My review was written in October 1991 after watching the movie on Prism video cassette.
Vet talent gives an interesting wrinkle to the tongue-in-cheek thriller "Evil Spirits". Direct-to-video horror pic has some gore but is mainly for camp followers.
Head campster is Karen Black, who has recently taken grotesque roles in dozens of low-budget features that evidently tickled her fancy for black humor. Here she' a deranged boarding house owner who is becoming rich cashing the monthly checks of her growing roster of dead tenants.
Though all evidence points to Black being a murderess, it turns out she's merely covering up for the real guilty party. Meanwhile she is constantly carrying on imaginary conversations with her dead husband, whose mummified corpse is kept in the bedroom a la Mrs. Bates in "Psycho".
Director-cameraman Gary Graver maintains a creepy atmosphere for this claustrophobic film. Buffs highlights will be seeing Virginia Mayo back on screen after an 11-year absence as one of the tenants and the return of '50s starlet Yvette Vickers as an uppity neighbor. Pic's sex appeal is amply provided by the nude dancing of ingenue Debra Lamb.
Horror mainstay Michael Berryman (of "The Hills Have Eyes" fame) is almost sympathetic playing a normal person here, but his Peeping Tom activities re: Lamb cause his grisly demise.
Film should not be confused with ""Spirits", also shot in early 1990 with Graver as cameraman and Fred Olen Ray directing; these similarly titled pics both have Robert Quarry in the cast.
Vet talent gives an interesting wrinkle to the tongue-in-cheek thriller "Evil Spirits". Direct-to-video horror pic has some gore but is mainly for camp followers.
Head campster is Karen Black, who has recently taken grotesque roles in dozens of low-budget features that evidently tickled her fancy for black humor. Here she' a deranged boarding house owner who is becoming rich cashing the monthly checks of her growing roster of dead tenants.
Though all evidence points to Black being a murderess, it turns out she's merely covering up for the real guilty party. Meanwhile she is constantly carrying on imaginary conversations with her dead husband, whose mummified corpse is kept in the bedroom a la Mrs. Bates in "Psycho".
Director-cameraman Gary Graver maintains a creepy atmosphere for this claustrophobic film. Buffs highlights will be seeing Virginia Mayo back on screen after an 11-year absence as one of the tenants and the return of '50s starlet Yvette Vickers as an uppity neighbor. Pic's sex appeal is amply provided by the nude dancing of ingenue Debra Lamb.
Horror mainstay Michael Berryman (of "The Hills Have Eyes" fame) is almost sympathetic playing a normal person here, but his Peeping Tom activities re: Lamb cause his grisly demise.
Film should not be confused with ""Spirits", also shot in early 1990 with Graver as cameraman and Fred Olen Ray directing; these similarly titled pics both have Robert Quarry in the cast.