zardoz-13 "Evil Spawn" is good for some laughs. This 'cautionary tale' about the price that must be paid by taking short-cuts to acquire beauty, power, fame, and money qualifies it as a morality tale. Obviously, this literary theme must have secondary in the collective minds of the three directors--Kenneth J. Hall of "Ghost Writer," Ted Newsom of "The Naked Monster," and the schlockmeister par excellence Fred Olen Ray of "Tomb of the Werewolf." They were struggling to make a goofy, gory, ghoulish monster epic. Naturally, the low-budget special effects hampered their credibility, but this rank amateur quality endows it with a modicum of charm. Unless otherwise notified, it is anybody's guess who helmed the bulk of this nonsense. The directing trio have also slipped in some soft-core porn scenes with frontal nudity. Happily, the naked ladies are beautiful, even the elder of the bunch Bobbie Bresee as a starlet who refuses to let her age impair her in her pursuit of marquee's role. Actually, not only does "Evil Spawn" incorporate soft-core nudity, hilarious lobster-looking behemoths, but it also boasts science fiction content, too! The film opens with a title card that spells out this exposition: a "Odyssey" probe to Venus has returned to Earth with alien microbes for analysis by independent laboratories. "The use . . . and misuse of these microbes is the subject of this film." Afterward, we see a spaceship made out of cardboard tubes heading toward Earth. A striking looking woman with a weird hairstyle enters a lab and releases a sickeningly bad alien critter and bars the exit from the lab so that the scientist cannot escape and is attacked by the critter. Blood is splashed everywhere. Miraculously, he gets to this feet later and walks away. Later,a young couple in a Renegade jeep show up searching for her cat. They encounter the bitten scientist, and it tears off the guy's arm The gal leaps into their jeep and rams monster. Not surprisingly,continuity suffers in this assemblage of story lines. Meantime, as an aging actress with few starring roles in sight, Linda Roman (Bobbie Bresee of Mausoleum") sells her soul sort of to the devil. Actually, the devil in this equation, Dr. Emil Zeitman (the venerable John Carradine of "House of Frankenstein") isn't alive long because his treacherous assistant kills him. Turns out that this scene wasn't originally in the screenplay! Olen Ray inserted it no doubt to draw on Carradine's name as a fixture in horror movies dating back to the 1940s. This insane scientist has created something evil from alien DNA that enables the vilest part of your personality to assert control over an individual and shape-shift them into something hideous. Linda Roman listens to Zeitman's homicidal assistant Evelyn Avery (Dawn Wildsmith of "Surf Nazis Must Die") who is trying to convince Linda to participate in a study. Our protagonist runs Avery off, but she finds two needles in a case nearby on her table. Reluctantly but desperately, she injects herself and so begins a quasi-"Jekyll and Hyde" yarn. Linda's closest friends are amazed at her reborn youth, and she yearns to star in a movie entitled "Savage Basically, she turns into a monster like "The Wasp Woman" only this time more like super nasty looking marine specimen that resides in the waters off Maine. The acting runs the gamut of tolerable to terrible, but Bresee does an adequate job with her serious, straightforward thesping. Poor Carradine didn't even know that he was in this fiasco.Most of the gory stuff occurs toward the end, but there is that trademark bursting from the chest scene that occurs "Carrie" like at the end. Earlier, the monster feasting on its victim resembled a giant rat covered in pizza with glowing eyes. Clearly, the filmmakers were too frugal to treat the story on a national basis with these unsavory monsters attacking the Earth in a takeover of the planet. The body count looks to be no more than five, including Elaine (Pamela Gilbert), her untrustworthy Hollywood agent Harry (Fox Harris), and philandering boyfriend, Mark (Mark Anthony). The production was presumably compromised from the start. Scenes appear out of nowhere with the least justification. For example, one scene has a beauty dancing erotically for Linda's boyfriend and then she appears in full insect armor with giant claws and lays waste! Nevertheless, the outlandish storyline, the cheapo values, and the derivative content lend it enough charm if you're willing to let it dominate at least 75 minutes of your day. "Evil Spawn" might properly be seen after dark with lots of alcoholic beverages and pizza to go around for everybody. One last thing: Olen Ray wasn't prepared to let "Evil Spawn" waste away in B-movie Hell, he recycled it with new footage as "Alien Intruders."

