Enjoyable, At Least
To be perfectly honest, this movie wasn't great, or even good. 976-EVIL is simply a campy, trashy horror movie. The plot isn't very strong, with the focus much more heavily on over-the-top and often ridiculous gore-- as one might expect from a film directed by Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund.The story follows "bad boy" Spike and his nerdy, introverted cousin, Hoax. They both find a card advertising the phone line 976-EVIL, with instructions to dial for your "horrorscope". Stephen Geoffreys' performance as Hoax is exactly what one might expect after his role in Fright Night-- he's intense, wild, and interesting-- but his co-star, Patrick O'Bryan, is far less notable as Spike. The film attempts to heavily lean on the cousin bond as a plot device, but the relationship isn't very well-developed, or very believable, which leaves much of the story transparent and wholly unsurprising.
That being said, it's easy to enjoy if you don't expect it to be something more than a cheap teen horror movie from the 80s. If you're looking for camp, or a (possibly unintentionally) comedic horror, 976- EVIL is a great choice, and one that I sincerely enjoyed.
score 5/10
bosselot 30 March 2016
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3442644/34974
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