User reviews

Angels Mikhail, Gabrielle and Rafael form a holy trinity living on Earth to defeat Satan, which they do as the film begins. Of course, he is born again in the 60s and, by the time 1981 rolls around, the Antichrist is a powerful handsome devil. Nah, just kidding. He is an Ian Curtis look-a-like high school geek named Andrew (Stefan Arngrim) who is looking to resurrect his army of the dead in order to rule the world or something. Of course, the reincarnated Angels are here to stop him with their glowing beams of light.

I'm not really sure where I fall on FEAR NO EVIL. It is definitely ambitious for a low budget feature and falls into the M.S.U. (Makin' Stuff Up) genre perfectly. It is almost like director Frank LaLoggia had two half finished scripts and threw them together. I would recommend it just for the dodge-ball bit (watch the hyped up coach) and the bizarre scene at the end where the film's big bully gets his comeuppance by growing boobs. WTF??? The high school scenes are really funny, like LaLoggia had no sense at all how people behaved in school. One surprising thing is the soundtrack which features The Ramones, Sex Pistols, Patti Smith, Boomtown Rats and Talking Heads. I guess back then music rights weren't outrageous like they are today.

I remember a friend taping this for from a TV movie channel back when I was too young to watch these type of flicks (must have been at age 11). Anybody else of you who first saw it at that age, must know "Fear No Evil" tends to stick in your memory. In 2007 I managed to pick up the US Anchor Bay DVD edition and re-watch it. It will always remain very much a flawed affair all the same, but it's a guaranteed fun watch. You'll just have to be able to handle 80's horror cheese. A whole lot of it. "Fear No Evil" is a pretty ambitious movie (and the same goes for the story and the orchestrated score). Some tension, sometimes frightening, sometimes shocking but safe to say that most of the time it doesn't make a lick bit of sense. Unbelievable how many songs by 80's bands they managed to put on the soundtrack (great stuff like The Ramones, Talking Heads, Sex Pistols,...). So what do we have here? We've got the Devil incarnated, naked breasts (obviously), angels and demons at play, zombies, some weed-smoking, basket balls that crush & kill, (and for the ladies) we got an all-boys showering scene with all the dudes generously flapping around their ding-dongs (and some male/male kissing with almost deadly consequences). Not nuts enough yet? We also got a solid on-screen hint at female masturbation with a gun. More? How about immensely enjoyable make-up effects & some highly psychedelic, colorful animated effects... 80's Horror rocked, simple as that.

Fear No Evil, the low budget debut from director Frank LaLoggia (Lady in White), is one strange little film: made during the golden age of the slasher but inspired by such films as The Omen, Carrie, and Night of the Living Dead, this offbeat oddity mixes rebellious teen shenanigans with biblical horror, throws in random homo-eroticism without a moment's notice (in the film's most memorable and unintentionally hilarious scene, a supposedly macho bully victimises Andrew in the boys shower by trying to engage him in a naked kiss, whilst cheered on by his enthusiastic pals—it makes A Nightmare on Elm Street 2's towel whipping seem perfectly reasonable), boasts a surprisingly good new wave/punk soundtrack (The Ramones, The Boomtown Rats, The Sex Pistols, Talking Heads), and culminates in a burst of dazzlingly crap visual effects that wouldn't have looked out of place at a Jean Michel Jarre concert.

An undeniably ambitious project for a first-time director, the film features sincere performances, several well executed sequences (the rise of a horde of zombies is particularly effective), and one or two genuine 'WTF?' moments (a guy grows breasts for no discernible reason, and a church production of the Passion Play attracts massive crowds), but it simply doesn't work as a whole: the film changes tone a little too abruptly throughout; Stefan Arngrim is terrible as Andrew, Lucifer in human form, especially when he's hamming it up and howling like a banshee in his character's more demonic state; LaLoggia makes sure he gets his money's worth out of a smoke machine; and there are far too many boring scenes where very little of interest happens.

