''Evil Town'' is a 1987 American

zombie A zombie ( Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in wh ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apo ...

directed by

Curtis Hanson Curtis Lee Hanson (March 24, 1945 – September 20, 2016) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His directing work included the psychological thriller '' The Hand That Rocks the Cradle'' (1992), the neo-noir crime film '' L ...

, Mardi Rustam,

Larry Spiegel Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment *Larry D. Alexander, American artist/writer * Larry Boone ...

and Peter S. Traynor. ''Evil Town'' was the last film with the actor Dean Jagger.

Synopsis

The film depicts an evil scientist's (

Dean Jagger Dean Jagger (November 7, 1903 – February 5, 1991) was an American film, stage, and television actor who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Henry King's '' Twelve O'Clock High'' (1949). Early life Dean Jeffri ...

) campaign to achieve eternal youth, through synthesizing a drug derived from human pituitary fluid. In extracting the fluid, he creates mindless zombies from the donors. Because the local town residents are in on the plot, to achieve immortality, they help the scientist, by abducting visitors who come through town.

Cast

James Keach James Keach (born December 7, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the younger brother of actor Stacy Keach Jr. and son of actor Stacy Keach Sr. Early life and education Keach was born in Savannah, Georgia, the son of Mary Cain ...

as Dr. Chris Fuller *

as Dr. Schaeffer *

Robert Walker Jr. Robert Hudson Walker Jr. (April 15, 1940 – December 5, 2019) was an American actor who appeared in films including ''Easy Rider'' (1969) and was a familiar presence on television in the 1960s and early 1970s. He became less active in lat ...

as Mike * Doria Cook-Nelson as Linda * Lynda Wiesmeier as Dianne * Michele Marsh as Julie * Christie Houser as Terrie *

Dabbs Greer Robert William "Dabbs" Greer (April 2, 1917 – April 28, 2007) was an American character actor in film and television for over 60 years. With nearly 100 film roles and appearances in nearly 600 television episodes of various series, Greer ...

as Lyle Phelps *

Regis Toomey John Francis Regis Toomey (August 13, 1898October 12, 1991) was an American film and television actor. Early life Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was one of four children of Francis X. and Mary Ellen Toomey, and attended Peabody High Sc ...

as Doc Hooper *

Lurene Tuttle Lurene Tuttle (August 29, 1907 – May 28, 1986) was an American actress and acting coach, who made the transition from vaudeville to radio, and later films and television. Her most enduring impact was as one of network radio's more versatile a ...

as Mildred Phelps * Richard Hale as Lester Wylie * Hope Summers as Mrs. Wylie * E. J. André as Earl

Production

The film went into production in 1984 and went through numerous re-writes and re-edits before release in 1987. It is made up of footage of several older films, with major footage coming from the unfinished

film '' God Bless Dr. Shagetz'' (1974). When the pieces of the various older films were patched together, there was inclusion of some new footage, including some with Jillian Kesner and nude scenes with

Playboy Playmate A Playmate is a female model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of ''Playboy'' magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOTM). The PMOTM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, along with a pictorial biography and the "Playm ...

Lynda Wiesmeier.

Pre spin-off

When beginning work on ''Evil Town'' in 1984, director Mardi Rustam liked the story enough to make his own version, which he released as ''

Evils of the Night ''Evils of the Night'' is a 1985 American low-budget science fiction horror filmMank, Gregory W. (2001). ''Hollywood cauldron: thirteen horror films from the genre's golden age.'' McFarland, , . starring Aldo Ray, Neville Brand, Tina Louise, J ...

'' (1985),Evils of the Night was shot in June of 1983, but not released until 1985. If Rustam shot "additional scenes" for Evil Town in 1984, he would have been borrowing the concept from his own yet-to-be-released Evils of the Night. two years before the release of ''Evil Town''.

Reception

Cavett Binion of

All Movie Guide AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cul ...

called it a "silly horror film" and noted that it was an assemblage of parts of earlier films, including an unfinished one from the 1970s, and that it was "spiced up with some gratuitous nudity courtesy of former Playboy playmate Lynda Wiesmeier". While remarking that the editor's efforts to maintain continuity were commendable, he concluded that "the end result seems hardly worth the effort".

Release

The film was scheduled for release on June 3, 1987, but due to the high level of anticipation for the movie, many theaters began showing it on the evening of June 2, 1987. It was released in the United States on VHS in November 1987.

References

External links

* * * {{Curtis Hanson 1987 films 1987 horror films American zombie films Films directed by Curtis Hanson Films scored by Charles Bernstein 1980s English-language films 1980s American films