Stephen Geoffreys ("Fright Night" '85) got his first starring role in this amusingly cheesy horror-comedy that marked the directorial debut for actor Robert "Freddy Krueger" Englund. Geoffreys plays a kid named "Hoax" (!), a wimpy, awkward outsider dominated by a religious nut of a mother (an amusing Sandy Dennis ("Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?")). Hoax learns of a 976 number from which doomed people get a "horrorscope". Soon, he is granted Satanic powers and full-blown demonic status, and his bad boy cousin Spike (Patrick O'Bryan, "Relentless") has to stop him somehow.
Written by Rhet Topham and Brian Helgeland, this doesn't completely work, especially the stuff with Jim Metzler ("One False Move") and Maria Rubell ("Salvador") as two other would-be heroes. But it manages to build in intensity as it goes along, and has enough touches and details to maintain a reasonable fun factor (fish raining from the heavens, the Wilmoth family home turning into Hell frozen over, etc.). Director Englund does a decent job balancing conventional horror tropes with more humorous elements. Kevin Yaghers' makeup is good, and the production design by David Brian Miller is first-rate. The performances range from mediocre (Metzler doesn't look like he really wants to be there) to decent to effective. Geoffreys, more restrained than he was in "Fright Night", builds sufficient sympathy for Hoax, and Dennis is a hoot. She doesn't try to ape Piper Laurie in "Carrie" and be truly scary, but instead just plays her kooky character for laughs; she always was a natural at bringing out eccentricities in characters to begin with. Also making "976-EVIL" worthwhile viewing is a cameo by the great Robert Picardo, as the dastardly character running things behind the scenes. Other familiar faces include Darren E. Burrows ("Class of 1999"), J.J. Cohen (the "Back to the Future" trilogy), Lezlie Deane ("Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare"), Paul Willson ('Cheers'), and David Mamet regular J.J. Johnston ("State and Main"). The set decorator was Nancy Booth, who's been married to Englund since 1988.
"976-EVIL" is good fun in general, fun enough that genre fans may rightly wish that Englund had tried directing more often over the course of his career. That sounds like him as the voice of the TV evangelist.
Followed by a sequel.
Seven out of 10.
Written by Rhet Topham and Brian Helgeland, this doesn't completely work, especially the stuff with Jim Metzler ("One False Move") and Maria Rubell ("Salvador") as two other would-be heroes. But it manages to build in intensity as it goes along, and has enough touches and details to maintain a reasonable fun factor (fish raining from the heavens, the Wilmoth family home turning into Hell frozen over, etc.). Director Englund does a decent job balancing conventional horror tropes with more humorous elements. Kevin Yaghers' makeup is good, and the production design by David Brian Miller is first-rate. The performances range from mediocre (Metzler doesn't look like he really wants to be there) to decent to effective. Geoffreys, more restrained than he was in "Fright Night", builds sufficient sympathy for Hoax, and Dennis is a hoot. She doesn't try to ape Piper Laurie in "Carrie" and be truly scary, but instead just plays her kooky character for laughs; she always was a natural at bringing out eccentricities in characters to begin with. Also making "976-EVIL" worthwhile viewing is a cameo by the great Robert Picardo, as the dastardly character running things behind the scenes. Other familiar faces include Darren E. Burrows ("Class of 1999"), J.J. Cohen (the "Back to the Future" trilogy), Lezlie Deane ("Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare"), Paul Willson ('Cheers'), and David Mamet regular J.J. Johnston ("State and Main"). The set decorator was Nancy Booth, who's been married to Englund since 1988.
"976-EVIL" is good fun in general, fun enough that genre fans may rightly wish that Englund had tried directing more often over the course of his career. That sounds like him as the voice of the TV evangelist.
Followed by a sequel.
Seven out of 10.