3.5 out of 10, generously rounded up for the decent tunes.

FEAR NO EVIL was the first movie directed by Frank LaLoggia, who was in his early 20s when he made it. This alone should be reason enough to overlook the film's many faults, certainly when you consider that the story is ambitious, to say the least. And because of this, I actually give props to the film because it's not the all-out disaster everyone says it is. For a first film, it's at times surprisingly good. But the story and direction are, nonetheless, extremely murky. Some scenes are dreadful, like the shot of the front of the house which shows the passage of time and we see the house getting more dilapidated by the second. When the scene ends, the house looks like a tornado hit it but when we see inside the house, everything looks fine. Huh?!?! Moments like these, plus the unknown cast, who at times look like they're acting in a high school theater production, don't help much to create a solid, focused production. The ending was good but you saw it coming a mile away.

I don't understand why this movie is so despised. It's probably due to the shower scene. Fan boys can't take moments like this, which are, oddly enough for a horror movie, too shocking for them. Oh the irony!

In the end, FEAR NO EVIL is an adequate first movie made in the early 1980s. Like I already said above, it's not the worst horror movie ever made like so many have claimed it to be (see PLEDGE NIGHT!). But the director's ambitions exceeded his inexperience and the film's low budget.

Fear No Evil is a hard movie to review, because there are 3 completely different movies fighting for the spotlight for a little over 90 minutes. Some aspects of each work by themselves, but they never come together in any cohesive way. We have your typical Omen-esque/ "Oh, no! My son is the devil!" movie mixed with a talky, exposition-heavy subplot about the archangel Michael who has been reincarnated in the body of an old woman, and it's all topped off with some early 80's high school hijinx.

The movie might be confused, the pacing might be almost non-existent at times and feel like you're channel surfing through three different movies, but there are some images here that, once seen, you'll never forget. There's the bizarre, homoerotic gym shower scene, a deadly game of dodgeball, a christening that turns into a blood bath, a woman-hating school bully growing breasts, zombies emerging from the grave and terrorizing attendees of a passion play, and a reenactment of Jesus' crucifixion that turns a little too realistic. There's so much to love and remember about this movie that it keeps it from being a total waste of time.

With a few more drafts of the script, perhaps Fear No Evil could have really been one of the better Omen/Carrie rip offs. The writer/director went on to do the wonderful, thoughtful Lady in White, so I think it was a case of typical first film issues.

The high school scenes were filmed during the summer of 1980 at my old Junior High in Webster, NY. So naturally, we all went to the flick when it had a "Special Preview" in Webster in the spring of 1981. Yes, it was a mess. Yes, it is creepy in a few places, and VERY homo-erotic in others. As teenagers, we all left the theater scratching our heads. During the movie, however, we all had the chance to scream "Hey, that's my old locker" or "So THAT is what the creepy boiler room looked like." The school itself was the stuff of nightmares: very old, dark, and forbidding when I was going there. Other than the old school showing up, this is a fairly muddled movie. LaLoggia came into his own seven years later with the Lady In White.

"Fear No Evil" combines two of my favorite genres: Horror and Hannah-Barberra animation. I did not expect the film to turn into a cartoon in the last ten minutes, but apparently the producers couldn't get any real special effects wizzards for the final confrontation between Satan and God's angels, so they got the animators from "The Wonder Twins." What starts as a bloody battle turns into mind-bogglingly bad laser beams that literally look like they were taken from a late 60's sci-fi film. The film then takes off into what one might call "Xanadu" territory," where the actors are no longer on film, and we see a series of lights flashing at the screen to crazy music. I guess the filmmakers were going for a "2001" type effect here, but what they got was a discount version of the old HBO animation they ran before movies in 1982.

