Line #10 Film/TheEvil


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_evil_1978_movie_poster.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Forgive me, forgive me, but you are an endless source of amusement."''
4	-->-- '''The villain'''
5
6	''The Evil'' is a 1978 horror film directed by Gus Trikonis, starring Creator/RichardCrenna, Joanna Pettet, and Creator/VictorBuono.
7
8	Professor C.J. Arnold and his wife Caroline have rented the dilapidated old Vargas mansion for summer. They start renovating the place with volunteers, and soon discover that the house had something evil locked in [[CreepyBasement its basement]] after unleashing it unknowingly.
9
10
11	!!Examples in this film:
12
13	* AntagonistTitle: "The Evil" in this instance being [[spoiler: the Devil himself]].
14	* AndStarring: "and Victor Buono as [[spoiler:'The Evil']]."
15	* BigBad: [[spoiler:Satan]] is the evil force driving the plot.
16	* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Averted. Sam, a Caucasian, is the first to die, [[TokenMinority Felicia]] is among the last.
17	* ButtMonkey: Felicia gets the worst of the abuse from the evil forces in the house. First she hits her head and gets a concussion while falling down the stairs, then the invisible demon tries to rape her while tossing her around her room, and finally [[spoiler:she ends up electrocuted on the bars when she's startled by Mary's reanimated corpse]].
18	* ClothingDamage: Felicia spends the last third of the film in nothing but a trench coat and underwear after a supernatural force violently rips her clothes off in an apparent rape attempt. Raymond's shirt is torn by...something...lurking on the staircase.
19	* ClosedCircle: The house shuts its exits after Prof. Arnold removes the cross in the basement, locking everyone inside it.
20	* DeathByIrony: Dwight is an electrician. Guess how he dies.
21	* DeathByMocking: Pete is the jokester of the group, and even pulls off the old "scare people by pretending to be dead" gag, and is surprised that people don't find it funny. Sure enough, he ends [[KilledOffForReal dead]] later in a failed escape attempt.
22	* DemonicPossession: Mary's dog Kaiser becomes possessed by the evil and runs away to kill its owner later.
23	* EvilLaugh: Supernatural attacks are accompanied by evil laughter echoing in the air.
24	* {{Fainting}}: Caroline faints after she hears the disembodied evil laugh after Mary's death.
25	* FauxAffablyEvil: [[spoiler:Satan]], oh so much.
26	* {{Fingore}}: The evil possesses Raymond while he's trying to saw through one of the doors and makes him start sawing through ''his knuckles'' instead.
27	* ForgingScene: After finding Emilio Vargas's exposition-providing diary, Caroline sees a vision of a cross being forged in the fireplace.
28	* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Raymond gives a slap to Laurie when she becomes hysterical from all the supernatural business locks everyone inside the house.
29	* GoshDarnItToHeck: Surprisingly coming from [[spoiler:Satan]], who refers to the cross [[spoiler:used to seal him away]] as a "holy piece of excrement".
30	* HauntedHouse: Vargas's ghost is still hanging around his old place to watch over the sealed HellGate and try to warn anyone about it who might get too close to it.
31	* HighVoltageDeath: Several examples: An electric cable gets loose from the ceiling, wraps itself around Dwight and shocks him to death. Pete fries while using another cable to climb out of the house. Near the end, Felicia gets a little too close to some electrified burglar bars.
32	* HollywoodDarkness: Blue lighting equals darkness so that the audience can see what is happening.
33	* HolyBurnsEvil: [[spoiler:Caroline saves Prof. Arnold from Satan's clutches by stabbing him with the cross that was used to seal him, which weakens him enough to for them to make their escape]].
34	* HopeSpot: Raymond manages to get out of the house, and starts joyously running away from it, only to suddenly sink into the ground beneath which has suddenly turned [[QuicksandSucks into quicksand]].
35	* HostileWeather: Storm breaks out before the cast ends locked up inside the house.
36	* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: The area where Vargas built his house was called "Devil's Valley" by Native Americans. [[spoiler:Quite justifiably so, as it turns out the devil is residing there]].
37	* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler: Mary, Laurie, and Felicia, in that order]].
38	* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler:After going through the HellGate to rescue Caroline, Prof. Arnold comes across an area which is bathed pure white light. Moreover, when he meets {{Satan}} himself, he is dressed completely in white.]]
39	* LightIsGood: On the other hand Vargas is a pure white ghost who makes sure no one will release the evil forces inside the house.
40	* LockedIntoStrangeness: It is said tat Vargas's hair turned completely into white before he died.
41	* ManOnFire: Sam the caretaker burns to death in the opening sequence when he goes to investigate a strange noise in the basement, and the supposedly empty furnace suddenly sprouts flames on him. Much later, Pete gets electrocuted and bursts into flames.
42	* MsFanservice: While under attack by a supernatural force, Felicia has her clothes violently ripped off, revealing her undergarments. Subverted, since she spends the rest of her screen time draped in a coat.
43	* PeekabooCorpse: Sam's burned body gives a scare to Felecia and Mary when they check a service lift out of curiosity.
44	* RapeAsDrama: Played with. Supernatural forces leave Felecia half-naked and throw her onto a nearby cot, but they stop there.
45	* SealedEvilInACan: And [[IncrediblyLamePun God help you]] if you open it.
46	* ShockAndAwe: A few characters get electrocuted and an attempt to escape by hooking electrical cables to the bars fails epically.
47	* SuperWindowJump: An inviting window opens its cover to lure Raymond into his doom, and jumps throught the glass without second thought. After his death, it repairs itself and closes once more.
48	* TitleDrop: Vargas's ghost admonishes Prof. Arnold by saying "I sealed the pit, and you released the evil!"
49	* TokenMinority: Felecia is the sole African American member among the mostly Caucasian cast.
50

Context Film / TheEvil