Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on January 4, 2006, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
If you’ve been following my reviews over the last few years, you know I’ve had very unkind things to say about a handful of recent body-count movies—films that tried to recapture the spirit of ’70s flicks in which young people are pursued and slaughtered by a vicious human monster or monsters. I got awful harsh with them, to the point where one producer even e-mailed to ask why I singled his movie out for such vitriol. And to him and the others whose work I attacked, I now offer an apology. Perhaps I actually was too nasty and unfair. I never knew just how bad a body-count movie could be until I watched Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain.
This is the flick that, under its original title of Samhain, has developed a bit of notoriety as a heretofore unseen shocker that features current and former porn stars like Jenna Jameson, Ginger Lynn Allen et al., plus lots of graphic gore. Indeed, the back of Lionsgate’s DVD case is headed by the large slogan “CANNIBALS wreak havoc on JENNA JAMESON!” Now, the disc features the R cut of Evil Breed, so the demise of Jameson’s character (who only has one other scene, for the record) has been toned down in the film proper—but the setpiece is presented in all its unexpurgated glory as a disc supplement. So, for those to whom the appeal of Evil Breed lies in seeing a faux Jenna Jameson body having intestines and a silicon implant torn out of it, your long wait is over.
For anyone else, a fine metaphor for Evil Breed is provided by the second uncut bit which reps the disc’s only other significant extra: a guy getting his guts pulled out of his own asshole. Here’s a movie that drags the genre through the basest depths of its lowest common denominator, dripping with condescension toward its target audience. What can you say about a movie that not only drags out the by-now tired old device of having a character constantly make references to other horror movies, but also makes him the most obnoxious bonehead in the whole ensemble? Way to appeal to fright fans, guys. Then there’s a “joke” in which a girl says that spooky goings-on remind her of “a Ted Raimi movie,” as if anyone familiar enough with the genre to know the Raimis’ names would ever confuse Ted with Sam.
The only part of Evil Breed containing more horror clichés than the dialogue references is its storyline. Bobbie Phillips stars as an American college professor who takes a group of students to Ireland (where she somehow scores a van with a steering wheel on the left side). These dolts don’t convince that they could pass elementary-school math, much less warrant an overseas university trip; the one exception is Shae (Brandi-Ann Milbradt), the very obviously established “final girl.” Phillips lectures her students on the ancient druid rituals of Samhain, then also recounts the centuries-old story of the cannibalistic Sawney Bean family (whose activities had nothing to do with Samhain, but never mind). I would say it’s not long before a bunch of disfigured cannibals begin picking the group off, but the poorly structured narrative is all talk, talk, talk and annoying false scares for nearly 50 minutes before the movie finally remembers its purpose, whereupon it rushes through a series of kill scenes with little regard for pacing or tension.
From the opening sequence, in which the girlfriend of special guest “star” Richard Grieco is snatched out of a tent without him noticing—despite the fact that he’s 5 feet away and the night woods are lit up like Yankee Stadium—to the nonsensical open ending, Evil Breed confounds one’s worst expectations at every turn. One feels less blame than pity toward writer/director Christian Viel, since it has been reported that the movie was taken out of his control, and the lack of a screenplay credit suggests that other hands “contributed” to it. But whoever was responsible, the end result is a literal and figurative bloody mess. The most professional contribution would seem to be Adrien Morot’s makeup FX, which are technically well-executed but, like that opening night scene, overlit, to the point where the rubber can’t help but show.
The DVD transfer, letterboxed at about 1.77:1 (not 2.35:1, as stated on the package), is decent, with wan colors in the daytime exteriors and better hues by night, plus Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 soundtracks that get the job done. Beyond those extra-gory bits, the only other extras are a trio of Lionsgate horror trailers, including another January title, Ulli Lommel’s Green River Killer—which, along with Evil Breed, suggests the company is getting its worst 2006 product out of the way early.