Scarecrow-88 An aging actress, Lynn Roman(Bobbie Bresee;who, at 37, had one knock out of a body), desperately desires to retain her past glory by nabbing a major part designed for a 20 year old lead, decides to inject an experimental formula given to her by a mysterious scientist. This scientist, Evelyn Avery(Dawn Wildsmith),an obsessive fan of Roman's, caused the deaths of her boss, Dr. Zeitman(John Carradine; whose role was actually lifted from stock footage of another proposed Fred Olen Ray project, Frankenstein's Brain)and fellow colleague using a formula designed from alien DNA. It is designed to make Lynn look younger, but has a nasty side-effect, when angered, she transforms into a hideous insect monster! Yes, Bresee turns into yet another monster. Anyway, Lynn's biographer, Ross Anderson(Drew Godderis, in a dreadful performance with equally appalling voice over narration that seems to attempt a homage of sorts to Sunset Boulevard)investigates the drug she's been injecting and discovers some disturbing truths. Meanwhile, Lynn's alter-ego, the insect monster, emerges killing her maid, Elaine(Pamela Gilbert), back-stabbing agent, Harry(Fox Harris), and cheating boyfriend, Mark(Mark Anthony). I believe there's an alternate version out there with extra footage shot by Fred Olen Ray, but the version I viewed gives Kenneth J Hall full credit as director. On this page, several cast members represent characters that aren't in the film I just finished, which was released by Fred's distribution label for DVD. Anyway, the quality for this movie is below par and the camera-work is exceptionally flat and unimaginative. Bobbie Bresee, however, is well cast and gets a chance to flaunt her magnificent naked figure in a gratuitous shower sequence. Unfortunately, the close-ups of her false monster teeth are laughable, although her creepy eye contacts and furious facial expressions work a bit better. The monster costume comes right out of those bad creature features in the 50's which I felt was intentional..a beloved spoof of those films, placed within an 80's modern setting. The film's theme is the longing to remain a vital figure in Hollywood despite the expiration date looming(..again, right out of Sunset Boulevard)and Bresee, despite how yummy her figure is, seems to tap into the rage that befalls older actresses trying to keep up with the much younger gals entering the industry. The sub-plot with Wildsmith, as the diabolical, deranged scientist, really off-sets the tone of the rest of the film, particularly her scenes in her apartment, taping collective photos and clippings of Lynn on the walls. The monster mayhem is(intentionally?)goofy and rather poorly executed because the costume isn't the least bit scary..more likely, seeing it will give you the giggles. Pamela Gilbert(..a tall, athletic figure, with long brown hair), as Lynn's maid, disrobes for the horny male(..and female?)viewers during a swim while her employer is away, eventually falling prey to the monster..told she was too old for the desired lead role she so covets, Lynn's rage causes the beast to rear it's ugly head. The scene with an elderly Carradine, attempting to speak his lines(..and obviously reading from cue cards), looks to be on death's door..it's kind of hard to watch knowing that he wouldn't be with us very much longer and seeing him struggle with his lines, barely being able to breathe, kind of brought about sadness because I'm such a fan of his. The opening of the film, concerning the alien monster who attacks Evelyn's colleague, leads to the film's standout gore scene..the scientist interrupts a couple in a jeep searching for their pooch, ripping the arm off of the man attempting to see if he's okay.

capkronos How do you make a bad movie even worse? Apparently you hire Ted Newsom, give him a camcorder and put him under the not-so-watchful eye of producer Fred Olen Ray. Here we have the very fun Grade-Z classic EVIL SPAWN (1986) by director Kenneth J. Hall reedited and with new and pointless inserts shot on tape. The new scenes feature Jay Richardson and Suzanne Ager as cops sitting in a car talking, eating doughnuts and fighting an awful hand-puppet monster, Gordon Mitchell sitting at a desk on the phone and Richard Harrison turning into an pathetic rubbery monster and ripping Melissa Moore's top off. Scenes from the original film easily provide the most entertaining moments in this version, so you might as well seek it out. Forrest J. Ackerman is seen briefly in the old and the new footage.EVIL SPAWN (original version): 5 out of 10New footage contained on THE ALIEN WITHIN: 1 out of 10

Mr Parker ... is in the first fifteen minutes of the movie. Some woman who's about to get chowed down on by some unseen evil opts to take the suicide route. She jams a gun into her mouth and get this... they cut to a shot of the wall behind her, brains and muck splatter the wall and a second later, you hear the gunshot. Give the sound editors a friggin' award! I rented this over ten years ago because my friend liked the nude woman on the cover so much that he had to see it. I haven't let him live it down since. Avoid at all costs and I do mean all.