Evangeline (2013)

Pretty Good

Memorable, crazy movie

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

A Masterpiece!

In a very, very bad mix! I see some positive reviews on Evangeline, so I'll try not to fully bash it, but in my honest opinion, this was down right bad!The camera work looks terrible and annoying. There is pretty much no acting to mention, no real dialogue, the plot is used and badly executed, the killings are a joke, the ending fits the movie. Will be one of my shorter comments cause I have pretty much nothing good to say about it, so I'll just give you a warning here.Stay away from this one. It fails on all levels!Cheers!

Warning: may contain spoilers!Evangeline is the story of a naive college girl who has a seriously shitty life. Now this might not be one of the most creative movies out there but it is definitely interesting to watch. The acting might not be top of the mill but it's better than some other movies I've seen. Then there's the cinematography; this is done very thoughtfully and gives the movie a distinct atmosphere and makes up for the fact that the special effects aren't all that. It is certainly the number 1 thing that makes this movie worthwhile to watch. Besides, I personally don't think the special effects are what makes a movie good.One problem I have with, not so much the movie, but more the description of the movie here on IMDb is that it's very misleading. Because yes, the frat boys leave her for dead in the forest, but, she doesn't die there, and this is not the moment she becomes an avenging spirit. The build up to this moment is done very cleverly and you see her slowly being pushed over the edge in contrast to immediately going on a murderous rampage as the description might have you believe.The story leaves quite some open ends and challenges the viewer to fill in the gaps with their own imagination. If you don't have this imagination or fancy explain-it-all-at-the-end kind of movies this one is not for you.

I think maybe the people who put this thing together wanted to tell the story of a woman scorned. I'm guessing that there was some sort of proverb, or old wives tale, possibly from an Asian culture, that fed into this idea, as well. I'm also guessing that the writer and director wanted us as viewers to travel emotionally with Evangeline throughout this film.I say these things, because they never actually made themselves apparent. If you've seen "The Crow" or "Jennifer's Body," skip this one. At least then, you won't have to watch those in the future and be reminded of this.However, if you want to take notes on what to avoid when making a movie, please, indulge. You'll learn how to create a movie containing one dimensional characters, no back story, plot lines that come out of no-where and disappear mid stream, and a general feeling of "what the...?" when the credits start rolling.Tip of the hat. Good day.

"Evangeline" is one of these new revenge / supernatural fusion horror films that blends classic vengeance gore with a paranormal element. I like this mash-up of concepts. The story isn't completely original, the themes and subject matter has been explored quite a bit in horror. What "Evangeline" does offer is a deep, atmospheric slice of human tragedy, and a test of Lam's more philosophical expressionism through visual art forms. I enjoyed that Lam chose to show us what the psyche split during intense physical suffering could look like. And by choosing that moment to have a supernatural development unfold in the character development goes a long way toward Lam's vision, and gives us our turn around in this nightmarish journey. The acting and directing is pretty tight. Obviously the budget was nice enough to bring "Evangeline" up to par with some of the recent films of this ilk. The production is quality as well. Unfortunately there is something of substance missing in a lot of the material here. The story is multilayered and for the most part the characters seem developed enough. It is just that I felt they were standard "Copy/paste" characters and there was no real emotionality to the drama or scenes that actually dealt with the crux of this story. Not to the level that the creativity and vision of more surreal scenes without dialog where everything was visual stimulation. Plus things just happen because they need to happen and that was the way they were drawn on the storyboards. No real suspense or intensity. The special effects rocked. Especially the creature effects on the "demon" or "entity" , (what little we see it). It is what we have come to expect in this genre and I recently saw another film with an almost identical story do it better, but all the FX are on point and look great on screen. The soundtrack and atmosphere is a haunting sway of despair lingering over the story. There will be as many people that like "Evangeline" as "hate it". The actual combining of the two aspects of the story are open to interpretation, in some moments are confusing. I loved the visual exploration of the victim coping during such a senseless and vicious act of violence. I only hope I have a demon watching over me and waiting for that moment to intercede.