User Reviews

I was the principal cinematographer* on EVIL'S CITY ( credit omitted from the film at my insistence for countless reasons although it still shows up on IMDb.com ). My comments herein are based on my own observations and understanding, and of course, opinion, all of which some might consider incorrect.

The filmmaker, a very nice guy and noted industry attorney ( hence my above disclaimer ), had sincere intentions of a quality project and a hip, entertaining moralistic tale; like so many first-timers stifled by lack of time, money, and other factors, the result was clearly otherwise (in my humble opinion).

Originally budgeted at $20,000 ( I was told ), I refused the project repeatedly but finally agreed to lens the film ( my last favor for anyone, ever ) after meeting the cast and hearing the filmmakers detailed cinematic vision. The budget swelled to over $65,000 ( raised by a lead actor and another individual who "purchased" a small role ) ; most of the dollars were spent solely on "panic" last minute location expenses associated with complete lack of any discernible pre-production accomplishments. I know it wasn't spent on catering.

Ironically, the main "City" street in the film, thankfully a ghost town in the story, was a movie-ranch set used in countless films and TV shows; it was almost impossible to shoot, as there was no provision for requested lights or power ( the filmmaker insisted that there was power on the street; he did not realize the 3/4 scale power poles were strung up with rope, not electrical wire... they were props, like everything else, miles from civilization). A mere few thousand watts of tungsten light on hand and a construction generator were provided ( hence the completely dubbed or inaudible portions of the soundtrack and the mostly black portions of the film ).

In an attempt at complete auteur-ship, the film was edited, remixed, and color-altered by the filmmaker.

Numerous people involved brought talent, experience, heart, energy and hope to the project, most without benefit of paycheck, but ultimately if a pilot flies a plane straight into a cliff, everyone still dies.

This film and SNITCH'D prove anyone really can make a movie, and even get it on the shelf at your local video store. I'm not sure if that is a good thing.

Of confounding interest to other filmmakers may be the fact that EVIL CITY sold to distribution with almost no effort a few short weeks after availability of screeners; DVD's hit the chain store shelves in the U.S. so fast that a star of the film found out when hewent in to rent a movie and saw his name on a film box he didn't recognize ( the working title of EVIL'S CITY was THE LAZARUS SPORE, and then CROSSING ACHERON by wrap of photography ).

* Film contains numerous inserts and other material shot by the director or purchased stock. As for the color grading...

Me and a friend were sitting in the local movie store and decided to just go to the horror section, spin around in a circle, and point at the first movie we saw and then rent said movie. Luckily, or unluckily, we ended up renting "Evil's City". Now, it was completely our intention to rent a terrible movie, so you could say that we were more than satisfied with our choice.

There's really only one phrase that can accurately describe what a pile of crap this is: a HUGE pile of crap. The DVD alone reeks of bland, uninspired filth. No special features or "making-of" that would most likely just show the writer pooping out his script. The scene selection offers 4, yes FOUR scenes to choose from. I guess the editor couldn't figure out how to slice this steamer of a movie into eighths or sixteenths. Anyway, DVD features aside, the film itself sucks. The only remotely significant character, who I assume is some kind of angel that wears black, is an Aussie who has about 8 minutes of screen time and then disappears for the rest of the film. You later see his face poorly pasted on a stained-glass window which causes a female character to scream rather inappropriately.

The only way you can like this movie is if you love clip-art special effects, shoe string budgets (and when I say shoe string I mean the director literally sold his shoe strings to fund the movie when he should've just wrapped them around his neck and hung himself), and putting emphasis on the wrong syllables. This movie needs to be filed under comedy for the unintentional hilarity that ensues on this whacky adventure all the way from the random beginning, over the mountain of plot less and disconnected exposition and then ultimately to the regret of even wasting your time on this.

I give Evil's City a -20 out of 10.

well...so the comments here before i watched the film..so sort of knew what to expect. But somehow i HAD to watch the whole thing, even though it was cheesy...cliché...predictable...but addictive.

As cabbagetown says it does pick up towards the end..shame the rest of the film wasn't as good as that!! It did have a good basic idea..but the writer/director failed miserably in getting that good basis onto the 'big screen' well OK 'small screen'!

