Surviving Evil (2009) User Reviews

Surviving Evil: Flawed jungle horror

[Platypuschow · 5/10 · 5 October 2017]

I'm a fan of Billy Zane, in fact I'd go as far as to say I'm a big fan of his so it always pains me to see him in movies like this. The man has the acting chops and natural comedic timing so should be gracing our screens in high budget efforts not things like this.

Telling the story of a famous television survivalist and his film crew visiting a Phillipino island full of nasty creatures that funnily enough ruin their shoot.

The movie has little in the way of originality but does certainly have its moments. It's weakness besides the fact we've seen it all before is a dreadful ending which damages the entire film. Not sure if they did that ending because they expected to make a sequel, but that was very naive if the case.

Surviving Evil is a watchable piece with a decent enough cast and surprisingly decent sfx considering its budget but just pretend the film ends five minutes before the end.

The Good:

Billy Zane

Looks the part

The Bad:

Beyond dumb ending

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The creators had no clue of the weight of gold

The sanscript name for Jungle is Jungala

Good Acting, Bad Script.

[Christine_Plymouth_Fury1958 · 5/10 · 28 December 2011]

I grew up with the stories of the "Aswang", which is a mythical creature in Philippine folklore. (The Aswang is an inherently evil vampire-like creature and is the subject of a wide variety of myths and stories, the details of which vary greatly.) Knowing this, I was expecting a great deal from the movie.

The opening scene was fairly decent and stoked me up for what should be coming next. Unfortunately, I was sadly disappointed with too much unnecessary dialogue that made the movie a bit of a drag to watch after the first part.

To make a brief enumeration, the story had a lot of potential. I believe they could have made this into a really good horror movie since the concept of the folklore has its own charm.

All the actors had to be given credit for doing a superb job on such an obviously meager script. If they did one thing right, it's picking out the cast in this film.

Now, the background music/sound effects reminded me of Vincent Price for some reason. Which I found a bit funny since the cinematography is like watching something from the 70's. I'm thinking, it's either something deliberate for effect or just a result of having a low budget.

Things pick up, though, near the end. Unfortunately, even then, there wasn't much focus on the Aswangs and their shape-shifting prowess. This could have been precious fodder for making a great horror story and messing with viewer's minds.

Overall, it's not THAT bad, but it's not something I would watch again.

Bad low budget horror.

[poolandrews · 3/10 · 6 May 2010]

Surviving Evil is set on Mayaman Island in the Philippines where a crew of TV documentary makers land, there to make an episode of Surviving the Wild with Sebastian 'Seb' Beazley (Billy Zane) as the adventurer host. Local guide Joey (Joel Torre) speaks of the legendary Aswang creatures of myth supposedly born out of the horrors of the Spanish invasion centuries ago but surely mythological Vampire like shape-changing creatures can't exist in reality? Well yes, they do & they particularly like the taste of human flesh & are attracted to a pregnant woman's blood, as they would be. As the Aswang attack can the crew use their survivalist knowledge to beat the creatures & make it off the island alive?

This British South African co-production was written & directed by Terence Daw & one has to say that while Surviving Evil had potential for a nice fun creature film it really isn't very good & to be honest apart from slightly better production values & a bit more blood Surviving Evil is no better than those awful Sc-Fi Channel creature feature films that they make. I liked the idea about the makers of a nature survivalist TV programme getting stuck on an island full of monsters but apart from an excuse to strand several people there the survivalist aspect never comes into play & no-one ever uses any survival skills like building traps or trying to camouflage or tyring to find some secure shelter. No, once the monsters show up there's nothing any more clever or inspired here than 'let's all run & scream'. The opening sequence features a tribe being slaughtered bu something nasty which sets the film up nicely but it takes ages for the action to kick in after that, our TV crew arrive & then spends over an hour just talking & while I don't mind some build-up & scene setting it came to the point where I got really bored with it. At less than 90 minutes long Surviving Evil felt longer as there's only twenty odd minutes of monster action in it, that character's are better than expected with Billy Zane's host Seb coming off as quite likable but he bails well before the end leaving us with two annoying women who scream a lot. The script is also very vague & doesn't make much sense, the guide speaks of these creatures being supernatural somehow & can change shape but during the film they can be killed with spears & behave within the realms of reality apart from when they shape-shift, there's no reason as to why they wait so long to attack the crew or why they waited so long to kill the original tribe & there's a strange climax in which a phone is heard ringing next to a woman who fell down a hole but it was said earlier that there was no signal on the island & so what anyway? I mean is a phone ringing meant to be a twist? It just seemed a very odd way to end the film in the sense to have a phone ring, we don't really know whose phone it was (it could have belonged to any of the crew) or who was calling it & till that point the phone had no significance in the film whatsoever so why that final shot?