The film is a mixture of pretentious, poorly-acted, poorly-scripted, and shoddily directed discussions about heaven and hell, with some brilliant early 80's high school scenes, set to the music of the Sex Pistols, Talking Heads, and The Ramones. It makes you wonder how a director who is so completely out of touch with how to make an interesting horror film could assemble such a brilliant soundtrack. The high school scenes are worth the rental: all the guys look like they're 30, all the girls have giant afros and yellow satin jackets, and the teachers have tweed jackets. The one stoke of genius on director Frank LaLoggia's part is to have a number of scenes with "general chatter," where people aren't really speaking any lines specific, but are just hubbub-ing very enthusiastically. The first time we see this LaLoggian touch is when baby Satan is born in 1963, and the proud father is handing out cigars to his buddy. They are babbling like a bunch of chimps, yet you cannot understand a word they're saying. It's amazing - you think they're speaking another language, it's just a lot of "Heeeeey! Wheeeeaaaay! Yaaaahaaaa! Cigar, cigar, cigar, whoooooaaaa hoooooo!" The next time is after a gym class, which apparently went so well that all the teens run into the locker room indecipherably yelling "whoo-hoo, alllriiiiight, yeeeeeah, gimme that locker, whooooaaaa hoooooo!"

This unique touch of Frank LaLoggia, a trademark in all two of his films, truly gives weight to the credit "A Frank LaLoggia Film" that appears before the main title. It definitely is, Frank. It definitely is.

Teenager is the son of Satan and he's plotting a demonic uprising, while a teen girl and a local old woman are actually angels sent to stop him.

Fear No Evil is an interesting oddity among the numerous teen horror flicks of the early 80's. For one, it's not a slasher movie. Fear No Evil is a low-budget, but well done throw back to the Gothic horror films of Hammer given a touch of the modern. The storyline is compelling, with some touches of nicely artistic direction from first time director Frank LaLoggia. Still, it's flawed by some awkward moments of silliness (death-by-dodge ball, shower make out) and some supporting performances that aren't as good as those of the leads.

The best of the cast are Stefan Arngrim as our devilish villain and Elizabeth Hoffman as the elder angel desperate to stop him. Daniel Eden is also memorable as the school bully who gets a most crazy demise.

Fear No Evil is a unique entry in the teen horror genre. Though it's not flawless, thanks to its low budget, it still has enough imagination to be a entertaining and memorable late night movie.

** 1/2 out of ****

I can't believe I've never heard of this before. Got it at the comic book show today. I'm remind of a better satanic school kid movie called 'Evilspeak'. Get that one if you can, but if you wind up with 'Fear no Evil' you will be entertained and surprised. During a showing of a Passion Play the crowd begins to bleed. Yes, there is quite a bit of religious matter in this movie. Angels in human form versus the devil. That is not all though. There are high school teens up to their 80's activities (having sex). Also, naked boys for an odd scene with a violent kiss. This movie is more homoerotic than 'Jeepers Creepers 2'! In the final scene you can see the devil boy's genitals if you pay close attention. I don't know why!?! Then, there are light shows and I expected the beams to come out of the screen in 3-D! Punk soundtrack with the Rezillos, Sex Pistols, Ramones, and Talking Heads.

The plot is murky (at best). Something about the devil in disguise as a teenage high school boy. The boy is tall, very thin and is teased on by the other kids. When his powers come out he takes revenge. And there are also some archangels out to do battle with him.

Now this isn't a good film. The acting is terrible! No one is good but the WORST has to be the high school gym teacher who acts like a Nazi during a game of Dodge Ball---and actually KILLS one student (don't ask). The dialogue is lousy and the film looks bad but it was shot independently (it shows).

But the film has a kick-ass soundtrack and has two STRONG homoerotic scenes--at one point a boy gives a lengthy kiss to another in the shower when they're both nude. Also we get a good look at one guy's best parts. Later on they share ANOTHER kiss (fully clothed this time) and one grows BREASTS! Easily these are the two best parts of the film. Let's face it--most horror films totally ignore gay subtexts or use it as a joke. Not here. I applaud the movie for those scenes alone. Some fan boys have attacked these scenes saying they were "unnecessary". I wonder how they would have reacted if it were between two girls...

