Stephen Abell What surprises me most about this title is that I haven't seen it up until recently, as it's right up my alley... dark, nasty, and messed up.This is the story of Stanley Coopersmith, a strange gawky kid who finds it hard to make friends and so ends up as a joke and punching bag for the other cadets at military school. However, while he's being punished by having to tidy up the chapel's basement he finds a secret room and a book of Satanic spells and worship. These were hidden away by a rogue priest Father Esteban, who had been banished to the Americas.Unable to read the scriptures in the book, Coopersmith uses the schools' computer to translate them. and when he finally carries out the Black Mass all hell breaks loose at the school and the chapel.One of the better aspects of this film is the cast as it stars Clint Howard as Coopersmith and it's really nice to see him in a lead role and not just playing a strange and creepy secondary role. Though he's young here, he does a good job.Then there's R J Armstrong who plays Sarge, the drunk janitor looking after the school and chapel, who hates kids and has it out for Coopersmith. Armstrong is great in this portrayal, he gives the air of a man you just wouldn't trust.Charles Tyner does a brilliant representation of a prig of a Colonel who finds it demeaning and below him to run the military school.Finally, Richard Moll is excellent in the role of the Evil Father Esteban. He adds the right amount of power, menace and violence to the character to make him believable as being the hand of Satan.For the time, the special effects would have been superb, especially the computer graphics (which today are cringeworthy and laughable) and most are still passable today. The climax of the film in the destruction of the God's house is very well done and created.All in all, this is a pretty decent horror movie with a lot of the right elements and well directed by Eric Weston. A definite watch for a horror nut and if you're not, it's still worth a look-see on a dark night...

Red-Barracuda An army cadet is bullied by four other students and some authority figures. One day he is sent to clean the old church basement as a punishment and, while there, he finds a secret room which contains an ancient Satanic Mass book. He discovers that passages from it can reincarnate a 16th century Satanist called Esteban. Using a computer, he revives Esteban and has bloody revenge on all those from the academy who have wronged him.Evilspeak was another early 80's horror movie that found itself onto the UK video nasty list. These were the films considered so offensive that they threatened the moral fabric of Britain back in the day. As a result it was banned and, naturally, has benefited ever since from the notoriety. Like most on that list it's difficult to understand what all the fuss was about with this one. If anything it proves that the censors back then were a spectacularly over-sensitive and humourless group of people. Because it's well-nigh impossible to see how they could have thought anyone could have taken this film seriously enough to then go out and commit acts of violence. This is a film about a possessed computer after all. It features a horde of man-eating pigs and has a climax where the hero floats through the air wielding a big sword. To my knowledge, none of these things has ever cropped up in the news in the years since Evilspeak was released.How is it as a film? It's fun, if nothing too impressive. It takes it's time to get to the horror stuff to be fair, although this does allow for more character development. The main guy Cling Howard (Ron's brother) is pretty decent and is a guy that's easy to root for. The film is essentially a nerd revenge flick and the bullies are an appalling bunch of cretins. So you are willing them to be dispensed with in as nasty a way as possible. And to be fair, the climax is pretty good with all manner of gory mayhem ensuing. Evilspeak is kind of a hybrid of Carrie with early 80's computer technology…with demon pigs thrown in for good measure. It's one of those horror films from the time that is kind of crazed but pretty imaginative, so it's easy to get onside with this one.

BA_Harrison Following in Carrie White's footsteps, meek military academy student Stanley Coopersmith (Clint Howard) wreaks bloody revenge on the bullies who are making his life a misery. After discovering an old Satanic tome in the basement of the academy's chapel, he uses a school computer to translate the text within. By reciting these words, and with the computer serving as a portal for demonic forces, Coopersmith is able to transform himself into a freaky, floating 'angel of death' and mercilessly hunt down his tormentors.One of the better titles to be condemned as a video nasty in the 80s, Evilspeak is actually fairly tame viewing for much of it's running time, giving Daily Mail readers and their ilk hardly anything to get het up about until the film almost reaches the hour mark; this time is spent getting the audience to fully empathise with poor old Stanley, who is taunted, beaten, and humiliated by his peers, and treated unfairly by the staff at the academy. After that, though, it's splatter time!Barring a brief decapitation in the pre-credits sequence, the film's first juicy moment arrives when Coopersmith's computer twists the head of a drunken would-be rapist Sarge (R.G. Armstrong) until it is facing backwards; soon after that, there's an even gorier scene in which tarty secretary Miss Friedemeyer (Lynn Hancock) is gored to death by pigs whilst taking a shower (we even get a shot of the hungry hogs yanking out her intestines).Director Eric Weston briefly takes time out from the nastiness for a delightfully tacky beauty pageant in which all of the contestants are voluptuous teenagers in teeny bikinis (Suzy is sweet sixteen and wants to be a body stocking model, informs the academy's lecherous coach), before giving Coopersmith the final impetus to unleash hell on his tormentors: his pet dog is killed by head bully Bubba!Boiling with rage, Stanley gets the human blood he requires to complete his ritual (by impaling one of his teachers on a chandelier), traps his wicked classmates in the academy's chapel, and proceeds to teach them all a lesson by hacking at them with a huge sword. Skulls are crushed, heads are lopped off, blood gushes freely, and the pigs make another appearance to help Stanley deal with any stragglers.With its efficient direction from Weston, chilling Omen-style soundtrack, over-the-top splatter, gratuitous teenage eye-candy, bloody shower scene, fiery climax, and enthusiastic performances from all involved, Evilspeak is a solid piece of trashy 80s horror fun.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

merklekranz Clint Howard is a military academy cadet who is constantly being belittled and picked on by a group of his peers. Coopersmith, Howards character is extremely likable, and elicits plenty of sympathy, so when he gets his revenge it is very satisfying. There is a lot of hocus pocus relating to his computerized demonic possession, but once he gets down to business, it is so bizarre and laughable that you have to love it. The strongest point about "Evilspeak" is nothing, and I mean nothing can be taken seriously. Thus the possessed rampaging piggies, and flying Coopersmith, are simply part of the fun. Recommended as over the top entertainment. - MERK