Evilspeak is a 1981 American horror film directed by Eric Weston and co-written by Weston and Joseph Garofalo. The film stars Clint Howard as an outcast cadet named Stanley Coopersmith, who frequently gets tormented by his mates and advisers at a military academy. Upon finding a book of black mass that belonged to the evil medieval Father Esteban, he taps through a computer to conjure Satan and summons spells and demons to get revenge upon his harassers.
The movie was one of the infamous "video nasties" banned in the United Kingdom in the 1980s.
Plot
Sixteenth-century Spanish Satanist Father Lorenzo Esteban and his followers are told by a priest that they are banished to America and denied God's grace unless they renounce Satan.
In the present, Stanley Coopersmith is a cadet at West Andover military academy. He is an outcast, bullied by classmates for being an orphan and maltreated by instructors who think him stupid. While cleaning the church cellar as punishment, he finds a room belonging to Esteban containing books of black magic. He uses his computer skills to translate one book from Latin into English. This diary contains rituals for performing the Black Mass and a promise by Esteban: "I Will Return".
Oversleeping the next morning, Stanley finds his alarm clock unplugged and his clothing tied in knots by his classmates. This makes him late for class, and his teacher writes him a note to take to the headmaster Colonel Kincaid. In Kincaid's office, he accidentally leaves the diary on the desk of school secretary Miss Friedemeyer, who hides it. While Stanley has to clean the pigsty, she tries to pry the jewels on the book's front from their settings: this causes the pigs to attack Stanley.
Stanley returns to his dormitory room to find his belongings scattered. Missing his book, he assumes that his classmates stole it, and confronts them about this, but they deny all knowledge. Stanley goes to the school's computer lab to perform research on Satanism, but his allotted time runs out before he can complete it.
Stanley appears in the cellar with computer equipment, apparently stolen from the lab. He sets up the computer and checks the requirements for a black mass. He attempts to initiate one but the computer informs him that he is still missing crucial ingredients: blood and a consecrated host. Reverend Jameson, the church's pastor, nearly discovers him and sends him off to the mess. Arriving too late for dinner, he befriends the school's cook who makes him food and shows him some puppies that his dog just littered. Stanley takes the smallest, names him Fred and hides him in the cellar.
Stanley steals the host from the church. He attempts the ritual and figures in robes with pig faces appear. Stanley is knocked unconscious; these are his classmates in disguise. After they leave, Stanley's computer tells him that the ritual is incomplete. He accidentally wakes the drunken caretaker, Sarge, who accuses him of being a thief and attacks him. An unseen force twists Sarge's head completely around, breaking his neck. Stanley discovers a catacomb containing Esteban's crypt. He hides Sarge's body.
Miss Friedemeyer, at home, again attempts to pry the jewelled pentagram from Esteban's book, and is savaged to death by a pack of large black boars. The diary dematerializes. Stanley's classmates assault him, saying that if he tries to play in the soccer game tomorrow they'll find and kill Fred. Witnessing this, Kincaid kicks Stanley off the team instead of punishing the bullies.
Stanley's classmates, drunk, find Esteban's hidden room. The computer flashes a message saying that blood is needed: they kill Fred, but the computer says it must be human blood. Finding Fred's body, Stanley becomes enraged. The diary appears on Esteban's casket. A teacher catches Stanley stealing another host, and follows him to the catacombs where he is finishing translating Esteban's diary. Stanley pledges his life to Satan, kills the teacher and collects his blood.
Meanwhile, Stanley's classmates, the coach, Kincaid, and Jameson are attending a service. After Stanley successfully performs the ritual, Esteban's soul possesses him. A nail from the crucifix over the church's altar is pried out by an invisible force and lands in Jameson's forehead. Stanley rises through the floor, wielding a sword. He decapitates Kincaid and his coach. His classmates, trying to flee, are devoured by the pack of boars. One bully, Bubba, tries to escape through the catacombs but a reanimated Sarge rips out his heart, killing him. The church burns to the ground.
An epilogue states that Stanley survived, but went catatonic from shock and was committed to an asylum. Stanley's face appears on the computer screen in the cellar with the words "I WILL RETURN".
The film was shot in three weeks, using locations in Santa Barbara at what is now Garden Street Academy and a condemned church in South Central Los Angeles.[1] According to DVD commentary, the dilapidated church was superficially renovated for the movie shoot, confusing a priest who previously worked there and causing him to get on his knees and pray to God. The church was burned to the ground some three days later.
Release and controversy
Evilspeak was released on August 22, 1981, in Japan, and February 26, 1982, in the United States.
The movie was cited as a video nasty in the UK following its release on the Videospace label. It remained banned for a number of years as part of the Video Recordings Act 1984, thanks to its gory climax and themes of Satanism.
The film was reclassified and re-released in 1987 but with over three minutes of cuts, which included the removal of most of the gore from the climax and all text images of the Black Mass on the computer screen. It was then subsequently passed uncut by the BBFC in 2004 and is now available in both an uncut form and a version re-edited by the distributors to tighten up the dialogue.[2]
Actor Clint Howard said that director Eric Weston's original version of the film that was submitted to the MPAA was longer and contained more blood, gore and nudity than the unrated version of the film, especially during the scene where pigs attack Miss Friedemeyer in the shower and the final confrontation.[citation needed] In a July 2017 interview for Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast, Howard also revealed that the film's producers made him pay for his own toupée.
Critical reception
AllMovie called it "essentially a gender-bent rip-off of Carrie", though "there is enough in the way of spooky atmosphere and well-staged shocks to keep less discriminating horror fans interested."[4]PopMatters gave the film a 7/10 grade, despite writing "What started as a standard wish fulfillment/revenge scheme mixed with Satanism flounders with a lack of focus."[5]DVD Verdict wrote "Evilspeak is a crazy movie. Like, crazy. In a good way. Unfortunately, it's also kind of boring at times, taking well over an hour to get where it's going. [...] Despite the slower spots—and there are plenty of slower spots—Evilspeak remains an enjoyably overlooked horror film just for its eccentricities."[6]
A slightly more favourable review came from TV Guide, who wrote "The directorial debut of Eric Weston, Evilspeak is remarkably engaging, imaginative and well-crafted. It contains a strong performance from Howard, plus a deliciously over-the-top nasty turn by veteran character actor R.G. Armstrong."[7]