The film has some interesting ideas and it was a labor of love for the director--but it was cut by an hour (the original print was 2 1/2 hours) which may explain some plot loopholes and the story wanders all over the place. It has acquired a cult following and Anchor Bay put out an incredible looking DVD of it back in 2002 along with a directors commentary. So, I really wanted to like it and it has some great scenes but it just doesn't work. I give this a 5.

Since the gentleman who reviewed this film told most of the story (thankfully, so I wouldn't have to), I will just cut to the main points of my review and hopefully, this will help you. After reading many many reviews about this being a "bad" horror film, I went into this one with the idea that I was going to be expecting too much and be let down. But, to my own surprise, I was VERY satisfied with this film. The story of the battle between good and evil is told extremely well and I was very astonished about how glued I was to this story. But I did find a few things wrong/strange with this film: 1) Why didn't we get a story as to HOW Andrew became/is the Devil? In this movie he just IS... 2) Did his parents really know? Why wasn't more explained about his past? Like in the scene where he sacrifices his dog...why wasn't his motivation for that explained? 2) The homo-erotic subtext in this film was unexpected. The whole scene in the shower was not what I was expecting. And yes, many of these underground 80's films get away with the whole male frontal nudity! I've noticed that it other films like "Basket Case" and "Pieces" (And to contradict the reviewer above, some of those men were actually *very* attractive). I was very spooked by the whole scene on the beach during the play - that was done very well. But for me, the whole thing falls apart during the last 15 minutes of the film. And only because of how it was executed. They went too far on the cheesy f/x and though I understood the meaning behind it that no matter what happens good will always triumph over evil...but c'mon! When a great story is being told and then it switches to a zombie flick....? Sorry, but no. And the ending disappointed me, as well. I won't give it away, but when you think there's an explanation for the resolution, then you don't find one, it leaves a lot to be desired. Overall, this was great if you love religious thrillers like "Stigmata", but i wouldn't consider this a "horror film". I honestly give this 8 out of 10, so that should mean something. Check it out, you might like it.

As far as horror movies go, this one is above average (definitely not warranting less than four). Yeah, there were some drawbacks. Some scenes were a bit drawn out and others were completely irrelevant. What was up with that homoerotic male shower? That was over the top and pretty much as gratuitous as most female shower scenes. Lucifer's character shows flashes, but never really seems inherently evil as you would think. It's clear that he knows who he is from the start, but the role is written as if he's going through the puberty of devilhood. If Julie/Gabriel had been required to be nude, I would have given this a 10. Sadly, her clothes stayed on. The gym teacher overacts with a hilarity of epic proportions.

Oh geez... I hate to say this since I liked the main character girl but... could this have been any worse? This was acting that only a mother could... wait, a mother would disown her child for doing this! The way the movie was carried out made me fall asleep (almost) and the shower room scene... I'll just shudder about that as this movie recieves its 1 out of 10 from me...