The dialogue and acting were very wooden for the majority of the film..but towards the end the fact that there was more action helped. Guess they filmed this section last ( i hope they did otherwise it means the acting got worse :S)

Gave it 5 purely on how addictive it was..if it hadn't have been it would have been about a 3

Although I gave this movie a 1 because the director put in the horror Genre I couldn't help but laugh at the awful acting the saddest most hilarious part about this movie is that the best actors were the crazy Hillbillies that beat the hell out of Harding speaking harding the other characters had some sort of hatred for this man because if you pay attention the three phrases you hear most in the movie are "Harding your an a**hole" "Hey Harding F*ck you" "Harding acts like a 5 year old" The movie also has randomly disappearing characters,Name Changes,obvious picture cropping,misleading plot,awful sounds,windows that break but actually are just copy and pasted triangles flying through the air well anyway if you watch this you will be sure to laugh its a riot trust me!

Welcome to Evil's City, where the population isn't in fact 4,320; it's 0! Yes, I said it. This film was horrible. It was an indecent, cheaply made satire of how a scary movie is supposed to be. I found the film quite absurd that it was made very poorly. The movie was created using Microsoft Movie Maker and Power Point. I could edit a picture better than Tom Lewis can name a movie. Before I continue to describe my fetish for "enjoying" this putrid pile of garbage, let me break it down to you in every category.

The acting in this movie was about as stale as the bread slice lodged down my throat. I also found the actors choking on their lines more than I was choking on that slice of bread. Before I was able to die of complete and utter disappointment, I managed to realize that the actors kept a smile :) on their faces throughout the entire movie. I felt this film was more of a comedy, rather than a horror film! Oh, excuse my comedic ways. That bread must be making me grow a sense of wit and absurdity!

*spoilers or w/e get a life. I'm not ruining anything you won't see it anyway.*

The plot for the movie was simple: Nosey kids getting into trouble. If I were these kids, I'd have stayed living in my parents house until I reached the humble age of 30 (I'm 34 currently and unemployed, lol) and grow a beard on my own. Instead of being good mannered children, they go around accusing people of lying, starting fights with homeless people, stealing chicken from someone's house, breaking into the houses to steal the food, and causing someone to remember they died. Not to mention, they stole some Aussie's key chain. Later in the movie, they encountered a crazy man with half a head. He then explains the whole situation. I didn't follow it because I was too busy scratching the mole on the side of my neck. The only bit of excitement came when some crazy girl was going to dig into this guy's pants. Too bad my mole gave me more excitement.

*no mo spoilin stuff.*

The movie had special effects as good as this movie wasn't a horror film. I felt as if I was playing a Sega CD game. I suppose a poor man makes a poor movie! Oh dear, I'm killing myself. But seriously, to put it in a nutshell, the special effects were as lame as Casey Sharpe.

The suspense in the movie was good, though. I found myself clinging to the edge of my seat when the movie was over. I was actually thinking there would be more. The movie ended abruptly and so is this review.

This movie pretty much consists of a good idea but crappy development. Underfunded made this movie a big POS but anyway on with the review. This movie is about a group of story go-getters that want to get the biggest story of all and have pictures for proof of its existence. Their after a town called Acheron which apparently everyone died in. The town is out in the middle of nowhere and a few random people just appear out of nowhere and begin taking a role in the movie. But before you can even fathom how it ends let me tell you how it begins, a girl gets a gun to her head by some freako that said he saw this town, which they didn't even know what it was then. This movie pretty much isn't worth the 7.95 I paid for it, fund it better and make a new one with a real director and it might be worth your time.

A motley bunch of young college news students check out the mysterious town of Acheron, a weird hamlet that's located in a remote fog-shrouded woodland area. They discover that not only is Acheron populated by an array of deadly and unrestful spirits who come out at night, but also that the ungodly place feeds on people's sins, wickedness, and deepest desires. Writer/director Tom Lewis concocts an effectively eerie and inspired take on the standard ghost town premise: he creates a strong and compelling creepy gloom-doom atmosphere which becomes more progressively unnerving and nightmarish as the plot unfolds, relates the intriguing story at a steady pace, further spices things up with a few modest lashings of grisly gore, and delivers one doozy of a surprise jolting ending. The capable acting from an appealing no-name cast rates as another substantial asset, with especially praiseworthy work by Brandon Largent as the decent, amiable Todd Harding, Laura Mazur as the troubled Courtney, Kathryn Carner as the bitchy Amber, America Young as the ruthlessly ambitious Misty, Tyler Lassiter as scruffy slacker Ruben, and Richard Kinsey as a sinister preacher. Royce Allen Dudley's sharp cinematography and Carlos Vivas' moody, spooky score are both on the money solid. Only some dodgy CGI effects detract a bit from this otherwise sound and enjoyable horror sleeper.