Director – Marco Rosson (New Order, Vendetta)
Starring – Marcella Braga (Dark Resurrection, The Italian Dream), Claudia Marasca (The Perfect Plan, The Broken Key), and Toni Pandolfo (Dracula 3D, Rasputin)
Release Date – 2018
Rating – 2/5
I get a lot of movies in from Wild Eye for review. Honestly, I’m a huge fan of theirs and I want to see everything they release. They are a rapidly growing company and release several movies a month. With a catalogue is expansive as theirs it would be extremely difficult for me to like all their movies. I know this and they know this. As much as I love and respect Wild Eye I still find some of their films to be tough to finish.
Sometime ago I received the press release for Evil River. This Italian horror film was originally titled Shanda’s River which was changed for North American release. I was excited to check it out especially after I heard it was compared to the classic film Suspiria. I want to thank Wild Eye for sending this one my way.
**spoiler Alert** The film follows a woman writing a piece on women sufferings and travels to a small Italian village that is the site of a witch’s burial. With her is a professor and a tour guide. This innocent trip turns bloody when she witnesses men in robes kill the tour guide and the professor. She awakens in her hotel room and is forced to relive that day over and over again.**Spoiler Alert**
I was excited to toss this one in but it was evident within minutes that I would not be enjoying this one. The movie had an interesting story but the execution and scenes were troubling. I really wanted to like it but I couldn’t get into it.
The acting in this one is solid enough but there was room for improvements. The cast was very dedicated to their roles but their performances were a bit dry. They lacked emotions and the dialogue was very forced. The characters were not that genuine which made some of the dialogue heavy scenes feel heavy.
The story for this one is Suspiria meets Groundhog’s Day. Sadly, I find films that repeat themselves to be unoriginal and boring. The second the viewer gets the predictability of the scene the impact is removed and you are left with a scene that doesn’t work. I will give credit where credit is due with the story. It is one hell of an idea but it doesn’t transcribe well on film.
Finally, the film doesn’t shy away from blood. We get several kill scenes with a ton of blood and solid practical and make-up effects. The kills are, mostly, in the center of the scene which gives the viewer plenty of time to soak them in. Overall, Evil River wasn’t what I was expecting. The story has potential but the way it was done makes it a tough one to finish. Wild Eye has several amazing releases in their filmography that I would recommend instead of this one.