In the spring of 1981, an acquaintance of a first year film student took a Super 8 movie camera to a rural community and asked people on the spot to pretend that they're in a creepy, demonic horror movie. No...That's not actually what happened, but it may as well have been. Director-writer-composer-actor LaLoggia (and the guy is no Clint Eastwood or even Kevin Costner!) cooked up this cheap-looking, over-ambitious, pretentious, badly written and acted, illogical, senseless mess. There are two prologues to the film. One is a fairly creepy, but ultimately silly battle between a priest and Lucifer. The second is a godawful christening with ludicrous effects and acting. Years later, Arngrim (scary for all the wrong reasons) is a (26-year-old) high school student. He's an effeminate, brilliant outcast who alternates between haughty arrogance and quivering fear. (The performance as seen makes no sense at all.) His high school (full of mid-twenties bad actors) is a template for idiocy. Students mouth off to an inane degree, smoke pot on the grounds, sneak off to boiler rooms for sex and blare music from their convertibles (does anyone in the film have a hard top car?) Chief offender Eden plays a Vinnie Barbarino wannabee with gapped teeth and jeans that give too much away. He slaps his girlfriend and picks on Arngrim. However, the best scene in the film comes when he taunts Arngrim sexually in the locker room shower to impress his friends. He finds himself in a violent liplock he can't break away from. (One thing the film has going for it is a dose of male nudity, some of it frontal.) Meanwhile, Hoffman (who thinks she's in a good movie....she's wrong) is an archangel reincarnated who is bent on destroying Arngrim. She teams with another of her kind, young Rowe McAllen (in a comatose performance that dictated that she would never again appear in a feature film.) Rowe McAllen deservedly joins the legion of other film actors who got billed as, "Introducing..." and were scarcely heard from again. It all comes down to a battle between good and evil which happens to occur on the night of a big, tacky play about the crucifixion of Jesus. These final scenes are interesting only because the action in them breaks the tedium of the previous hour. Some of the make-up is effective and a few moments are funny (intentionally?? A guy say to his girlfriend, "You know I wouldn't let another creep put his hands on you" just as a zombiefied hand reaches for her ankle.) However, like the rest of the film, the lighting, acting, effects, and direction are all horrible. The video box spends half it's copy touting the soundtrack....not a good sign that the film itself will be an good. The songs are cleverly used, but hard to hear at times and only used in snippets mostly. Camp highlight: A militant gym teacher bellows and screams his head off inappropriately and eventually kills a student with a dodge ball!!!! Hilarious.

I actually went to a movie theater to see this movie when it came out. I must've been 13 years old or something and I hadn't seen the movie until last night, for the 1st time in over 25 years! There were really very, very few things I remembered about the movie, except that the bad guy was the Antichrist reborn. I am sorry to say that FEAR NO EVIL has NOT aged well at all. The premise is interesting: a trinity of angels/priests are sent to earth to stop the Antichrist from reigning supreme on his coming. That's as interesting as this movie gets, because the story is rendered with sub-par FX, god awful acting and extremely boring movie. You have to remember that FEAR NO EVIL came out at the height of the slasher movie craze: Friday THE 13th, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, MANIAC, PROM NIGHT, etc. so it had to compete with all this profitable (if not very interesting) movies. For bloodhounds, FEAR NO EVIL will be very tame, and the few blood scenes are so badly made you wish they were never filmed at all. I bought this DVD out of nostalgia only. Some of the movies I've seen as a kid have held up well (MANIAC, Excalibur, ALTERED STATES), but FEAR NO EVIL should have been left in oblivion. Maybe the producer is friends with the people at ANCHOR BAY. Why this trash was ever released on DVD is beyond me, while other MUCH, MUCH worthy movies (like Ken Rusell's THE DEVILS)are left to their hard-to-find VHS versions. View under your own risk!

(Quickie Review.) This is the ultimate pot movie. Meaning, the creators were surely high when making this because probably every few seconds someone shouted out: "But, what if we added zombies? Oh! And killer dodgeball?! And Gays are hot now, let's make sure we have something for the Gays!! Oh! And Let's..." (50 ideas later) "...all on a budget of $250.00. Let's do this!" This incoherent mess of a movie made almost zero sense and I can see it as a cult hit for the "so-bad-it's-funny" crowd. Well, I wasn't one of them. I didn't have any pot on me.

