We had a chance to do an early review for the upcoming horror film, Evangeline.
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The good
folks at Uncork'd Entertainment have done it again. The masters of low budget, negligible-quality
horror films now offer us Evangeline,
a Canadian film festival favorite from 2013 that is now getting a U.S.
release. Evangeline is a tale of terror and revenge that follows a few
familiar story beats, and then never manages to do anything interesting or new
with them.
It's been
said that there aren't any original ideas left.
In spite of this so many movies, particularly horror films, will at
least give it a try. Evangeline… kind of tries, and deserves
a little credit for that. But it could
have tried a lot harder, and done some more interesting things with its
premise. Instead, after spending 2/3 of
the movie on exposition and half-hearted attempts at character development, it
basically becomes a ripoff of older films that not only originated the plot
points Evangeline clings to so
tightly, but did them better in the first place.
Not to
mention the whole thing has a very mid-90s music video feel to it, from the
stark, jerky cinematography to the cut-rate Nine Inch Nails-inspired
score. Writer-director Karen Lam was
obviously going for a creepy, sinister feel, but the result just looks like she
watched the video for Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” a few too many times.
Evangeline
is really
not all bad. The performances for the
most part are better than one might expect, and a few scenes are kind of fun to
watch. But it takes a bit too long to
get where it's going, and the destination is a tad too familiar. If Lam can develop her own style and voice,
she could possibly deliver something truly great someday. Unfortunately Evangeline serves as a reminder of just how far she has to go.
-Mike Stec