Evils of the Nights

Director - Mohammed Rustam (Evil Town)

Starring - Neville Brand (Eaten Alive), Aldo Ray (Shock 'Em Dead), and Tina Louise (Monsters)

Release Date - 1985

Genre - Horror/Sci-Fi

Tagline - "They thought they were alone"

Format - BluRay (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of ):

     Vinegar Syndrome is a company I greatly admire.  Their partnership with Troma has brought about some obscure titles to blu along with some forgotten horror, exploitation, sexploitation, and vintage porn.  They have released some amazing films over the years along with a few that I did not care for.  For the most part, however, they have churned out some great stuff.  Last month they announced that they would be releasing the 1985 horror sci-fi flick Evils of the Night.  I was very interested in this release.  Mostly because I am a fan of anything 80s and it has a small appearance from horror legend John Carradine.  I really wanted to check it out so I reached out to Vin Syn and they were kind enough to send a review copy my way.  Thanks guys!
     The film follows a group of twenty-somethings who visit a small town with several other teens to party and have sex when they slowly abducted one by one by elderly mechanics.  The mechanics take them to a hidden hospital ran by human like aliens who pay them in gold for them.  The aliens, in turn, use the blood of the abducted teens and twenty-somethings as a regeneration serum that keeps them young for years longer than their human counterparts.  
     Evils of the Night is one of those hidden 80s gems that I had never heard of before Vin Syn announced the release.  Which is surprising considering how fucking awesome it was.  It was sleazy, campy, and had a fun story that we don't see a lot in the "in the woods" horror films of the 80s.  The acting in this one is fair.  I have seen worse but I have definitely seen better.  The cast looks like they had a lot of fun on set.  Every scene shows that but some of the cast clearly had more experience than others which resulted in one sided performances.  The casting was not consistent with this one and it shows.  However, it is not bad in a Bloodbath in the House of Knives bad.  The story for this one is a fun horror sci-fi hybrid that keeps horror in the woods where is flourished in the early 80s.  The film, at it's base, is a horror film that follows young adults in the woods who are stalked and nabbed in similar fashion to most slashers with one big exception - they don't die there.  They are then taken to a secret base/hospital where their blood is drained from their bodies.  This was fun and made mid-80s horror feel like the sci-fi craze of the late 50s and early 60s.  The only downside was that some of the scenes felt tossed together and out of place which makes me think that some of the film was tossed together on the fly.  Finally, those looking for fun kills and tons of blood will be a little disappointed.  There is blood but it is done in such a way that it loses the effects they are trying to achieve.  The kills we get are pretty lame in comparison to other films of the time.  That was a let down in that regard.  Overall, Evils of the Night is truly a product of its time.  It is a weird combination of teenage sex comedy, horror, and sci-fi all wrapped in a cliched story that keeps the film's characters in the woods.  I highly recommend this underrated horror hit.