directed by:
Don Close, Fiore DeRosa written by: Fiore DeRosa genre: Supernatural, Thriller |
When you get the opportunity to right a wrong from the past, you take it, every time. Detective Stan Zeilinski has been practically traumatized for the past ten years from a mistake he made in the field, and he’s been in a state of self-purgatory ever since. When he gets a familiar-looking letter from the killer that used to taunt him, he’s more than concerned – he’s immediately incensed, and storms right into his captain’s office to demand that the old case he used to work on is reopened quickly, before it’s too late. It might already be. Stan (James Biberi) is in rough shape by this point in his life, practically breaking down physically in front of his fellow cops, and he’s very likely been drinking a little more than he should be for an officer. While the letter he’s received leads him to the grim conclusion of the case he was working on so long ago, it reopens a psychological wound that has never healed in him.
It wasn’t too long before I had a good feeling about “Evil inSight,” a movie written by Fiore DeRosa and co-directed with Don Close. I usually feel fairly on the fence about cop dramas, but it felt like there was something more substantial to this movie than the majority you’ll see, especially in the independent realm. It’s not overtly flashy, but it looks like it’s got a seemingly decent budget (for an indie), and DeRosa seems to know precisely how to get the most out of it, so right from the jump, it feels like a very watchable film. The added advantage of having two leads that we’re interested in right away, with Biberi as Stan & Colin Banks playing his partner Valence Thomas, made it even easier to get into – they both seem invested in their respective roles and get this movie off & running at an interesting clip right away. As to whether or not my favourable opinion was going to last…I’ll admit, around the twenty-third minute or so, when a supernatural element was introduced into the plot, I had to wonder if I was going to feel as strongly about this movie by the end. But it did say "supernatural thriller"… so… Don and Fiore, who also play Rico Grimaldi & Officer Cardillo, respectively, do an excellent job of creating a creepy atmosphere that has a genuinely haunting feeling that follows Stan and Valence in every scene. Finding the right balance of on-the-job cop sarcasm and legitimate suspense is by no means easy, but credit where credit is due: DeRosa and Close really tapped into an approach that works. Scenes like where they find a trap door that leads them into a room full of oddities and clues that point to Simeon Cain (Richard O’Brien) as being at least a person of interest in the case they’re on, are great for helping thicken the plot, and also introduce another character to the story that is highly memorable. Cain seems like trouble. In his little hovel underground, he’s got plenty of pictures hanging up on his wall, and even a box potentially containing trophies, just like a serial killer might have. When you meet him for the first time onscreen, you’ll get it – you don’t just let dudes like Cain walk away without being questioned at the very least. He’s got that slightly slow vibe to him, like he doesn’t even understand the full scope of why he’s in the cop shop to begin with, but he also has an underlying intelligence to him as well that says he’s gotta know something. Stan and Valence continue to question him to see if they can get any useful information out of him, and that’s where Cain essentially tells you he can see dead people like that kid outta “The Sixth Sense” way back in the day. To illustrate the point, DeRosa & Close choose to have the viewers see these dead people as they make their way through “Evil inSight.” Cain ends up seeming a whole lot more sane than trying to build an insanity plea, as Stan accuses him of doing, but the jury’s out until we get more evidence. As we’re first introduced to Cain, he’s quirky and seems out of sorts for sure, but if being that was an actual crime, I would have been locked up years and years ago. So look…Yes, I get a little skeptical, to say the least, when the supernatural stuff gets involved. My first reaction to its inclusion in this particular movie was wondering why it would need it when the cop-drama element was already working so well. That being said, I was still intrigued because I thought the effects that were being used for the ghosts we see actually looked pretty cool, and in scenes like where Cain gives Zeilinski a peek behind the curtain, and he ends up in a whole different realm for a moment, I felt like adding in this supernatural element might not be the worst decision I’ve seen after all. At the end of the day, without some kind of distinction being made, any cop drama can end up becoming a whole lot like an ordinary episode of Law & Order, so I give the duo credit for taking this story to a much different place in that respect. I also appreciated that it wasn’t like the ghosts and effects became too dominant in “Evil inSight” either. It’s an essential part of this movie, but it’s not overblown or overused.
What continues to keep us onboard, watching, and fully engaged, at least from my perspective, is the human element at the core of it all. I think all of us as viewers will enjoy what Biberi and Thomas bring to their roles and really like how they play off each other as partners in fighting crime. They’re a duo that works, and it felt like they both assumed their respective roles like a second skin they were born to be comfortable wearing. Cain also continually builds on his character and becomes a more interesting part of the plot as well. The acting, the characters, and a quality story are what keep us watching “Evil inSight,” but once again, to be completely fair, the effects & supernatural aspect were all handled better than I assumed they might be at first. Does the story need that stuff? I think that’s the way that DeRosa wanted to tell this story, and I respect that. It gives this movie a whole other dimension, prevents it from being too normal, and most of the time, the effects ended up being pretty impressive overall. There are a few spots that I’m sure we could debate back and forth about whether or not they seemed realistic enough or were too over the top, but for the most part, they were effective in enhancing the atmosphere. In particular, the black-and-white scenes where Cain would help guide Stan towards the answers he’s been looking for all felt really well-conceived to me. I liked how DeRosa puts this story on a course to be on multiple planes of existence, yet has them all interacting with each other in a very real way. We always assume ghosts can’t really hurt us, especially when their whole constitution is made up of wisps of smoke, but lest we forget, the objects in our mirrors can be much closer than they appear. Does “Evil inSight” drag a little bit in some spots? Sure, I suppose I’d listen to that argument and have to agree. Where I felt like it struggled the most was trying to ensure that we cared about solving the case that they’re currently working on, because we don’t really have a connection to the missing girls, as we have with the two detectives working it. In some respects, that’s okay, because the film focuses on the characters we all probably enjoy watching most, but from the flipside of that coin, we also spend a significant amount of time chasing something that doesn’t quite feel as important as their story does. When the final twists come into play, “Evil inSight” starts to make a significant rebound as the lines blur between who the good guys really are, forcing us to wonder if Stan might be even worse than Cain is being accused of behaving. Maybe there’s a much more valid reason for Stan to have been deep in the bottle for all the years than we’ve been led to believe! The middle of DeRosa’s film does sag a little bit, I think that’s fully fair to say – but I do think there’s also a whole lot of redemption here in the remarkable twists of the ending as well. It’s a strong film overall in my opinion, I’m going with 3.5/5 stars – all in all, the acting is solid, the characters are excellent, and it manages to take care of its loose ends just in time. |
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