Classic Horrors Club

Over four years ago, I launched this 1970s TV-Movie series for the  TV Terror Guide with a film called Ritual of Evil (1970.) Today, I end the series with the film to which Ritual was a sequel: Fear No Evil (1969.) We’ve climbed up the decade (and beyond), then back down, adding some movies that were missed along the way. In more ways than one, we’re back where we started, and that includes a movie that’s simply average.

When I wrote about Ritual of Evil, I said that we didn’t know much about psychiatrist David Sorell (Louis Jordan) and maybe we learned something in the first movie. No, we still don’t. I find the character (and actor) more appealing in this installment, though. We meet him at an all-night sort of couples party for potential Satanists that include Paul Varney (Bradford Dillman) and his fiancee Barbara Anholt (Lynda Day George.)

Leaving at dawn to attend a classic car show, Paul is distracted by a face in the side mirror and crashes. Barbara is thrown from the car, but tumbles down the hill and moves in slow motion to find Paul lying bloody in the wreckage. We think he can’t be dead; he even opens his eyes. However, after the commercial, Barbara is in the hospital wonders why some people die and others don’t.

She’s visited by Dr. Sorell, who feels involved since the wreck occurred leaving his house, and by Mrs. Varney (Marsha Hunt), Paul’s mother. They’ve apparently had a contentious relationship because Mrs. Varney loved her son so much, but she now tells Barbara, “We’ve both lost too much to be enemies. Come and stay with me; I can’t be alone.” Conditioned to suspect everyone, I immediately questioned Mrs. Varney’s intentions.

In her guest room, Barbara finds the full-length mirror that Paul purchased prior to Dr. Sorell’s party, and soon, her late fiancee is beckoning her to join him inside. These events give new meaning to the words he abruptly spoke when Barbara wouldn’t stop pestering him about why he bought such an antique: “To snatch your soul and carry it to hell!” The perfect day to do this might just be their upcoming wedding date.

That is, if that’s what’s happening. Dr. Sorrell hypnotizes Barbara and tries to convince her she’s having erotic fantasies. At some point, though, he changes tactics and investigates the antique shop and the metaphysical study group that Paul visited and left dazed and confused before tapping on the window of the antique shop asking for help, then whipping out a wad of cash to buy the mirror.

The production values for Fear No Evil are superb. Appearing on NBC World Premier Series, IMDb claims it was the first movie of the week. I can’t verify this, but I wouldn’t argue that it’s one of the first. This, and the movies that followed the same year and the first couple years of the 1970s do look and feel more like theatrical motion pictures than the ones airing later in the decade. 

However, I think it’s too long at 98 minutes and I struggled to stay engaged. While it excels in creepy atmosphere and dazzling camera work, it lacks in action and suspense. Myles Donovan (Carroll O’Connor), another fishy character, says, “We’re all hostages of hell, doctor! All we can do is cry for mercy.” Fear No Evil is nothing that bad, but it’s missing something we sometimes associate with Heaven or Hell: magic.