This was a movie I had to review. I was first drawn not but box art or a title, but by the caption at the bottom of one of my favorite review sites and major inspirations, Stomp Tokyo. It read in bright blue, “Making a Bad Movie: My Personal Nightmare.” Intrigued, I clicked the link and went onto to read the making of this film, commentary I still consider to be better than any director or writer’s commentary you find on a special edition VHS or DVD. The commentary not only got into the ins and outs of bringing the screenplay, written by Freeman Williams, aka Dr. Freex of Bad Movie Report and one of the moderators of The Bad Movie Message Board of which I’ve been a member for years, to life, but gave a very real sense of the frustrations, as well as the inspiration behind the script.

That this was one of the guys that bleeped out the four letter words in my early BMMB posts, I had to read the commentary behind his creation. I got so into it that when a buddy of mine called and wanted to rent movies, I promptly hit Best Video in Hamden, CT, which has a pretty wide selection of weird cinema. It took awhile, but I found a copy of “Forever Evil.” I had a four pack of Guinness to split and I was ready to go after I explained to my friend the occasion, and the lack of DVD.

The major premise of the film was what would happen after surviving the massacre that makes up most slasher movies. Usually, the answer is die in the sequel, but not in this case. You see the hero’s search for answers unfold on screen and get a glimpse of the shell shock as a result of the shock of losing his girlfriend, the child she was carrying, his brother and his friends to an unknown entity as he searches for answers with another victim of a similar trauma at this creature’s hands.

What sets this apart from most slashers is that the big massacre happens right in the beginning, setting up a story but not getting too deep into characterization until after the demon attacks. Growing up on Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th more or less, I’m kind of used to seeing the characters play out into various stereotypes of jock, good girl survivor, slut, jokester etc. You don’t really see that with the early cannon fodder. These characters don’t have such affectations and the viewer can believe these are just a couple of friends out for a weekend of fun. I’m also used to seeing the killer get them one by one, sometimes in some weird poetic justice for some wrong committed, the last survivor possibly killing the bad guy after a drawn out chase scene, clearly traumatized, but you never know what happens because the last survivor survived. End of movie. If the last survivor shows up in the sequel, it’s most likely he or she will get killed pretty early on. Forever Evil turns this concept on its ear by showing what happens to the hero after surviving such a horror.

One thing that kind of bugged me was that the demon, Yog Kothag, is of Cthulhu. Given the legend, lore and RPG’s surrounding him as an entity, why did the heroes only stumble upon one person trying to rouse him. If it is PR Yog wanted, it just wasn’t happening. I kind of expected the heroes to stumble upon a huge cult gathering for this caliber demon.

Derided as a simple gore movie and Evil Dead ripoff, Forever Evil sets itself apart nonetheless. The technical skill and artistry is very evident in the Yog Kothag makeup and the famous demon baby scene. Seeing it on film was much cooler than the website pictures. I had a lot of fun watching this movie. This would be great fare for B-Fest or any horror convention. It’s a little gory, cheeky in part, and a good story idea behind the low budget effects. It’s as good or bad as any B-movie out there!