31 Days of Horror: Day Nine - Evilspeak

Evilspeak stars Clint Howard (Ron Howard's younger brother) as a bullied student at a strict military academy, he tormentors bully him so much so he uses a computer to raise an beast of unquestionable evil and decapitates his classmates in a gory finale.

Beyond all realms of comprehension Evilspeak caused outrage when it was released, looking back on it now it's quite perplexing that film so daft could cause so much outrage, so much outrage that Eric Weston's Evilspeak was one of many films placed the DDP's banned video nasty list for excessive gore and satanic material. The film is very much an 80s horror film with its central story of a nerd getting revenge on his evil tormentors. The Satanic themes that play a strong part of the story are part of a horror craze that started in 1968 with Rosemary's Baby and continued throughout the 70s and 80s with the likes of The Exorcist and The Omen and its many sequels. 

The film itself is surprisingly slow as it's a good hour and a bit before the actual carnage begins, perhaps this time is used to get to know Stanley Coopersmith (Howard) and watch him be bullied for is outcast social standing and his poor football skills (in the fact the film's football game was the worst I have ever seen) but Howard's performance isn't strong enough to elicit any real sympathy. Other, and better, horror films have a strong influence on Evilspeak, mostly notably Carrie (the plot is very similar) and The Omen (Evilspeak's score is very similar to Jerry Goldsmith's chilling musical score in the 1976 Satanic chiller). In all honesty, the film shows it cheapness, it's poorly acted and sloppily filmed, and to think that people kicked up a fuss is as head-scratchingly bizzare as the film itself, however the film can be laughably enjoyable with its satanic, murderous, maundering pigs and gory climax.

Evilspeak is  a perfect reminder how stupid the government, media and protesters were in the 1980s regarding violent horror film as it's very unlikely something so shite could psychologically damage anyone in anyway whatsoever.

2/5