Evilenko
(2004)
review by Suspiriorum

Between 1982 & 1990, the Russian professor Andrei Chikatilo murdered, raped & ate (in any combination) over 50 women & children. “Evilenko” is not his story (which has already been told in the film “Citizen X”), but it takes the loose concept of the case - about as much as I’ve detailed above - to spin off a fictional tale of Andrej Evilenko (Malcolm McDowell). I’m not usually a fan of films based on real life serial-killers; somehow it just doesn’t seem quite right to exploit real life horror like this, much as I love exploitation cinema. “Evilenko” on the other hand, feels in no way exploitative coming across more as a serious minded character study, which only occasionally borrows from the language of the horror genre. At times it almost feels like a companion piece to Bong Joon-ho’s superlative “Memories of Murder” in the way it mirrors the coming of the country’s first acknowledged serial killer with the social & political backdrop of the country, suggesting that the killer may even be a symptom of society’s ills.

Evilenko is a quiet & introspective teacher in his mid-50s, & a committed member of the communist party. As his beloved communist regime begins to crumble around him, Evilenko’s mental condition starts to break down, & he attempts to sexually molest one of the girls he teaches. Fired from his job, he obtains new work within the communist party, meaning that he has to travel around the country. This provides him with perfect cover to embark on a paedophilic, cannibalistic murdering spree. Slowly the police, led my Detective Vadim Lesiev (Marton Csokas) begin to realise that this spate of killing may be the work of one man, & start to close their net around the psychopathic monster.

“Evilenko” is a slightly strange beast. Initially it works pretty well as a character study, fuelled my McDowell’s mesmerising performance, although this works less well in the films later stages as it chooses to focus more on the efforts of the police – but then these scenes don’t quite gel well enough for it to convince as a police procedural, & it’s too slow & unconcerned by thrills to succeed as a thriller. Meanwhile, diversions into horror territory – a terrifying blood-soaked McDowell in a barn, the gory aftermath of a train killing – though fine in themselves are not enough to really label it a horror film; though it is horrific, it’s more psychological than visceral. It’s blending of genres & styles is no way near as convincing as “Memories of Murder”. What does work well however, is the use of the Communist backdrop that adds a fascinating & intelligent depth to the film beyond what you may normally expect.

The best thing about the film though, is Malcolm McDowell’s stunning central performance. He’s said that this is the least sympathetic character he’s ever played (& given some of the parts he’s played that’s no mean feat!), & there is no better reason to watch the film than to savour his chillingly detached turn, burning with a fierce intensity that is wonderfully controlled. To put it simply, he makes the film. It’s perhaps just as well, because elsewhere the performances are slightly less convincing. As principally an Italian production, we often have Italian actors portraying Russians, but speaking in English & somehow it doesn’t quite gel – something that’s not helped by the fact that many of the smaller roles (particularly the children) have been distractingly dubbed in English. Euro-horror fans like myself are quite used to this sort of thing, so I was easily able to look past it & not let it distract me from the qualities of the film, but I suspect many more mainstream viewers may be less forgiving.

David Lynch regular Angelo Badalamenti contributes another fine score to the film, which helps things considerably, & whilst the photography by Fabio Zamarion is pretty good, he & set designer Nello Giorgetti occasionally have trouble masking the relatively low budget the film has to work with. Despite the flaws with the film however, I found it to be wholly compelling even during it’s slower patches, & its mix of interesting subtexts & astonishing Malcolm McDowell performance are more than enough for it to get a thumbs up from me.

“Evilenko” arrives on UK DVD courtesy of TLA Releasing, although the finished retail version was not available for review, my screener contained a good 1.77:1 anamorphic transfer. The finished disc will include English audio in both dts 5.1 & Dolby 5.1, with optional English subs. The set will also include 81 minutes of interviews with the cast & crew, as well as a 27-minute look at the real-life case of Andrei Chikatilo, plus trailers.