Evil Things is a low-budget horror movie that creates some suspense but never reaches its full potential.
Plot
On January 9, 2009, five college students left New York City for a weekend in the country. 48 hours later, all five students have simply vanished without a trace. There were no leads and no evidence – until now.
Good Points
- The cast aren’t too bad here, featuring some decent chemistry and it feels like the actors are comfortable with each other, which helps you care a little about them.
- The creepy stuff in the film works best when the film keeps things simple, the idea of something being wrong in the background is where it gets its best moments.
- The whole feeling of being watched is handled pretty well, with a few scenes where the movie genuinely makes you feel uncomfortable.
- The snowy, isolated setting was a good choice.
- There is definitely some talent behind the camera here – you can see that Dominic Perez had ideas and wanted to make something more interesting, even if it doesn’t come off overly well.
- It has a decent enough good atmosphere, even at times when nothing is really going on, which helps see you through.
Bad Points
- The biggest problem for me was that the movie is just too slow in places – it takes a long time to get anywhere, and the setup goes on for too long.
- The ending also really lets the film down, as after all the build-up, if you make it that far, I wanted something a bit more satisfying.
- It creates a lot of mystery but does not really do enough with it, and while being unclear can work in horror, but here it feels like the movie does not know how to finish its own ideas.
- Some of the found footage moments are hard to buy as well, and everything feels a little too familiar, with a lot of ideas we have seen before in other found footage horror films.
- It feels like this could have worked much better as a shorter, tighter film, as I do think there is a decent horror movie here, but it gets buried under too much unnecessary stuff.
Final Verdict on Evil Things
Evil Things has some genuinely creepy ideas, and a half decent atmosphere at times, but it just takes too long to get going – maybe worth a watch for found footage fans, but it feels like a movie with more potential than payoff.
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