Good Against Evil (1977) (NTSC)

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     New York 1955. A woman about to give birth pleads with “them” not to take her baby. A baby girl is born, and whisked away to a gathering of people, led by Mr. Rimmin (Richard Lynch), who vow to protect the baby until she grows up and, a virgin, is ready to bear the child of Astaroh (another name for the devil). The baby’s mother dies in an “accident” after the birth. The scene then switches to San Francisco, 1977. The baby has grown up to be Jessica (Elyssa Davalos), a successful fashion designer. When her parked car is hit by freelance writer Andy (Dack Rambo) a mutual attraction starts to form. This is something the watching devil worshippers fear and Andy only just survives a riding accident. Jessica reveals that twice before men with whom she had formed an attraction have died in accidents and tries to push Andy away. But her love is too strong; they decide to marry and approach Father Wheatley (John Harkins) to perform the ceremony. But when Jessica enters the church to talk to Father Wheatley, darkness falls and it becomes freezing, which naturally arouses Father Wheatley’s suspicions. On the night before the wedding, Jessica is hypnotised and abducted by Mr. Rimmin and taken to New Orleans. Andy comes to her apartment to find it empty and abandoned, the fashion business premises closed and the church desecrated with the sign of a pentagram on the floor and walls.

     It seems that, due to Jessica’s love, the devil worshippers cannot now just kill Andy so Mr. Rimmin decides to rekindle Andy’s love for a past flame. Andy sees a newspaper report that a child in New Orleans has gone into a coma after drawing a pentagram so he hurries there to see if he can find any connection between the child and Jessica’s disappearance. Instead, he finds that the child’s mother is his old flame Linda (Kim Cattrall), now a widow and very pleased to see Andy. Also arriving is Father Kemschler (Dan O’Herlihy) who, believing the child is possessed, persuades Linda to allow an exorcism. There, Father Kemschler battles Satan and expels the devil from the child. Mr. Rimmin feels that Jessica is at risk and decides to move her to another city. Andy rejects the love of Linda, and with Father Kemschler sets out to find Jessica. The end.

     Good Against Evil was made as a pilot for an ABC-TV show that was not ultimately put into production. As a result, the major plot strand remains unresolved at the end of the film. As well, this is definitely a film with two halves. The prologue sets up the “child of destiny” theme well enough, before the San Francisco section establishes the relationship between Andy and Jessica. But then Jessica is spirited away and disappears from the film and the exorcism section kicks in with Father Kemschler. As an introduction to Father Kemschler it works well enough, but of course it leaves the main plot strand unresolved. Will Andy find and rescue Jessica before Satan has his way with her? Only the unmade TV series, or perhaps End of Days (1999) when the devil turns into Gabriel Byrne and fights Arnold Schwarzenegger will tell!

     Good Against Evil does have its moments. The opening is nicely staged and the film features the music of Lalo Schifrin, who created many a decent soundtrack including the original Mission Impossible TV theme as well as scores for films such as Bullit (1968) and Dirty Harry (1971). And while Dack Rambo is not very charismatic, Elyssa Davalos is acceptable and Richard Lynch and Dan O’Herlihy (excellent in the original Robocop (1987)) quite good. And, of course, the film features a very early performance from Kim Cattrall, later to make her mark in Big Trouble in Little China (1986) and Sex and the City.

     Good Against Evil is included in the six film, 3 DVD collection The Devil at Work, a box set from Gryphon of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s. The full list is The Devil’s Daughter (1939) and Devil Monster (1946) on disc 1, Devil’s Partner (1963) and Beast of the Yellow Night (1971) on disc 2 and How Awful About Allan (1970) and Good Against Evil (1977) on disc 3.

Video

     Good Against Evil is presented in a ratio of 1.33:1, the original ratio, and is not 16x9 enhanced. It is an NTSC print.

     This is an unrestored 70s TV movie. There are frequent positive and negative artefacts, although few are so large as to be distracting. The print is very soft, and lacking in detail. The colours are dull, and brightness, contrast and skin tone vary considerably. Blacks are fine generally but shadow detail is not the best. The main issue is that the print has a significant number of interlacing errors plus compression artefacts, macro-blocking and noise reduction. Every so often, around 8:39, 22:08, 29:45, 47:15 and 54:18, three white circles flash up on the bottom right of the screen and are quite distracting. But while there are issues, the film is not unwatchable by any means.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English Linear PCM track at 1536 Kbps. There is a hum during quiet moments plus an occasional crackle and drop out. Dialogue is mostly fine but on a couple of occasions developed a noticeable hiss. Effects acceptable. This is a mono track and there is no surround or sub woofer use.

     The score by Lalo Schifrin is an effective adjunct to the film.

     Lip synchronization was fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     None.

     There is a stand alone Region 1 US release of Good Against Evil as well as two double bills; one with Satan’s School for Girls and the other with The Severed Arm. I can find no details of the transfers.

     I cannot find any equivalent to The Devil at Work package in any region.

     Good Against Evil was made as a pilot for an ABC-TV show that was not ultimately put into production. As a result, the major plot strand remains unresolved at the end of the film.

     The audio is acceptable, the video has issues although the film is not unwatchable, and there are no extras.

     Good Against Evil is included in the six film, 3 DVD collection The Devil at Work, a box set from Gryphon of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s for a RRP of $19.95.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall