Evil Eye is a 2020 American horror A superstitious mother is convinced that her daughter’s new boyfriend is the reincarnation of a man who tried to kill her thirty years ago.
Directed by Elan Dassani and Rajeev Dassani from a screenplay written by Madhuri Shekar, the Amazon Studios-Blumhouse Productions movie stars Sarita Choudhury, Sunita Mani, Bernard White and Omar Maskati.
Evil Eye is part of ‘Welcome to the Blumhouse’, a series of four films that are available to watch on Amazon Prime. The others are: Black Box | The Lie | Nocturne
Plot:
From her home in Delhi, India, proud parent Usha Khatri (Sarita Choudhury) is overjoyed when her daughter Pallavi (Sunita Mani) calls from New Orleans with news that she has met someone special. However, Usha’s happiness turns to fear when she notices strange similarities between Pallavi’s wealthy boyfriend Sandeep (Omar Maskati) and a frightening figure from her own past.
Although her suspicions are dismissed by friends and family, the more Usha learns about this new man in her daughter’s life, the more certain she becomes that an evil force from thirty years earlier has returned with a vengeance. When Pallavi announces her engagement to Sandeep, Usha is forced to confront a terrifying question: How do you protect the ones you love when the thing you fear most won’t stay dead?
Reviews:
“It tells us that horoscopes, amulets, and poppycock can be relied upon even when they instill irrational beliefs that alienate a child, frighten a spouse, and compel someone to define her life around a past trauma. Hanging its hat on that insulting idea cheapens everything positive Evil Eye previously seemed to say about tolerance, trust, and emotional stability. What a “woof” of a way for a film to flame out.” Culture Crypt
“In lack of thrills and chills, Evil Eye can still serve as a cautionary tale about karma. The most basic idea at work is how actions have consequences, no matter how well-intentioned. Though Evil Eye doesn’t dish out any gore or scare scenes, there’s an ominous feeling throughout the film that something isn’t quite right in this world.” Cultured Vultures
” …Sandeep is bad news. But the way Evil Eye gets around to revealing this is so lazy and uninspired that it borders on comical. Evil Eye deserves acknowledgement for taking a supernatural approach that involves cultures beyond Western trappings (there are countless horror movies that use American-centric Catholicism as their guide, for instance), but that’s about the only positive thing I can say here.” /Film
“Usha’s actions, and by extension, the plot’s, are powered purely by emotion, leaving behind craters in place of logic. When the other characters are skeptical of her woman-on-the-verge deductions, you’re inclined to agree with them. The film’s final 20-minute stretch is riveting, if only it wasn’t preceded by much hand-wringing, phone calls that recycle the same arguments over and over, and a harebrained twist.” Film Companion
“For most of Evil Eye, you will be left wondering about what is real and what might be imagined. We keep seeing flashbacks and it’s difficult to be sure how much past experiences influence the current situations. I enjoyed the fact that this story unfolds slowly and enables us [the audience] to go through the journey of discovery. Something we do with the daughter (Sunita Mani), which means we’re in her shoes for most of this movie.” Heaven of Horror
“As for thrills, Evil Eye is fairly light on any, though there was one moment involving the purposeful reveal of a pair of earrings and the direct fallout after that gave me chills. It’s the one moment in the film that feels like it sprang from something more sinister and supernatural and I wish there were more of them. Ultimately, this plays like a family drama with traces of the mystical intertwined which feels like a missed opportunity.” The MN Movie Man
Release:
Part of the ‘Welcome to the Blumhouse’ season of movies, Evil Eye will be available exclusively on Amazon Prime on October 13th 2020.
Cast and characters:
Sarita Choudhury … Usha
Sunita Mani … Pallavi
Bernard White … Krishnan
Omar Maskati … Sandeep
Anjali Bhimani … Radhika
Lena Clark … Sonia
Asad Durrani … Old Boyfriend
Kim Patel … Bhavna
Ramesh Reddy … Malik
Kamran Shaikh … Guruji
Ash Thapliyal … Amit
Rachel Cora Wood … Kelly
This post is dedicated to Ameeta who never gave me the evil eye and whose heart is so solid and true.
