In the early 1940’s, a young couple (Jessica Harper and Michael Parks) purchases a Louisiana farm and set out to have a wonderful life together. They soon find out that their home has a violent history and that the previous occupants were murdered. This is one of the last films to be released by one of my favorite old school studios—American International. It certainly looks better than most films of this type. And, the 1940’s sets and costumes are excellent and truly feel like the real thing. It was directed by Charles B. Pierce. He’s the one who brought us The Town that Dreaded Sundown and The Legend of Boggy Creek. Both of those movies laid claims to being based on a true story—same with this film. Both are flawed films, but still decent enough. There are some scenes in this of great tension and suspense. The flashback murder scenes also retain a lurid power.Jessica Harper (Suspiria) is good here. With her huge and expressive eyes, she really sells this film when things get crazy.Michael Parks is an interesting and unique actor. He always dials it down so much that he almost seems too lethargic. Yet, this approach somehow makes him so believable and real. For example, his part in From Dusk Til Dawn in the opening scene. In that, he plays the tired and sweaty cop who tells a story. That brief 5 minutes is the best scene in that film (fight me). He does the same low key approach here and it works. I love him. He’s not in this film enough.A huge flaw in this film is that it’s way too tediously slow. If you’re going to pull the slow burn move, you beter deliver. And this film delivers a colossally dumb last five minutes that I wasn’t buying for one second. I did like this film, though. There are enough good things about it that make it worthy of being called a cult classic.
This is such an underrated gem from Charles B. Pierce and maybe my rating is ever so slightly higher to get more people to watch this, but idk...it really is a well done thriller. Pierce really knows how to evoke that rural Southern atmosphere unlike anyone else and being from the south only makes me like his work that much more.The story is one of home invasion horror before it was even a thing. It’s like the OG version of The Strangers and being set in the 40’s makes it slightly more terrifying! Wonderful cast that includes Michael Parks and Queen Jessica Harper, but the top award goes to Sue Ann Langdon whom I just loooooved in this.
Want you to move. Probably rooted in local boogeyman stories than an actual true crime, the evidently “based on a true story” THE EVICTORS (1979) utilizes that framework for a chilling game of murder from pseudo-docu-horror filmmaker Charles B. Pierce set in Louisiana during World War II. Joseph A. Ziemba of Bleeding Skull writes, “director Charles B. Pierce defined the art, nostalgia, and enchantment of the pseudo-documentary horror film. So it’s only fitting that Pierce’s final genre coup would turn out to be his most elegant.” Handsomely staged and well-acted by genre vets like the Tarantino favorite character actor Michael Parks and Jessica Harper, surviving her ordeal with musical maniacs from PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (1974) and SUSPIRIA (1977), they establish the right tone to these mysteries that are terrorizing them after they move into a big, beautiful but older home that has a lot of troubled past left unsaid to them by the realtor (Vic Marrow). Incidents from the 20s and the 30s that looked like accidents were in fact, murders, begin troubling Ruth Watkins (Harper) as she's often left alone as her husband Ben (Parks) travels for work. What follows is a deep Southern fried psychodrama of murder and property sale money. “The Evictors is all business. There’s no novelty. No exploitive hook. No deviation. It’s just a magnificent fright film; one which focuses less on real life roots and more on the craft of low budget, regional horror,” Ziemba adds.Before the utterly batshit finale, THE EVICTORS plays a rather methodical structure of plotting and chills, and that muted tone only explodes with the ending reveal of the whole thing. It's more-or-less a home invasion thriller, with escalating acts of terror on poor Beth. It's probably the worst nightmare for new home owners of an older home; mysterious noises and muddy footprints, plus that weird man looking in on her, THE EVICTORS isn't quite scary for 1979, nor is it now: HALLOWEEN (1978 – my review) changed the game too fast, but Pierce’s craft is old school enough to leaving an unnerving chill long after the credits roll. But while what worked with his prior film, the creepy THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN (1976 – my review), that atmosphere and tension really struggles at times within THE EVICTORS. Peter Hanson writes, “to the dismay of viewers suckered by the spooky poster and trailer, The Evictors comprises an hour of boring preamble and about 30 minutes of underwhelming climax. Like Pierce’s other Southern-fried shockers. The picture has atmospheric widescreen cinematography and decent production design, but there isn’t enough narrative to sustain a feature.” It’s a hit-or-miss effort here, saved by the mood and the acting and one of the last films distributed by the great American International Pictures (AIP), for trivia fans.
