Review of Something Evil

With the possible exception of "Duel", fans of director Steven Spielberg have outright rejected his early efforts (such as this TV-movie and the theatrical "The Sugarland Express", a box-office disappointment) most likely on the basis that his budgets during this time weren't big enough to expand on the action inherent in the material (Robert Altman's admirers are much the same way, ignoring everything the filmmaker did prior to "MASH"). "Something Evil" is a forgotten film, a mere footnote in Spielberg's history, but that doesn't mean it's a failure. Spielberg takes a shopworn scenario (the old haunted farmhouse bit) and gooses it with interesting visuals and an active camera. New York couple with two young children move into a rural estate, unaware of the farm's dark history. Sandy Dennis and Darren McGavin are a casual, laid-back, ordinary twosome--just this side of dull, which is probably what Spielberg wanted--whose lives are shaken up by the ghostly goings-on. Two action sequences (a death in the prologue and a tragic car accident following a party) are both encumbered by the picture's low budget and are sadly ineffective, while a subplot involving Ralph Bellamy as a neighbor who studies the occult is left unfulfilled. Still, Spielberg manages a tense, prickly mood (the film never lapses into camp), and Dennis seems fully invested in the proceedings.