Besides a muddled story that can't decide if it wants to be a straight creature feature or a supernatural horror film Surviving Evil has some really bad editing going on. The last twenty minutes are full of attacks but the camera jerks around & the sequences are edited so fast it's almost impossible to tell whats going on or see anything, I have never understood this style of film-making with fast editing & shaky camera movements as it just frustrates & I hate it. There are a few decent gore scenes here, there's some mutilated bodies & limbs, a freaky dead skinned baby mutant thing & plenty of blood splatter. Not scary or exciting or fun Surviving Evil takes itself very seriously but feels unfinished somehow. The special effects are pretty good here, although we never see them for more than a quick flash at any one time the creatures look pretty good & the gore effects are all on-set effects rather than CGI. The scenery & locations are nice enough but apart from the creatures the character's never run into any trouble & the terrain is left underused.

Although set in the Philippines this was actually shot in South Africa. The acting is better than expected & although Billy Zane is slumming it he's quite likable here.

Surviving Evil is a pretty poor creature feature that drifts between styles & inspirations, it's very slow going & the horrible fast editing makes the monster scenes once they begin a real chore to watch. It's just not much fun in any regard. No better than your average crap Sci-Fi Channel creature feature, it just looks a bit better & has a bit more blood in it.

Waste of Potential

[BakuryuuTyranno · 2/10 · 29 December 2010]

Once again, various characters face a mystery the audience is already fully aware of the resolution of, prompting another movie that delivers little suspense or mystery.

The monsters are shapeshifters, capable of transforming into any creature, which in a jungle setting like this would provide excellent paranoia fuel. This gets wasted entirely, however, as animals barely appear on screen with the characters. Incidentally, the monsters rarely use these abilities in attacking their victims anyways.

Obviously it takes more than one actor to contribute anything worthwhile, and Billy Zane can only contribute slightly to a film with nothing else going for it. Even worse the monsters have almost no presence and aside from the times characters find evidence of their existence, it's as if nothing is happening.

Very Enjoyable

[mendezmm · 5/10 · 11 July 2015]

Sure, there was potential for more. There was also plenty to enjoy.

Some thrills, some silly dialogue, some meanies doing mean things, some blood, even some pretty ladies (no nudity).

Some people can't stop pretending they would have done it better long enough to enjoy something.

Grab a friend and a beer, enjoy yourselves.

___ --- ___ --- ___ ---

I didn't need ten lines to explain that, IMDb.

Sorry.

What else... well the monsters were quite vicious, a good thing I think. I don't like the pansy monsters in some movies. 30 Days of Night was a great movie precisely because the vampires were absolute beasts. Didn't sparkle or nothing.

Decent horror flick deserving of better ...

[sinncross · 6/10 · 17 July 2009]

A TV documentary crew, responsible for a wide selection of programmes on surviving in different terrains around the world, attempt their latest shoot on a remote jungle island in the Philippines. While filming, the crew come across some strange sightings unknown that the island is home to the bloodthirsty Aswang.

From the opening credits it is evident that Surviving Evil was filmed on a low budget and very little is done to hide this fact, however the film does get slightly in quality after the first few minutes. The story itself is nothing new and is reminiscent of the Hills have Eyes 2 combined with Cannibal Holocaust, though it never gets near as gory as either. There are a couple of subplots, one of which helps the main plot along, but they have very little impact on the story as a whole and serve more to add depth to the characters and their relations with one another. Though even this is a lost cause with there not being enough screen time for true character interaction to occur. The plot is ultimately thin but with the workable pace and real intent on scaring the audience, it is never as glaring a problem as it could be.

The acting side of things is fairly competent. While Billy Zane, Colin Moss and Natalie Mendoza take up the bulk of acting, the other actors persevere in making as much of the script as possible. Still this doesn't stop some weak acting at times but on a whole the cast are reasonable and definitely make up for the films other shortcomings.

The biggest of which happens to be the cinematography. Director Terence Daw is unfortunately no professional having directed only television series many years ago. He attempts to do justice to the locales but to little effect with little effort going into wide or panning shots. Still he is able to gt the ferocity and quick tension of the violent attacks well enough without having to resort to full on bloody violence gore. His build up to the climax is fairly paced and the barrage attack with occurs to the crew makes for an exciting watch.

There is no sex or nudity though violence and language are constant throughout. Violence is bloody but most gore is shown from corpses with the horrors sequences raining from quick cuts to darkened views on the action. Language variety is low though the F-word is muttered a good few times, mostly in bunches.

There is a peculiar likability to Surviving Evil even when it is clearly far from being the best in its genre. And perhaps this is due to an acting ensemble that really try to make more of the film then there should be. When you factor in some fairly entertaining horror moments, even though they're mild by modern comparisons, you have a film that deserved a more experienced director and more money for production. It is a pity that the film is getting little in terms of publicity and this is most likely due to the film being half produced by a South African company. If the chance arises you should give Surviving Evil a chance: it's not great but you may be pleasantly surprised.

