''Little Evil'' is a 2017 American supernatural

horror comedy Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types: "black comedy, parody and sp ...

film written and directed by

Eli Craig Elijah Matthew Craig is an American film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is best known for writing and directing the cult horror comedy film ''Tucker & Dale vs Evil''. Early life Craig was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and is ...

. It stars Adam Scott,

Evangeline Lilly Nicole Evangeline Lilly (born 3 August 1979) is a Canadian actress and author. She is the recipient of various accolades including a Screen Actors Guild Award and an MTV Movie Award. She has also received nominations for a Golden Globe Award, a ...

, Owen Atlas,

Bridget Everett Bridget Everett (born April 21, 1972) is an American comedian, actress, singer, writer, and cabaret performer. She has starred in the semi-autobiographical 2022 HBO series '' Somebody Somewhere'', the movie '' Fun Mom Dinner'', and in a one-hou ...

Kyle Bornheimer Kyle Edward Bornheimer (born September 10, 1975) is an American actor and comedian known for his roles on the sitcoms '' Worst Week'', ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', '' Casual'', and '' Playing House''. Life and career Bornheimer was born in Mishawaka ...

Chris D'Elia Christopher William D'Elia (born March 29, 1980) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and podcast host. He is known for playing Alex Miller on the NBC sitcom '' Whitney'', Danny Burton on the NBC sitcom ''Undateable'', Kenny on the ...

Donald Faison Donald Adeosun Faison (; born June 22, 1974) is an American actor and comedian, best known for his leading role as Dr. Chris Turk in the ABC/ NBC comedy-drama '' Scrubs'' (2001–2010), and a supporting role as Murray in both the film '' Cluele ...

Carla Gallo Carla Paolina Gallo (born 1975) is an American actress. Gallo has had recurring roles in the television series '' Undeclared'', ''Carnivàle'', '' Bones'', '' Californication'', and a number of film roles. Since her role on ''Undeclared'', she ...

Tyler Labine Tyler Sean Labine (born April 29, 1978) is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He is best known for starring in the television series ''Breaker High'', '' Invasion'', ''Reaper'', '' Deadbeat'' and as Dr. Iggy Frome, head of psychiatry, in the ...

, Brad Williams,

Clancy Brown Clarence John "Clancy" Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor. Prolific in film and television since the 1980s, Brown is often cast in villainous and authoritative roles. Brown's film roles include Viking Lofgren in ''Bad Boys'' ...

, and Sally Field. It was released by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

on September 1, 2017. In the film, a man suspects that his new

stepson A stepchild is the offspring of one's spouse, but not one's own offspring, either biologically or through adoption. Stepchildren can come into a family in a variety of ways. A stepchild may be the child of one's spouse from a previous relationshi ...

is "a little evil", after realizing that the boy may have caused two mysterious suicides. While investigating the boy's past, he is informed that his stepson is the

Antichrist In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist refers to people prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and substitute themselves in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form)1 John ; . 2 John . ...

and that he may have to kill the boy to prevent the end of the world.

Plot

Gary Bloom marries Samantha, who has a 5-year-old son, Lucas. Gary struggles to connect with the quiet Lucas, who ignores him. Gary receives a telephone call from his wedding videographer Karl, warning that something very unusual is in the footage, but Gary is uninterested. Gary stops by one of his properties for sale, an old nunnery, where Father J.D. Gospel, the leader of a

Doomsday cult A doomsday cult is a cult, that believes in apocalypticism and millenarianism, including both those that predict disaster and those that attempt to destroy the entire universe. Sociologist John Lofland coined the term ''doomsday cult'' in his ...

, buys it on the spot. Gary is summoned to Lucas’ school where the principal informs him that Lucas spoke out of turn in class and told his science teacher to “go to hell”, after which she killed herself by jumping out the window and got impaled on a fence. A psychiatrist stresses that Lucas see a counselor and Gary, apparently the main source of Lucas’ erratic behavior, should do the same. Samantha is upset by the news and feels that everyone, including Gary, is unfairly blaming Lucas, but Gary assures her that he loves them both. At therapy, Gary confides to the other stepfathers, including his friend Al, that he thinks his stepson might be a little evil, and they all sympathize. At Lucas’ birthday party, a clown lights himself on fire, and Gary is led to believe Lucas is responsible. Karl shows Gary the wedding video, revealing a possessed-looking Lucas untouched by a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

. Karl tells Gary that all Samantha's previous boyfriends are dead except Gabriel, giving Gary Gabriel's address. When Gary inquires about Lucas' biological father, Samantha reluctantly admits that years earlier, she was part of a cult and Lucas was conceived during a ritual. Gary convinces Al to help him, and they find Gabriel in the basement of a church where he is self-flagellating. Gabriel reveals that Lucas is the

and tells them to travel to

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

to find Gozamel the demon hunter. Gary and Al view a television news report on rioting due to the Apocalypse in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

