Movies
[SXSW Review] ‘Another Evil’ Is a Tonal Mess With Strong Lead Performances
Horror comedies have proven to be one of the most difficult sub-genres to pull off. If you’re able to secure the right balance of comedy and horror then you’ve got the makings of a fantastic film (The Cabin in the Woods, Slither, Evil Dead 2). If you don’t balance the horror and the comedy in just the right way, then you’ll be left with a tonal mismash of a film that doesn’t work as well as it should (Club Dread, Cursed, Leprechaun in the Hood). Another Evil unfortunately falls into that latter category, providing a great comedy, but a not-so-great horror movie.
After encountering a ghost in their vacation home, Dan (Steve Zissis, HBO’s Togetherness) and his wife Mary (Jennifer Irwin, ABC’s The Goldbergs) consult an exorcist (Dan Bakkedahl, HBO’s Veep). Unsatisfied with the verdict, Dan goes behind his wife’s back to seek a second opinion, and secretly hires Os (Mark Proksch, NBC’s The Office) who promises to get rid of the beings. Os and Dan spend a week together in the vacation home exorcising the “EFD” (Evil Fully Determined) beings, but Dan soon realizes that the ghosts may not be the only evil presence in his home.
Zissis was the breakout star on HBO’s phenomenal series Togetherness last year, and he is equally great here. He’s got a knack for awkward comedy and plays the everyman to perfection. Matching Zissis’ normality with his eccentricity is Proksch, who really steals the show. His line deliveries are spot on, and the more and more ridiculous his monologues get the better the movie is. I dare you not to keep a straight face when Os tells Dan the story of how he had sex with Satan. The two actors have a fantastic chemistry together that help the slower moments of the film to be more bearable. The bulk of Another Evil is primarily just Dan and Os hanging out, with the occasional house cleansing exorcism thrown in for good measure. This is definitely a film where the supernatural takes a backseat to the natural, and that works in the film’s favor for the most part. Zissis and Proksch play off of each other wonderfully and the film is all the better for it.
The problem with Another Evil is with its narrative and the combination of tones in the film. For a good 50 minutes, Another Evil is the quirky mumblecore horror comedy that you want it to be. Around that 50-minute mark, however, the film starts to drag as the horror elements come more into play. Rather than blend the two genres together, the film chooses an oil and water narrative to make its first half a comedy before abruptly shifting into horror during its second half. The dichotomy just doesn’t work and it nearly ruins the film.
The ghosts themselves are sufficiently disturbing. One is a woman who we never really get a good look at (her appearances consist of her walking behind walls or around corners), but the mystery surrounding her image provides a decent amount of suspense. The other ghost is a truly haunting figure: a jawless man (the basis for the film’s poster) who likes to suddenly run at the camera. There is no backstory surrounding the apparitions and they don’t feature too prominently in the film. That makes their appearances all the more frightening as they provide the film’s sole moments of actual horror.
Another Evil is essentially two movies and only one of those movies is good. It’s too bad that the film falls apart in its second half, because it really could have been something great had it been executed with just a little more care. Overall it’s worth a watch, but maybe turn it off once the movie reaches its midway point.
This week kicked off with the release of hippo horror movie Hungry at home, and four more horror movies have arrived for at-home viewing as we head into the final weekend of June.
Here are the new horror movies that released on Friday, June 26, 2026!
The Halloween season can no longer be contained to the months of September and October, with “Summerween” becoming a thing in recent years. Essentially, it allows for Halloween to bleed into the warmer Summer months, and the first ever Summerween movie has arrived.
The Asylum released Summerween onto Digital outlets today.
In the film from writer/director Ryan Ebert, “On Summerween, a former circus clown escapes a mental institution to return to his abandoned mansion and hunt the teens partying there.”
Cole Chapleski, Chase Breithoff, Logan Roe, Sophia Sabol, and Clint Morrison star.
Director Ryan Ebert is the man behind a string of recent indie horrors we’ve covered, including Shark Side of the Moon, The Jolly Monkey, Jurassic Reborn, and Predator: Wastelands.
A witchy coming-of-age story from Dark Sky Films, Camp is now playing in select theaters.
Check your local listings to find a theater near you.
Camp is from writer-director Avalon Fast (Honeycomb, The Serpent’s Skin).
“Emily is the root cause of two devastating tragedies very early in her life, and she feels the weight of these accidents as though cursed. At her father’s suggestion, she takes a position at a summer camp for troubled youth to ease her guilt. When Emily arrives, she is welcomed by the other counselors, who accept her as she is and surround her with peace and forgiveness.
“As Emily begins to believe in a new kind of life, she starts to hear a voice whispering from deep in the woods — one that urges her to go home, and one that may be impossible to ignore.”
The film stars Zola Grimmer in her screen debut alongside Alice Wordsworth, Cherry Moore, Lea Rose Sebastianis (Castration Movie Part 1 & 2, In A Violent Nature), Ella Reece, Austyn Van de Kamp (This Too Shall Pass), Sophie Bawks-Smith (Honeycomb), Izza Jarvis, and Aiden Laudersmith.
Producers Tyler Perry and Jason Blum have joined forces for Peacock Original Strung.
The film is now streaming only on Peacock.
“A talented violinist takes a prestigious job as a music tutor for the gifted daughter of an influential and enigmatic family. As she becomes entangled in their opulent world, unsettling secrets begin to surface, forcing her to question her safety, her dreams, and even her sanity.”
Malcolm D. Lee (Scary Movie 5, Space Jam: A New Legacy) directs from a script written by Alan B. McElroy (Wrong Turn, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers).
Chloe Bailey (“Swarm“), Lynn Whitfield (Jaws: The Revenge), Lucien Laviscount (“Scream Queens”), Anna Diop (Us), Coco Jones (Vampires vs. the Bronx), Langley Kirkwood (“Banshee”), and Romy Woods star in Peacock’s Strung.
Produced by Diablo Cody, director Meredith Alloway’s Forbidden Fruits brought a new coven of witches to the big screen earlier this year, and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
Lola Tung (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Victoria Pedretti (“The Haunting of Hill House”), Alexandra Shipp (Tragedy Girls), Gabrielle Union (Breaking In), and Emma Chamberlain star in Forbidden Fruits, released by IFC and Shudder.
Free Eden employee Apple secretly runs a witchy femme cult in the basement of the mall store after hours. But when new hire Pumpkin challenges the group’s ‘girl boss’ ways, the women are forced to face their own poisons or succumb to a bloody fate.
“Forbidden Fruits grabbed me by the neck the very first time I read it,” Diablo Cody said. “It’s one of the craziest, most creative, beautifully bonkers projects I’ve ever worked on.”
Meagan Navarro writes in her review for Bloody Disgusting, “Forbidden Fruits may not necessarily forge new terrain in the teen satire space, but Alloway brings so much style and energy to her well-cast single-location stage play adaptation for the Gen Z crowd.”
The film is an adaptation of playwright Lily Houghton’s stage play Of the Women Came the Beginning of Sin and Through Her We All Die. Alloway and Houghton co-adapted.
This week’s new release roundups are presented by HUNGRY.
All aboard the swamp tour from hell – this hippo isn’t playing games…
HUNGRY is now available on Digital. Watch it now!
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