azathothpwiggins Artist, Marjorie Worden (Sandy Dennis- GOD TOLD ME TO), her husband Paul (Darren McGavin- TV's THE NIGHT STALKER, and THE NIGHT STRANGLER), and their son, Stevie (Johnny Whitaker) have taken up residence in an old farm house. Here, Marjorie can work on her art projects in peace. It doesn't take long for her to notice some odd things, but she tries to overlook them. When people start dying, Marjorie is uneasy and Paul is unconvinced. At a party, the Wordens are introduced to demonologist, Harry Lincoln (Ralph Bellamy- THE WOLF MAN, ROSEMARY'S BABY), and in no time, Marjorie is painting a huge, protective pentacle on the floor of the kids' bedroom! Of course, the fact that she's been hearing a baby crying in the barn at night, could be partially to blame. The further Marjorie goes in her investigation into the occult, the weirder everything seems to get. As for the crying, suffice it to say that Marjorie makes a terrifying, bewildering discovery! The rest is a fairly basic possession story, w/ devilish forces aplenty. Marjorie grows increasingly anxious, feeling that eeevil spirits are making mischief. Paul is ever-skeptical, having no time or tolerance for any foolishness. More otherworldly events unfold, causing Marjorie to doubt her own sanity. This culminates in the rather anti-climactic, supernatural showdown. A fairly solid made-for-TV horror movie by Steven Spielberg that -sort of- prefigures POLTERGEIST. Watch for Roger Corman regular, Bruno VeSota and Spielberg himself as party guests!...

atinder I never heard of this movie before, I had no idea that Steven Spielberg, was one who work in this low budget movie.It's was not bad movie, this were some good spooky moment in the movie, the baby crying was creepy at first but then got annoying as goes on for bit to long,There are some scenes in this movie, which are ALL MOST the as is other movie that made 10 years later Poltergeist. (Is little Girl in both movies)This movie was little short, i Thought, ending, it felt the story still going, then about then second later the credits are rolling,I felt there should have been a little aftermath of just happened but no! The acting well, the both good and bad, this was a TV movie. Worth watching

jwhickman I know that The Possession Of Joel Delany (1972) is often cited as a possible cinematic influence on Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973), but I had never seen this little gem until recently. The finale has little Johnny Whitaker (yes, from Family Affair) possessed by a "devil" yelling weird demonic gibberish in a surprisingly creepy and effective vocal track and attacking his mother (Sandy Dennis) as objects fly around the room. The devil is driven out by the chanting words of love from mom. It's a brief scene that might elicit giggles from some, but it's strange how similar some scenes in The Exorcist would play out nearly two years later.

Coventry I always try to seek out these early 70's made-for-TV horror/thriller because they're often very solid story-driven films with a great atmosphere and magnificent acting performances. "Something Evil" looked like such a fine accomplishment and at first I didn't even realize it was from the hands of Steven Spielberg; now one of the – perhaps even THE – most acclaimed Hollywood directors. "Duel", Spielberg's first venture in the domain of horror expertise was immediately a bona fide masterpiece, so I was even extra enthusiast. Obviously "Something Evil" is a lot less memorable and haunting than "Duel", but it's nevertheless a modest lesson in atmosphere, building suspense and drawing characters the viewer gradually grows to care for. Out picnicking in the remote countryside, a family of four falls in love with an isolated farming estate and they promptly decide to buy it. The caretaker subtly tries to warn them about the strange aura of the house, hence the pentagrams painted on the walls for protection, but the civilized Worden family doesn't believe in superstition. The strange occurrences definitely aren't an exaggeration. During one of the first nights already, Marjorie is woken up by the sound of a baby crying in the barn, but naturally she finds nothing. Her husband Paul rents out the farm to a film crew to shoot candy bar commercials, but several of the trespassers mysteriously disappear in and around the farmhouse. This film is somewhat similar to "Crowhaven Farm", which is for me the prototype of solid and sinister 70's TV-horror. Like that favorite, "Something Evil" is an atmosphere- driven story, with a lot of drivel about higher evil forces and demonic possession. There are a couple of standard plot revelations, like the horrible truth about what overcame the previous tenants, deadly accidents that don't turn out to be accidents after all and the lady of the house behaving herself increasingly suspicious. Familiar stuff, but it still works effectively well.