Good Against Evil is a 1977 American made-for-TV film directed by Paul Wendkos (The Mephisto Waltz) from a screenplay written by Hammer veteran Jimmy Sangster (Dracula; Paranoiac; Fear in the Night).
The ABC film was a pilot for a TV series that was not subsequently commissioned.
The movie stars Dack Rambo (Nightmare Honeymoon), Elyssa Davalos, Richard Lynch (The Premonition; Puppetmaster III; Halloween (2007)), Dan O’Herlihy (Halloween III), John Harkins (Amityville 3-D), Jenny O’Hara (Wishmaster; The Sacred), Lelia Goldoni (Hysteria; Blood Fiend; Invasion of the Body Snatchers), Peggy McCay (Amityville: The Evil Escapes; An Irish Vampire in Hollywood), Peter Brandon (Altered States), Kim Cattrall (Modern Vampires; Peter Benchley’s Creature), Natasha Ryan (Kingdom of the Spiders; The Amityville Horror; The Entity), Richard Sanders (Lover’s Lane), Lillian Adams (Tormented), Erica Yohn and Richard Stahl (Beware! The Blob).
Plot:
A travel writer, Andy Stuart (Dack Rambo), teams up with an exorcist, Father Kemschler Dan (O’Herlihy), to battle Satan, and a group of Devil worshipers led by Mr Rimmin (Richard Lynch)…
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Reviews:
“The first half is rock-solid and doesn’t waste any time, then it takes a big sh*t […] Richard Lynch is the demon Asteroth’s right-hand man with a legion of cats (!!), Dan O’Herlihy is the exorcist (!!!), and Dack Rambo is the smooth ‘nam vet/lady’s man. Don’t know if I can recommend this in good conscience, but I was entertained.” Alex Dawson
“I was totally prepared for pure 1970’s Satanic bliss, only to find myself in the midst of a relationship drama for much of the film’s first half […] That said, there are some good moments here, like a woman being killed by her own housecats under Rimmin’s command. And Elyssa Davalos as Jessica has plenty of great qualities that make her a wonderful horror heroine in distress.” B&S About Movies
“It doesn’t so much drag as amble and, curiously, only gets boring when the “action” kicks off. The third act is when all doubts are cleared up and everything stops being interesting […] I’m sure some fun can be had with it–it’s certainly riffable and passes the time–there just isn’t much in the movie to grab you. It’s merely sort of okay throughout.” D.contextualized:
” … the film’s opening sequence is rather tense, with director Paul Wendkos in full command. The remainder of the movie fluctuates between romantic drama and horror, with the horror used to retain the tension of the beginning. There are some attempts to use cats as a horror element, and these work okay, although the cats are far from cooperative. The exorcism sequence is done as well as can be expected…” Examiner.com
” …we have romance for about thirty minutes or so before it starts trying to be scary again. Then, about two-thirds of the way through, we unexpectedly shift the story to a set of characters who mostly appear in the movie for the first time. then, about twenty-five minutes later, you realize that there simply isn’t enough time for the movie to resolve its central conflict.” Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings
“There’s barely any plot to even describe here. Good Against Evil is just a cheap, store-brand version of Rosemary’s Baby with some spritzing of The Exorcist thrown in for good measure. It’s really predictable, really boring, and really bad.” Films in Boxes
“The thing you’re likely to remember the most about this movie is how relentlessly unoriginal it can be. The opening sequence suddenly turns into the ending of Rosemary’s Baby. Later, a long sequence exhaustively copies the style and content of the exorcism sequence from The Exorcist.” Jabootu’s Bad Movie Dimension
“The romance angle with our lead has promise, but is kind of boring how they did it. They don’t have the best chemistry. The story is just kind of confused as to what to focus on. The fact that it includes the satanic cult, stalking and an exorcism is a bit much. It tries to be too much due to its TV pilot nature. As a result, it is kind of a mess, albeit a decent one.” Mondo Bizarro
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“The best thing with the whole movie is Richard Lynch who gives everything he gots even if he’s quite underwritten. I love when they worship the devil in the desert (just look at The Devil’s Rain) and of course he’s out there, praying and looking sinister. Brilliant […] Very cozy, perfect for a Sunday morning or a lazy afternoon.” Schmollywood Babylon
“A cat attack, halfway through, is the camp highlight. For quality, you at least get the presence of the underrated Richard Lynch (The Premonition), some decent music and some cute San Francisco locations. The pacing is fairly brisk, especially in the first third.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers
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“It’s sloppy soap opera nonsense with almost zero interest in anything related to horror until the climax. You’re better off re-visiting the ‘Marlena gets possessed by the Devil’ storyline on Days of Our Lives. At least that was unintentionally hilarious. Richard Lynch is terrific, but he can’t save this failed TV pilot that poorly mixes soap opera and horror clichés. Elyssa Davalos is absolutely awful in the lead.” Shameless Self Expression
” …for the most part Wendkos and Sangster keep the leads frustratingly in the dark and reveal too much information early on. Things seesaw inconsistently from sub-soap opera slush to scenes of a robed Richard Lynch chanting over pentagrams and black candles as though the viewer where channel surfing between episodes Dark Shadows and The Young and the Restless.” The Spinning Image
“Though pretending to be a whole film, the story ends abruptly with no sense of completion, because it was in reality the pilot movie of an unsold series. The dangly ending might’ve worked anyway if the greater problem hadn’t been simply that the story hasn’t an ounce of originality.” Weird Wild Realm
Choice dialogue:
“All men are demanding. All men are self-serving. All men are insensitive.”
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