976-EVIL (1989)

I was really looking forward to this one! I've been renting cheesy 80s movies on iTunes lately and thought, "Hey, why not try this one." Looked kinda cool, but it was really dumb. The idea is good, but the execution wasn't.So why does the Fright Night kid get turned into the monster? Why not the motorcycle guy? They both called the same number.I watched this movie less than a week ago but I can barely remember what I was going to write about it. There was too much build up and little delivery, that was one thing. I'm not sure if I can't stand the Fright Night kid or if I'm okay with him. He smiles in every scene, it's pretty annoying. Same thing in Fright Night too, just smilin' away, havin fun. He turns into a monster in Fright Night too, which I just now remembered.Anyway, bottom line - dumb movie, I would say only aficionados of 80s garbage would want to spend time on this one. I would NOT say it's so bad it's good, I would just say it's bad.Peace!

It is no masterpiece, but it has it's qualities. A little unevenly paced perhaps, but all in all a pretty decent watch. It has a scene with a line that is really cool.. that was memorable. Not that I'll spoil what it is, tho.What I really like about it, and generally like about older horror movies, well, at least from the 80's and 90's, is that todays horror movies are most often about some crazy dude torturing and killing, or ghosts, zombies or vampires, but back in the day, they were about stranger, more absurd things. Like monsters, or entities. Also, I like how some of them really takes off, as in get real crazy. They didn't always have the biggest budget, but they did what they could, with what they had. Yes, it's often campy, but I find it entertaining as hell.The fact that 976-EVIL is directed by Robert Englund (the original Freddy Krueger) makes it kind of worth watching all on it's own. (That's why I watched it)

I watched this movie after years of really wanting to. Funny that I watch it now in an age where a number such as this is pretty outdated. I also am surprised to see that Robert Englund directed this one and I think he did okay as most of the problems I found with the film came more from the story and from the editing. The imagery is great and it has some okay acting as it is not stiff, the end has the killer getting a bit too cute with the one liners actually reminding one a bit of Freddy Krueger's lines in the Elm Street horror films.The story has a strange phone number that seems to predict things a bit too well being used by a dude named Spike; however, Spike soon stops using the number after nearly being killed by a runaway car. His cousin, though, finds the number and listens to it and heeds it and is soon transformed into a supernatural killer with the power to take revenge on all those that wronged him.The story is a bit rushed, we are introduced to Spike who finds the number and then quickly uses it. He has a girlfriend who seems integral to the plot, then cast away suddenly. There is a guy who is sort of a reporter that seems to be important, but at the same time he doesn't. A teacher who seems inconsequential becomes a main character at the end. Editing that made me wonder what was going on at times. Spike, who seems to be the main character, disappears just as his cousin begins his killing spree and does not reappear till the final showdown. Still, loved the imagery especially at the end as Hoax (the cousin) has some interesting powers. Hoax is played by Stephen Geoffreys, best known as Evil from Fright Night. He is pretty much the same character, just a bigger nerd this time around.The film had some good moments and I liked it somewhat. Just needed work (a running theme in most horrors). They needed to either establish that teacher and reporter more or simply do not have them at all. They could have had Spike try to dig for further evidence or something. The ending though has some nice kills and effects, but it also has some pretty bad one liners. It is as if they were trying to make Hoax sound like Freddy Krueger at the end with the puns and such. I am glad I finally saw this one though, because now I can watch 976-EVIL II as I have that one in a collection of DVDs. I caught this one on Encore.

This odd, incoherent, cheesy and ridicule late-80's horror feature represents the directorial debut of Robert 'Freddy Krueger' Englund. And let's be honest, if it wouldn't be for his name on the credits, the film would have been righteously forgotten a long time ago already. "976-Evil" has an absurdly implausible plot and it takes far too long before the (tepid) gore & action kicks in. During the first hour of the film only really weird things – that largely remain unexplained - are going on, like a totally random biblical omen that exists of a shower of fish-rain. Yes, dead fish falling down the sky like normal rain! I'm not quite sure about the significance, but presumably it's God's sign to warn the lead characters that they will soon face an unholy type of evil. With reason, because rebellious teenager Spike and his nerdy cousin Hoax frequently call the titular phone number to get their daily "horrorscope". But the toll-free number is possessed with diabolical forces and turns its customers into homicidal monsters. Spike is strong enough to resist, but the miserable Hoax is an easy victim and he soon begins to mutate. He doesn't mind, though, because now he can finally fight back against his domineering mother, the school bullies and all the girls that rejected and laughed at him. You guessed it, "976-Evil" is just another lowbrow horror version of "Revenge of the Nerds" and the only good thing about it is the choice to cast Stephen Geoffreys. He's ideal to play a character that is simultaneously pathetic and creepy. In the second half of the film, there's a bit of gore and witty one-liners, but it's too late to improve the overall quality. The plot is unimaginably incoherent. Cousin Spike suddenly disappears at one point but randomly appears again for the finale, the amateur-reporter out of the blue hooks up with the school's headmistress and Robert Picardo's potentially terrifying character is never properly introduced. From time to time, you get the impression that Englund is a gifted director but on other occasions you damn him and his film to hell for being just another disappointing and time-wasting 80's turd.