, realizing that is where they need to go. They find Gozamel, who informs them they must kill the child with the Knife of Destiny to prevent the end of the world. Gozamel is killed in a car accident, but not before he gives Gary the Knife of Destiny to kill Lucas on hallowed ground. Gary arrives home to find Samantha with Miss Shaylock, a woman from Child Protective Services. They encourage Gary to put Lucas to bed, but this goes horribly wrong, ending in Lucas burying Gary in a sandbox. Samantha digs him up, taking Lucas’ side for being a confused kid, and Gary screams that Lucas is the Antichrist. Samantha is devastated, and Gary apologizes. Convinced Lucas is the Antichrist, Gary takes him on a trip to Waterland, an amusement park blessed by the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

, intending to drown Lucas in what would appear to be an accident, but Lucas and Gary actually start to bond as father and son. Gary reluctantly equips Lucas with sand-filled floaties and sends him down a water slide to his death, but sees the word "Love" in the sky and takes it as a sign. Gary saves Lucas, taking him for ice cream, and they both apologize for trying to kill each other. An

amber alert An Amber Alert (alternatively styled AMBER alert) or a child abduction emergency alert ( SAME code: CAE) is a message distributed by a child abduction alert system to ask the public for help in finding abducted children. The system originated in ...

for Lucas appears on Gary's phone, and police arrive to arrest Gary as Miss Shaylock, revealed to be a disciple of Father Gospel, takes Lucas. Father Gospel also kidnaps Samantha. Gary escapes to save her and Lucas, with help from the other stepdads. They travel to the old nunnery where Father Gospel and his disciples prepare to kill Lucas and bring about the end of the world. When Lucas opens a tunnel to Hell and starts to fall into it, Gary saves him. Once freed, Samantha knocks Father Gospel into the tunnel. Weeks later, Gary and Lucas race the Okatok

Soap Box Derby The Soap Box Derby is a youth soapbox car racing program which has been run in the United States since 1933. World Championship finals are held each July at Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio. Cars competing in this and related events are unpowered, ...

, finally happy as father and son.

Cast

* Adam Scott as Gary Bloom, Samantha's husband and Lucas's stepfather *

as Samantha Bloom, Gary's wife and Lucas's mother * Owen Atlas as Lucas, Samantha's son and Gary's stepson *

as Al, Gary's co-worker and best friend *

as Reverend Gospel * Sally Field as Miss Shaylock *

as Victor *

as Wayne *

as Larry *

as Wendy *

as Karl C. Miller * Brad Williams as Gozamel

Production

In May 2013,

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

acquired the film's script, with

directing the film, based upon the screenplay he wrote, while

Scott Stuber Scott Stuber (born December 13, 1968) is an American film producer and head of original films at Netflix. Career After graduating from University of Arizona with a film degree, Stuber worked at Universal Pictures as a publicity assistant to Lew ...

, Nicholas Nesbitt, would serve as producers under their

Mandalay Pictures Mandalay Pictures or Mandalay Vision is an American film production company founded on May 27, 1995, which is part of producer and businessman Peter Guber's Mandalay Entertainment. From 1997 until 2002, Lionsgate Entertainment owned a stake i ...

and

Bluegrass Films Scott Stuber (born December 13, 1968) is an American film producer and head of original films at Netflix. Career After graduating from University of Arizona with a film degree, Stuber worked at Universal Pictures as a publicity assistant to Lew ...

banners respectively. In September 2016, it was announced

, Adam Scott,

, Owen Atlas, Brad Williams, and Marcus Terrell Smith had joined the cast of the film, Dylan Clark and

Jason Michael Berman Jason Michael Berman is an American film producer and executive. He serves as the President of Mandalay Pictures, where he is responsible for developing and structuring financing for Mandalay's slate of independent films, in addition to packagi ...

would serve as producers, and

would produce and distribute the film. That same month,

joined the cast of the film.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began in September 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio. The film was shot in 25 days with no reshoots.

Music

Marco Beltrami, Brandon Roberts & Marcus Trumpp compose the score for the film.

Release

It began streaming on Netflix on September 1, 2017.

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 92% based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10.

References

External links

* * {{rottentomatoes, Little_Evil 2017 comedy horror films 2010s supernatural horror films American comedy horror films Demons in film Films about the Antichrist Films shot in Cleveland Films scored by Marco Beltrami English-language Netflix original films Films about Satanism Backwoods slasher films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films