High quality low budget film making.

[jhpstrydom · 8/10 · 3 April 2010]

A small crew arrive at an island in the Philippines to begin shooting a documentary about a tribe that lives on the island but little do they know that something else also lives on the island, ancient creatures with a thirst for blood.

This UK/South African co production was written and directed by Terence Daw and it is an exceptional little monster movie boasting a well fleshed out storyline, the performances by Billy Zane (BLOODRAYNE), Natalie Mendoza (THE DESCENT) and Colin Moss (NUMBER 10) are great as well as the performances from the supporting cast, the creature design is one of the better designs I've seen in recent low budget films and the director shows a big degree of professionalism.

However, this film is not really scary so I wouldn't recommend it if you're looking to get scared stiff but I would recommend it if you want to see a really good movie.

Enjoying Evil

[doughnutboy20 · 7/10 · 29 October 2009]

What an excellent horror film!

Surviving Evil was original, gory and most of all fun. The film has received some unjust negative response on some sites (including this one) and though I agree that Surviving Evil might not be the best horror film ever made, it didn't stop me enjoying it.

Surviving Evil takes place entirely on a remote island in the Philippines, where after we see a tribe slaughtered by (at first) unknown creatures, we are introduced to a TV documentary crew who are there to film a wilderness survival special.

The acting was pretty good, with Billy Zane and Christina Cole being perfectly cast as the unwitting lovers who are stalked by baby loving, shape shifting, winged demons.

Filmed in South Africa with British and African money, Surviving Evil had no big production names working on it, very little publicity and was made with a rumoured small budget (not that you could tell from the end result).

In conclusion, Surviving Evil is an enjoyable thrill ride, with some very old fashioned music and some cracking special effects (A bit like a reworking of a classic adventure movie, except with more blood).

A Decently Delivered Horror Marred By a Lousy Ending

[tristanp25 · 6/10 · 25 June 2013]

Set on the remote Mayaman Island in the Philippines, comes the story of six documentary filmmakers, who plan to spend six days shooting a survival special until they find out the island they perceived as uninhabited, reveals to have a Philippine folklore creature, the Aswang, lusting for their blood. The plot itself is intriguing. 6 people, a deserted island, and a mythical legend about a superior creature that looms over them. You can't go wrong with that, but somehow "Surviving Evil" didn't fully pull out all the stops when they had the chance.

I thought the cast was finely assembled. The performances of the actors were, for the most part, solid. Besides the atmosphere which was well established and the aerial shots of the island being beautiful, the acting came in as an added bonus. The characters all had their own conflicts affecting their lives, but the film makes a mistake spending over 40 minutes to flesh out these characters in their setting, leaving the creature to roar in hunger in the background. It just took way too long for the suspense to build up and nearing the end of the film, it felt like it was rushed to squeeze in a few things. And don't even get me started on that "to be continued" TV show episode ending. I surely hope they intend to make a sequel, because the ending is lousy.

All in all, "Surviving Evil" is decent horror worth a watch. You'll probably be exhausted with it for at least 30-40 minutes due to the lengthy character build-up taking away too much from the action to even begin, but when they deliver the last 90 minutes, it's pretty action packed. The directing and script may not be perfect; however, it's more than tolerable. Give the movie a shot. Sit back, relax and enjoy it.

Island of flying monkeys

[markpeterjones · 21 September 2011]

Opened well and for a minute or two I thought…yep this is going to be an interesting and different type of film after a quick spooky intro..however the whole of the film ends up a disappointment and a shame as billy zane and Christina cole are good actors/actresses…the whole going to an island thing and finding it houses demonic forces seemed to be the initial line when it started but then it continues like a poor replica of 'predator' and you just can't compete with that, especially on a low budget, I suppose if I had to say something positive about the monsters they are pretty believable at times, but it would have been better to have stuck with a more supernatural theme…and I felt no emotion for those on the island, which is always a bad sign if you want to feel for those striving to survive

Pulse-Pounding Horror Adventure

[jlthornb51 · 9/10 · 11 June 2015]

Terrence Daw directs this highly original, pulse-pounding horror adventure film that features some exotic location shooting as well as a superb script. The characters are well developed and as the story progresses we come to actually care about the fate of these people. The plot concerns a film crew in the wilds of the Philippines whose members find themselves fighting for their very lives against ... no spoilers! Billy Zane gives one of his finest performances here in the role of Sebatian "Seb" Beazley and it gives him an opportunity to once again excel as an actor. High adventure, terrifying horror, and an engrossing human drama, Surviving Evil is sharply produced film that deserves to be seen by a wider audience.

Mark Peter Jones- review

[ru_thaker · 6 April 2020]

I'm with you on your review. I didn't understand the ending, it was vague. Did you?