‘You can’t run from a nightmare’
The Evil Within is a 2017 American horror film written and directed by Andrew Getty (1967–2015), grandson of billionaire Jean Paul Getty. It stars Frederick Koehler, Sean Patrick Flanery, Dina Meyer and Michael Berryman.
Andrew Getty began the film way back in 2002, having experienced some strange nightmares that he wanted to adapt into a horror movie. Getty laboured on his personal obsession – often with many different actors than originally cast, except Berryman – until his unexpected death in 2015 from a hemorrhaging ulcer brought on by a long history of recreational meth usage. Co-producer Michael Luceri then edited together masses of Getty’s filmed footage and elaborate special effects sequences to finish The Evil Within.
Dennis Peterson (Koehler) is a mentally challenged teen who lives with his older brother John (Flanery). While John struggles between caring for Dennis and maintaining a relationship with his increasingly impatient girlfriend Lydia (Meyer), Dennis finds a friend in his own reflection in an antique mirror.
However, in reality, the reflection is soon revealed to be an evil entity (Berryman) who is more charming, smarter and stronger than Dennis, and instructs him to do horrific things in order to ‘fix’ his brain. Tortured and confused, Dennis embarks on a murderous rampage, collecting the bodies in his basement.
A police investigation, helmed by a determined social worker (Darby), targets the Peterson’s in an attempt to uncover the truth behind the murders. With the walls rapidly closing in, Dennis makes his final play, with dire results…
Co-producer and editor Michael Luceri told press:
“After Andrew died, I made it my mission to see that his film was completed. I have been on this project from the beginning. Andrew was such a perfectionist, each and every shot had to be perfect before he would move on. When he was young, Andrew told me that he would have these really powerful, twisted dreams, so scary that he didn’t want to believe they came from inside him, so he had this idea that it was this ’storyteller’ who created the dreams, and that became the genesis of the film’s story.”
The Supernova LLC and Writers Studio movie is being distributed worldwide by Vision Films. In the UK, the film is released on Blu-ray and DVD by Screenbound Pictures on 4 September 2017.
Our reviews:
The Evil Within is an excruciating deep-dive into terror, mingling the worst of both the existential and metaphysical worlds; an immediate association with Scavolini’s Nightmare in a Damaged Brain (1981) and Roffman’s The Mask (1961) come to mind.
Frederick Koehler is phenomenal as Dennis, flipping seamlessly back and forth between mentally challenged and demonically evil; years ago I would always catch Kate & Allie just to watch him almost crack up while delivering lines; even though he was only a kid, he was the funniest thing on that show. Here, his amazing ebullient talent is still evident.
The writing in The Evil Within is outstanding, the imagery is breathtakingly horrific, the subject matter timeless, and the acting by all concerned is pretty much tops. It was also nice to see Kim Darby as a spirited social worker. The film gains instant credibility by drawing a line back to the original Don’t be Afraid of the Dark, likely the best made-for-TV horror movie ever.
Ben Spurling, MOVIES & MANIA
“Getty might not have known how to direct a film conventionally, but thank God for that. Who needs another plodding, predictable, slick slasher movie? I’ll take a strange, malfunctioning and eccentric movie over that any day, thank you very much. And for all the scoffing, this is not a badly made film at all – the camera shots, the set ups and the horror sequences are actually all handled as though the film has been made by a much more experienced filmmaker…” David Flint, MOVIES & MANIA
Buy Blu-ray or DVD: Amazon.co.uk
Main cast and characters:
- Frederick Koehler as Dennis Peterson (American Horror Story; Dexter; Death Race and sequels)
- Sean Patrick Flanery as John Peterson (Howlers; Saw 3D: The Final Chapter)
- Dina Meyer as Lydia (Saw; Starship Troopers)
- Michael Berryman as Cadaver, the demonic creature
- Kim Darby as Mildy Torres (Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers; Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark [1973])
- Brianna Brown as Susan (Night of the Living Dead 3D)
- Francis Guinan as Doctor Preston (The Exorcist TV series; Constantine; Hannibal [2001])
- Tim Bagley as Pete (Zombieland TV series)
- Greyson Turner as Dennis as a child (Spooky Tales)
- De Anna Joy Brooks as Mother
- Nicole Brandon
- David Light as Mutant Businessman
- Dayna Riesgo as Monsoon Waitress
- David Banks as Doctor
- Sebastien Stella
- Matthew McGrory as Tall Man at Preston’s Table [uncredited] (DarkPlace; The Devil’s Rejects, Constantine; House of 1000 Corpses; The Dead Hate the Living!)
Filming locations:
El Mirage Dry Lake, Guadalupe and Los Angeles, California
Film Facts:
The film was originally titled The Storyteller
NB. The film has no connection with the 2014 survival video game of the same name.
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