★ 6 / 10
**_Little know giallo-esque flick from early 1980s’ Canada_**
Wuchak
**_Little know giallo-esque flick from early 1980s’ Canada_** An aspiring dancer working as a waitress in Montreal (Pamela Collyer) is talked into a gig with…
**_Little know giallo-esque flick from early 1980s’ Canada_**
An aspiring dancer working as a waitress in Montreal (Pamela Collyer) is talked into a gig with her prostitute friend (Nanette Workman), which leads to a harrowing night at a retired judge’s manor. When she and her beau (Jack Langedijk) try to solve the mystery, they are curiously hindered by the arrogant officer on the case (Roland Nincheri).
“Evil Judgment” (1984) is a mystery/thriller with slasher bits that could be categorized as a Canadian giallo. It’s a ‘B’ production with an ambitious story that leaves you scratching your head, but everything makes sense once you put the ambiguous pieces of the puzzle together. Some viewers won’t want to work that hard, so beware.
Pamela Collyer as protagonist Janet is almost worth the price of admission. She comes across as a meshing of Agnetha Fältskog (the blonde from ABBA) and Stevie Nicks. Unfortunately, there are boring stretches in the second half.
It runs 1 hour, 33 minutes, and was shot in Montreal.
GRADE: B-
★ 6 / 10
Little know giallo-esque flick from early 1980s' Canada
Wuchakk
An aspiring dancer working as a waitress in Montreal (Pamela Collyer) is talked into a gig with her prostitute friend (Nanette Workman), which leads to a…
An aspiring dancer working as a waitress in Montreal (Pamela Collyer) is talked into a gig with her prostitute friend (Nanette Workman), which leads to a harrowing night at a retired judge's manor. When she and her beau (Jack Langedijk) try to solve the mystery, they are curiously hindered by the arrogant officer on the case (Roland Nincheri)."Evil Judgment" (1984) is a mystery/thriller with slasher bits that could be categorized as a Canadian giallo. It's a 'B' production with an ambitious story that leaves you scratching your head, but everything makes sense once you put the ambiguous pieces of the puzzle together. Some viewers won't want to work that hard, so beware.Pamela Collyer as protagonist Janet is almost worth the price of admission. She comes across as a meshing of Agnetha Fältskog (the blonde from ABBA) and Stevie Nicks. Unfortunately, there are boring stretches in the second half.It runs 1 hour, 33 minutes, and was shot in Montreal.GRADE: B-
★ 4 / 10
Evil Judge, Daft Jury, and Dull Executioner
Coventry
It's never a good sign when a mid-80s slasher movie/thriller lays lingering on a shelf for several years and ends up being obscure and unknown. There were…
It's never a good sign when a mid-80s slasher movie/thriller lays lingering on a shelf for several years and ends up being obscure and unknown. There were (too) many similar movies back then and it's difficult to stand out in the crowd, I know, but if a film is so forgotten like "Evil Judgment" it's usually for a good reason. And yet, any slasher flick that features two grisly murders before the opening credits have even finished screen receives my full attention and the benefit of the doubt!
The film also remains intriguing after that, with a sequence at a sleazy diner where an elderly customer urinates in a bowl of soup (allegedly because the soup also tastes like urine) and where a woman insists to her friend, the waitress, that she should consider becoming a prostitute because it pays much better. Career advice, always nice! The waitress discusses the idea with her boyfriend, who's an errand boy for the mafia, and he promptly throws her out of the apartment. Naked. That persuades her to give prostitution a chance. Her friend takes her to a fancy mansion for a threesome with a rich customer, and only then the bizarre slasher/murder mystery plot shifts into gear.
I won't elaborate on the plot too much, but it's convoluted and predictable at the same time. It's also original but boring at the same time, and it's silly but strangely compelling at the same time as well. Those are some very contradictory descriptions, but "Evil Judgment" simply is that kind of unfathomable early 80s low-budget horror flick. Just to illustrate how uneven the script is: Janet's nitwit boyfriend Dino goes from being a heartless jerk, who throws her out of the door naked, to a caring and semi-heroic dream lover who's the only one who believes her and even helps solving the mystery. Why does she go back to someone who treated her so badly in the first place?
There isn't any suspense in this Canadian exploitation flick, and in terms of gore and bloodshed it also doesn't deliver like an 80s horror movie should. The handful of throat-slits are reasonably graphical, but there's practically nothing else. Everything else that could possibly improve the viewing experience is missing here as well (acting, photography, soundtrack, set pieces...). I never heard about writer/director Claudio Castravelli before, but I noticed that - in 1971 - he also made a movie that is called "Up Uranus". I will make it my life's mission to track that one down.
5.1/10
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