EVIL CLUTCH (1988): MICRO-REVIEW

Balladeer’s Blog

THIS THING IS SUCH A RIPOFF IT DOESN’T EVEN DESERVE TO HAVE ITS OWN POSTER SHOWN. 

EVIL CLUTCH (1988) – Whatever movie you THINK is the worst Evil Dead ripoff, you’ll likely have second thoughts if you’re unfortunate enough to see Evil Clutch. This awful movie’s original Italian title was Il Bosco and it has literally NO entertainment value of its own. 

A creepy-looking Italian couple – the woman pretending to be American – encounter even creepier people in an isolated woodland community in the Alps. Everything that happens from there is simply an excuse to stage inept imitations of scenes from the Evil Dead.

And I don’t mean that it borrows a few things, like the roaming POV shots and the concept of some people getting possessed by ancient evil forces. Countless shots are literally just restagings of the memorable scenes from the earlier Sam Raimi/ Bruce Campbell/ Rob Tapert film. And the restagings are more like very, very cheap imitations, as if some amateurs had a little fun trying to match the makeup and primitive special effects from their inspiration.

I rarely say this, but you are not missing ANYTHING if you avoid this flick. It’s not bad enough to laugh at, it’s just boring and is so unoriginal you know exactly how it will end right now: in a VERY cheap imitation of the Evil Dead‘s final moments. 

I can’t emphasize that enough. This movie practically erases the difference between a ripoff and a pirated copy.

The lame imitators behind this crock could have saved themselves a lot of time and trouble by just filming themselves at a screening of the Raimi/ Campbell/ Tapert original movie with an introduction saying “Let’s watch The Evil Dead together, shall we?”