognize Richard Mull ("Bull, the bailiff") as playing Father Estaban. But unless you are eagle eyed, you probably did not notice that Richard Mull's co-star in this film, Don Stark (Bubba "the puppy killer" Caldwell) also was an occasional actor on Night Court.
Other notable parts of the movie: *Great naked lady in a shower scene -killed by demonic hogs
*I believe the first use of the pulling a guys beating heart out of his chest scene - earlier use than in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
* Why does a Military Academy High School have a Bikini contest to crown Miss Heavy Artillery?
Evilspeak was video cassette #17 on the infamous "video nasties" list of VHS rentals banned in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. What is the "video nasties" list? Well in the earlier 1980's, right as video rentals started becoming popular, some uptight British mothers, led by Mary Whitehouse, forced local British cities to prosecute certain video releases for obscenity. To assist the local authorities in identifying obscene films, the Director of Public Prosecutions released a list of 72 films the office believed to violate the Obscene Publications Act of 1959. Evilspeak remained banned for a number of years as part of the Video Recordings Act of 1984, thanks to its gory climax and themes of Satanism. In fact, back in the United States, Warner Brothers, insisted that some of the most graphic bits of violence be cut out in order to avoid an X rating.
The overt Satanist themes really smack you across the face with this movie. Anton LaVey, the satanic boogeyman of the early 1980s, really loved Evilspeak and told people that this film did a great job of explaining the Satanic faith, LeVey and fellow Satanist, Magus Peter Gilmore promote this film as an accurate depiction of Satanism "a fellow who is treated unjustly and then gets revenge on his cruel tormentors".
The other prevalent theme in this movie is the awesome and mysterious power of the then new technologicaly wondrous home computer. The lead character, Stanley Coopersmith (aka "Cooperdick"), uses his computer skills to translate the book from Latin into English. The translation describes Estaban as a Satanist and the book contains rituals for performing the Black Mass along with a promise by Estaban citing "I Will Return". Today this anachronistic portrayal of the power of an Apple IIe is laughable. Viewers in 2018 know that is not how computers worked in the early 1980s. The depiction of computers is hilariously outdated. Now that we know what they are - and, more importantly, are not - capable of, it's somewhat funny to see the paranoid way Evilspeak views computers. Stanley Coopersmith's trusty Apple IIe even answers questions. 'What are the keys to the kingdom of Satan's majesty?' Stanley types, and this possessed Apple comes back with the precise ingredients and rituals. No, there's no internet and no Google, because this is 1981. It just knows... Additionally Coopersmith appears to be taking a Latin class. He must have a Latin-English dictionary, so why would Coopersmith waste the time programming a computer to translate the Latin text? The way computers are portrayed as powerfully evil in this movie reminds me of the same paranoid way Hollywood and T.V. movies portrayed Dungeons and Dragons in the early 1980s.
I could write a book about the minor character, Kowalski, played by young black actor, Haywood Nelson (Dwayne in the TV show "What's Happening"). How did he get a Polish last name? Why isn't Kowalski playing soccer with the rest of his class? In the soccer scen, Kowalski is dressed in jeans so he is obviously not playing. Yet, the coach explains in the very next scene that everyone plays sports and that colonel requires that everybody plays two out of four quarters, but apparently not Kowalski. Better yet, why is Kowalski in the locker room after the game and why he is he showering after not having played? The movie sort of sets up Kowalski and the friendly but monstrously large cook (Luca "sleeps with the fishs" Brasi) as good guys who will possibly save Stanley Coopersmith from his Satanic fate. Well, they fail.
For the most part, the script and the plot are fair, but there is one unforgivable oversight. The Reverend Jameson is established as an expert on the Military Academy's chapel because he made a study of it and started to do a little reading. The Reverend tells the rich mom of Bubba Caldwell, while she is touring the campus, that the founder of the chapel's order was a certain Father Estaban and that the land that the school sits on was given to Estaban's order of monks when they fled the Inquisition. Reverend Jameson, with a straight face, further explains that rumor has it that before he was executed, Estaban vowed to return and extract his revenge...the signal would manifest itself on these very grounds. The rich mom of Bubba simply replies "hmm how interesting". BUT WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN? WHAT SIGNAL? WHAT SIGNAL WAS MANIFESTING ITSELF ON THESE VERY GROUNDS AND WHEN DID THAT START HAPPENING? This bit of dialogue makes no sense to the viewer and should make no sense to Bubba's rich mom.
Rather than go with trendy synth pop, composer Roger Kellaway, who had been Oscar nominated four years earlier for "A Star is Born", put together a choral soundtrack with dabs of electronica. The soundtrack works real well in this film and helps to set the right tone making scenes that would normally seen absurd have a scary feel to them.
Night Court fans are sure to recognize Richard Mull ("Bull, the bailiff") as playing Father Estaban. But unless you are eagle eyed, you probably did not notice that Richard Mull's co-star in this film, Don Stark (Bubba "the puppy killer" Caldwell) also was an occasional actor on Night Court.
Other notable parts of the movie: *Great naked lady in a shower scene -killed by demonic hogs
*I believe the first use of the pulling a guys beating heart out of his chest scene - earlier use than in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
* Why does a Military Academy High School have a Bikini contest to crown Miss Heavy Artillery?