IMDb > Something Evil (1972) (TV)

Something Evil (1972) (TV) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
5.8/10   403 votes
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Director:
Steven Spielberg
Writer:
Robert Clouse (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Something Evil on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
21 January 1972 (USA) more
Genre:
Horror more
Plot:
A young couple moves into a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania. What they don't know is that there is an unseen presence in the house, and that it wants to take possession of the wife. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
User Comments:
Early Spielberg curiosity piece more (16 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Sandy Dennis ... Marjorie Worden

Darren McGavin ... Paul Worden
Ralph Bellamy ... Harry Lincoln
Jeff Corey ... Gehrmann
Johnny Whitaker ... Stevie Worden
John Rubinstein ... Ernest Lincoln
David Knapp ... John
Laurie Hagen ... Beth

Herb Armstrong ... Schiller
Margaret Avery ... Irene
Norman Bartold ... Mr. Hackett
Sheila Bartold ... Mrs. Hackett
Lois Battle ... Mrs. Faraday
Bella Bruck ... Mrs. Gehrmann
Lynn Cartwright ... Secretary
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
73 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Certification:
USA:Unrated
Filming Locations:
Golden Oak Ranch - 19802 Placerita Canyon Road, Newhall, California, USA more
Company:
Belford Productions more

Fun Stuff

Goofs:
Crew or equipment visible: The shadow of the cameraman can be seen on Marjorie's red robe when she walks out to the yard on their first night. more
Quotes:
Marjorie Worden: Can you believe that I believe that the devil's in my house?
Harry Lincoln: Yes. If you believe there's a devil, you believe the devil's in your house; then for you it's true.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in A Collaboration of Spirits: Casting and Acting 'The Color Purple' (2003) (V) more
Soundtrack:
APPLE BAR CANDY SONG more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful.
Early Spielberg curiosity piece, 23 April 2009
5/10
Author: tieman64 from United Kingdom

"Something Evil" is a television movie notable for being directed by a young Steven Spielberg. The plot is simple: a family move into a haunted house and, over the course of a few weeks, witness strange occurrences and experience bizarre paranormal attacks.

Being a TV movie, the dialogue, story and music are pretty cringe worthy, and due to the film's low budget, the "horror sequences" look a bit ridiculous. For example, while driving at night a car is attacked by a "light" flashed across the windscreen, and during the film's finale, a paranormal attack is rendered by simply moving furniture and inserting loud noises on the soundtrack.

What's most interesting are the little visual tics that would pop up later in Spielberg's filmography. Already he has a fondness for photographing little boys, filming rooms filled with toys and staging big scenes in which cars drive off cliffs. One sequence, in which a kid is attacked by a "ghost" in his bedroom, is eerily similar to the homestead assault in "Close Encounters", toys strewn everywhere, windows rattling, mother and son huddled together on the floor. Note too the opening scene, Spielberg's camera shifting planes, focusing on the foreground, pulling focus, switching to the background, pulling focus again, and then pushing back to a new foreground. For a TV movie this is a rather over designed shot, recalling the way Spielberg shifts from boat to the butler to lounging family at the beginning of "Jurassic Park 2".

And of course even this early in his career, Spielberg paints the film's father figure as an ineffectual, largely absent character. The film is firmly about a mother and son, the father always away at work or offering condescending lines of dialogue.

But dramatically the film hasn't aged well, and is likely to only nostalgically appeal to young children who were left scared during its original television release. The "horror sequences" don't work, the soundtrack is hokey and the plot plays like a kiddie version of Robert Wise's "The Haunting". Better to put the film on mute and study the introductory and ending sequences, which Spielberg seems to have put a lot of effort storyboarding.

4/10 –For Spielberg completists only. Aside from a few moments, the direction is anonymous.

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