This somewhat hokey thriller takes itself more seriously than it should; although it does have some moderately effective sequences, it really suffers in comparison with the archetypal Antichrist movie, "The Omen"; it lacks the maturity and strength of that 1976 classic (despite a very solemn beginning). To be fair, though, it's no worse than the "Omen" sequels. (**)

I don't understand why this has such a low rating. If it's a matter of just not liking the film because you don't think it's scary or a good story then that simply is just a matter of opinion. Technically the film is very well made, in my opinion. The lighting stands out almost more than the soundtrack which is awesome. The director was just 24 years old when he made this, the simple special effects (those with shadows, camera tricks, strings, etc..) make you question how they actually pulled the trick off while other effects were rotoscoped. You know when artists trace over a live action scene frame by frame, cool stuff! Joel Coen was the assistant editor, scenes were shot on location at incredible settings. There are a lot of interesting facts about this movie. The film fits right in with other early 80's horror classics and any fan of the genre should not miss this one.

This has to be one of the queerest horror movies ever made. Joining the ranks of films like Nightmare on elm St. 2 and Hellbent, Fear no evil tells the tale of a kid that gets bullied and discovers he's the devil's son of sorts. Add zombies, demons, glitter, lasers, lots of homoeroticism and a spattering of male nudity and there you have it. I discovered this gem a few years ago and was happy it got the blu ray treatment recently. It's not a great film but it's definitely got that sleazy, retro horror feel that makes it worthwhile.

7/10

This movie was a mess from start to finish. I just finished watching this piece of garbage and I can safely say that I'll never be watching this one again. The acting is AWFUL. The effects, even for the time, are downright LAME. There are no scares at all. The premise sounded interesting, yet something must've been in the water while making this clunker. It really could've worked though, but failed. Oh, did it fail. -3 out of 10.

I am from Jefferson County, New York, where the film was shot. It was made at Boldt Castle in the St. Lawrence River, and nearby Alexandria Bay. The castle is ready-made for a horror film, which helps when the budget is as low as this. The film has some scary moments, however, and is fairly stylishly shot. The rock score will certainly date the movie, but, it is worth a watch.

Fear No Evil, the 1981 directorial debut of Frank LaLoggia (who would also helm Lady in White and Mother), is all about Andrew Williams, a high school student who turns out to be Lucifer. That sounds simple. But this movie is anything but.

First off, nearly every other student in this film is a complete miscreant. Andrew (Stefan Arngrim, Barry from Land of the Lost) is a weird kid that gets good grades and is well-liked. But again, you know, he's the Antichrist.

Let's go back to the beginning. Father Thomas arrives at a destroyed cathedral to fight Lucifer (producer Charles M. LaLoggia discovered the Boldt Castle in Alexandria Bay, NY and told his director cousin that this would be an ideal location for a horror movie), whose defeat only puts him into the body of baby Andrew. His parents constantly battle over his origins and the fact that even his baptism didn't go right. Yeah, the water all turned to blood. You know how that happens.

But that's all well and good, because on his 18th birthday, Andrew's powers create an accident that paralyzes his mother and leaves his father a drunken mess.

If someone can make the Antichrist's life hell, it's Tony Indavino and Mark Landers. Tony is near relentless in his abuse of Andrew, where he calls the young man gay and they have what I can only refer to as a kiss fight.Another shocking moment, as full frontal male nudity is still verboten today and this scene is full of it. It makes the shower abuse in A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2 seem tame by comparison. During his second attempt to kiss Andrew and repeat this action, he suddenly grows breasts!

Read more at bandsaboutmovies.com/2017/10/09/fear-no-evil-1981

Wow, this is an absolute mess of a film. I have over 1,000 DVD's in my collection and I count this one as one of the very worst. You certainly get the idea that the director (who was a first timer) bit off far more than he could chew when he tackled this project. The plot is extremely incoherent, the acting is terrible and the special effects look like they came out of Xanadu. It is honestly hard for me to say anything good about this movie, I cannot think of anything redeeming about it. I guess some of the movie's punk-rock soundtrack (which features the Sex Pistols and Ramones among others) is interesting but is completely wasted in this film. Avoid this one if you can.