By Geno McGahee
I have attempted to watch THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF HER GRAVE multiple times but could never get into it. Thankfully, my last attempt was successful and I can see why so many like it so much. It is one of those 70’s European horror films with plenty of T&A, a castle, and some twists and turns. What the fuck was it with castles with these films of this time? Did people really live in them? I have a hard time believing that.
Lord Alan Cunningham (Anthony Steffen) is a troubled man, but he’s loaded. Anyone that goes by the title “Lord” has money and he is worth quite a bit. He has not been the same since his wife, Evelyn, died and has seen visions of her that have greatly disturbed him. Alan begins picking up prostitutes and doing unthinkable things to them. Well, I guess they are technically thinkable things because he did think of them. He gets them naked and beats them with a whip. After that, he kills them, but the haunting visions of Evelyn keep interfering.
Alan holds a séance to contact his dead wife and put her at peace, but when she appears, he passes out and she goes away. He had his shot and blew it. He returns to his wicked ways and begins killing women again, but is told by his friend, Dr. Richard Timberlane (Giacomo Rossi Stuart) that he can solve all his problems with a wife. He begins searching for a bride and proposes to Gladys (Marina Malfatti) on their first date. After some sex, she agrees to be his wife but he turns out to be not the best of husbands.
When Gladys is found inspecting the tomb of Evelyn, Alan flips and begins beating her. His cousin, George (Enzo Tarascio), talks some sense into him, but it’s apparent that Alan is losing his mind. His new bride is afraid of him and wants all signs of Evelyn gone from the house. As she removes and destroys them, she sees Evelyn outside of the house and things begin to come together. Something strange is going on and there is more to it than meets the eye.
Evelyn comes face to face with the decomposing corpse of his ex-wife and it’s a very cool site. I think that it looked better because the copy of the movie that I had was far from remastered. I think if they remastered it, it would be too clear and it wouldn’t look so hot. Here, with this condition, it’s creepy and just a great visual. This pushes Alan over the edge and gets him shipped off to a mental hospital and that is when the secrets are revealed.
THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF HER GRAVE is a movie that you have to be in the mood for. It’s repetitive and it is slow-moving, but I found it interesting throughout. The mystery of it was the selling point and it kept me hanging on. When the corpse of Evelyn came around, the movie became about as cool as it gets. This alone is worth it and the ending had some neat things, reminding me slightly of GAMES. GAMES is a far better movie, but this film had some of the elements that made that one so special.
In the end, I recommend THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF HER GRAVE. It wasn’t what I had expected, but it kept me curious throughout and had some amusing and creepy moments.
Rating: 6/10