Fear No Evil is a 1981 American horror film directed by Frank LaLoggia (Lady in White) and starring Stefan Arngrim, Elizabeth Hoffman and Kathleen Rowe McAllen. In the US, it was released by Avco Embassy.
Plot teaser:
Andrew Williams is a shy, awkward high school student with a straight ‘A’ average and a horrifying secret: He was born the Antichrist, the profane incarnation of Lucifer himself. While senior year can be Hell for some teenagers, Andrew unleashes the real thing bringing demonic carnage and the horrors of Satan to gym class and beyond. Now that the legions of the undead have risen, some very unexpected archangels are gathered and on the eve of the Second Coming the final horrific battle for the unholy soul of mankind is about to begin…
Fear No Evil was 26 year-old writer/director/co-producer/composer LaLoggia’s debut, and had a budget of $840,000. The films origin came about when producer Charles M. LaLoggia discovered the filming location of the Boldt Castle in Alexandria Bay, New York. LaLoggia thought it was an ideal place to set a horror film and approached his cousin director Frank LaLoggia to write a film around the location.
The film features a punk rock/new wave soundtrack with songs by Patti Smith, The Rezillos, Talking Heads, Ramones, Boomtown Rats, The B-52’s, Richard Hell and Sex Pistols.
Avco Embassy Pictures apparently picked up the film for release solely based on the fact that zombies were featured.
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Reviews:
“Overall, the film is a little too uneven to really recommend, but it has a few sequences which genuinely work up some grotesque dread, and even more that are memorably crazy if not entirely successful. Like its central antagonist, it can be hard to tell what it’s really trying to do, and even when it seems to know it’s not always great at pulling it off. But its still pretty interesting to watch something this weird develop, even if you can’t quite figure out what its going for. The mystery of whether or not LaLoggia is a director worth serious study remains unsolved, but I’d say this movie is a net gain for the world.” We are Cursed to Live in Interesting Times
“For all its impressive goals, the movie does seem amateurish in spots near the end, despite a game cast and some inventive staging. The climax seems hokey. The son of the Devil looks too glam rock to be truly scary—but who said the Dark Prince ever had any fashion sense? At least Satan once again gets it on with some babes, or at least his spawn does. It’s a strange mix of styles, culled from Italian horror and Hammer productions with a uniquely American twist. You have to give them points for going for broke with an unconventional twist on a tale that was also taken on—with a much bigger budget—by the Omen series.” DVD Verdict
“Fear No Evil is the rare 80s horror movie that actually has a story. In fact, it has so much story that I found myself scratching my head at many points and yawning at others. I hate to say this is a bad thing — based on the number of mindless horror movies I’ve seen — but the pacing is so weak, by the time the zombies showed up I almost didn’t care. I say “almost” because the last 15-20 minutes is just great, it just seems like it takes forever to get there.” Exploitation Retrospect
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