By Melissa Antoinette Garza
The Evil Inside aka Dead Inside is a strange movie that crosses Final Destination (2000) with Kolobos (1999) though fails to be as effective as either. Still, it’s certainly watchable and has a strong lead that sells the production.
Sarah (Hannah Ward) is a mentally ill young woman on a lot of medication. She has just returned to the town she grew up in and has no friends and no acquaintances. In fact, those who do know her are cruel. The movie opens as Sarah (Hannah Ward) has awful visions of being kicked and taunted by bullies.
Her parents, desperate to help her feel welcome, plan a sleepover with a friend Sarah had as a child. Lucy (Sage Howard) is a nice girl but is friends with a lot of annoying jerks. She shows up with five other people for the overnight party. Immediately, everyone but Lucy begins poking fun at Sarah’s odd behavior. She disappears into the kitchen as her old friend sticks up for her reminding everyone that Sarah was nice enough to invite everyone over.
Lucy follows her host to make sure she’s alright, but it’s clear something is very wrong. Sarah admits that she just had a premonition and tells Lucy that she saw her lying on the floor dead. As one could guess, the vision doesn’t sit well with Lucy who rushes out of the kitchen and tells the group what happened. They think about leaving the party, but Sarah overhears and doesn’t want anyone to go. She reemerges and apologizes. She lies and says that it was a bad joke. In an effort to keep things light and try to have fun, Lucy says she’s overreacted and everyone decides to stay.
For a little while everyone gets along fine, but it’s obvious that Sarah is still on edge. Later in the evening, arguments flare between the two alpha-males at the party. Malcolm (Matthew Mercer) gets upset that Wesley (James Adam Lim) has been flirting with Michelle (Rayne Bidder). Under no uncertain terms, Malcolm warns Wesley to keep away from his girl, but Wesley brags that it’s too late for that as he has already screwed her.
Wes is by far the biggest douche of them all. He actually uses the term “brah” better known as the more annoying way to say “bro.” I wish I could say that the character was unrealistic, but sadly I know so many people like him. I hate each one. They’re the fools who peaked in high school and still think they’re the cat’s pajamas. You know the type. They’re the ones that say stuff like, “good times!” “Only God can judge,” “It’s all good” or the worst offender “It is what it is.” In certain situations, I’m in a position where I have to hear these people talk and I get so annoyed by it all. I have to fight the urge to say, “Shut the fuck up!” as they go on about how funny the latest episode of Family Guy is. I may be offending some of the readers right now, but if you’re 40 and still wearing your Varsity jacket, maybe someone has to offend you.
Soon, Lucy is found dead and remembering Sarah’s prediction everyone decides to leave. Unfortunately, they are all locked in. Sarah tells them that Lucy had the keys and doesn’t know why the doors would be locked. She then goes on to tell them how she has seen each one’s demise. It’s clear they are concerned though they try to downplay it. Sarah goes into detail with each one specifically advising how they all meet their untimely death. She then goes upstairs and leaves everyone behind. Still, they try to play it off and think that perhaps Sarah may try to kill them. Knowing the group of them could take her, they try to stick together.
They soon notice that Lucy’s body has disappeared. They all run upstairs to confront Sarah who they believe has stolen the corpse. Wesley comes up with a plan where they should lock themselves in a room together. Malcolm wants none of it and the two have another heated exchange. Wesley calls him a foreigner and accuses him of statutory rape. He tells Michelle to go with him, but Michelle stays with Malcolm.
Wesley runs off with Ms. Skank A-Lot Billie (Tara Strand) and boring scaredy-cat Serena (Jennifer Zhang). Billie offers herself to Wesley and invites Serena to join in. When Serena reminds Billie that Lucy just died and that having sex shouldn’t be on her mind, the two ladies get into a cat fight. Wesley sits back and enjoys the view. Serena leaves the room and asks Michelle and Malcolm to take her in, but they are too busy with their own drama to pay her any mind.
Sarah remains in her room though it’s apparent that something else or someone else is there too. A shadowy figure can be seen in the mirror and then again running behind her. These make for the coolest scenes as the mystery is not yet revealed and his/her/its identity is still unknown.
Of course, the deaths begin to play out as Sarah predicted them. Every time someone is about to die, she gets a vision and sees them. Sometimes, they’re bloody and other times they appear to be zombies. Whenever one is struck, Sarah feels the pain as if it was her being hit.
The conclusion isn’t very surprising and it sort of falls flat. It was definitely an easy way out.
For the most part, the acting is fine considering what the actors had to work with. Unfortunately, most of the characters are just awful. They’re awful human beings. They are throwaways in the sense that the audience will cheer for their demise. It’s very similar in nature to characters in a Friday the 13th movie. They’re selfish, self-involved, spoiled and would turn on each other at the drop of a hat. Self-preservation is their top priority, but even without that understandable human instinct driving them, their personalities are still unforgiving.
Michelle’s a cheater; Malcolm is sleeping with an underage girl; Wesley has no morals whatsoever; Serena throws her ‘friends’ under the bus to save herself; and Billie is an insulting and bullying whore.
That said; the main character is fantastic. Hannah Ward sells not only her performance but the entire production. The pain and anguish that Sarah endures because of this ‘gift’ can be felt by the viewer. Her internal struggle is the real story and it, if nothing else, is quite compelling. Ward is a fantastic actress and I cannot wait to see her in other projects. Her ability to show both strength and weakness at the same time is very intriguing. Sarah is definitely broken but in a lot of ways she’s better put together than all those she has visions about.
I think this is certainly worth watching once. It’s far from perfect. Still, it’s better than a lot of straight-to-DVD films. It at the very least is not found footage nor is it torture porn. It has a story and it definitely tries to tie up all the loose ends, but it does so in a sloppy cheap way.
Scared Stiff Rating: 5/10
