Little Evil (2017) Poster

(2017)

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7/10
Cheesy, but delightful
meri10223 September 2017
This film is hilariously entertaining if you recognize the intended allusions, particularly the nods to THE OMEN. Adam Scott and Owen Atlas are charming as step-father and son, especially in the water park scenes. Evangeline Lilly is surprisingly perfect as the ditsy mom; she delivers her lines with impeccable comic timing. I've never seen her outside of LOST and her performance here is spot-on. Yes, some bits are campy and silly, but the overall message is touching and relevant.
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7/10
Actually not that bad!
benson34363 September 2017
I laughed. I cried... okay, I didn't cry, but this movie actually wasn't bad at all and the neither was the acting. The plot was funny and obviously done many times before, but I enjoyed the cast chosen for the roles and I enjoyed the movie all together as a whole. I watched it on Netflix and if you have a Netflix account I would recommend that you do the same!I wish IMDb would update their rating system. Let us type in a number from 1-10, so we can adjust the rating and not just give it a 6 or an 8. I want to say that this movie isn't a 7, but its better than a 6. So I would say that it is a 6.5! Enjoy !
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7/10
Owen in an omen.
ulicknormanowen29 June 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This is a marvelously precise horror movies parody dealing with the Apocalypsis horror movies,particularly"the omen" (hinted at ): the birthday party , the hurricane,the warnings , "Bethleem" , the photographs (There's an equivalent of David Warner 's part) ,666,you name it ;but there're also hints at "Rosemary's baby" : the depiction of the conception (no flashback)by mommy seems taken by force from Ira Levin,complete with nightmare and red paint on the chosen mom's body ,and "the exorcist" : the voice of the demon in the boy's bedroom .

Adam Scott is ideally cast as the naive meek stepfather (the film can also be seen as a spoof on the "stepfathers" numerous films , reversing the parts,stepdaddy becoming the victim) ,full of finer feelings ,overtaken by events,in the grand tradition of Jim Carrey; strong support -in every sense of the term-by Bridget Everett .The lines are sometimes riotously funny : "he burried you alive in the garden ,but he did not mean to do it!";and Jimmy Cliff ,ironically in this context ,promises :"it's gonna be bright bright sunshiny day "

The movie loses steam in its last third : it becomes too spectacular in the chase scenes and the final ceremony has been seen a hundred times at least by the average viewer .But the rest is good fun .
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7/10
Great Third Act
scythertitus3 September 2017
The first thing to say is that the first two acts of this movie really struggle to truly find the line between horror and comedy. It tries to find comedy in a normal person reacting to a devil child, but that is pretty much every possession horror ever so there isn't much new ground there, and the attempted comedy often falls flat while also taking away from the potential actual creepiness of the scene. It's easy to rule this out as a failed attempt at recapturing the Tucker and Dale vs. Evil vibe.

But then the third act happens and the movie really comes into its own. The humour and tension are amped up and instead of being a shadow of dozens of horrors and a shadow of dozens of comedy it becomes its own movie and is much better for it. There is even a great message about the difference between nature and nurture and there are some good original ideas that make it much more enjoyable.

Overall it is a shame you have to wait for the third act to get going, especially since they show the catalyst for this momentum shift at the very beginning. You could argue they need the first two acts to set up for the third, but if so then they should have focused more on the comedy since there are way too many evil/possessed child films to care about getting that part right. Still though it's hard not to recommend this movie since the third act is really enjoyable, I just wish they could have gotten there sooner. Maybe just skip to that point.
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6/10
A fun horror comedy...
rebeccalucy24 November 2017
A very fun horror comedy, but leans more on the comedy side. Parodies many classic horrors in a very unique way and has quite a lot of laughs.

The acting was quite good, particularly Adam Scott. He suited the role and brought some flavour to scenes. Bridget Everett was hilarious and plays quite a different type of character than usually expected. They both carried the film. I wish the mother had a bit more personality, it just seems as she is there to fulfill her role. She definitely needed more screen time to flesh out her character.

However, the cinematography is very conventional and bland. It is important part of a film and is lacking. Many jokes could have been even funnier with creative cinematography or editing. Though it is worth watching for both horror and comedy lovers.
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4/10
Pick a tone, any tone
dissident3202 September 2017
Everything is technically fine here. Good acting, surprisingly solid special effects and it looks pretty good. But the actual content of this is quite tiresome. It doesn't want to go fully goofy like Hell Baby but also doesn't want to be a full-on horror. It wants them both and that's when it started to grate on me.

This part they want to be funny, this part is supposed to be scary and then we're supposed to care about the characters. Perhaps someone could or has pulled off these tonal shifts successfully but this movie does not. It's boring, predictable and neither funny nor scary.

I'm starting to feel like Netflix wants more original scripted movies but isn't doing a very good job of deciding what is actually good. Don't watch this. It's not terrible, it's just not worth anyone's time.
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7/10
Omen: From spoof to comedy and back again
kosmasp27 February 2022
The movie is all over the place. It begins as a spoof and changes lanes so often you may lose sight of what it actually is trying to convey. It also isn't entirely an Omen ripoff or homage or whatever you want to call it. It has similarities and it has a kid that seems quite evil.

But it also takes things in other directions. Sometimes completely funny, sometimes it just tries to be funny. In other words: you have to have patience and you have to cut the movie quite some slack. Good actors - not always good lines ... but again if you stick with it, there are quite a few nice things you can discover here. I may be a bit too nice once again, but that is me I reckon.
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4/10
Decent Premise, mediocre execution
knoxfan20081 September 2017
I wouldn't have watched this if I hadn't loved "Tucker & Dale vs Evil" by Eli Craig, which like "Little Evil" is a parody of a horror sub-genre. Unfortunately this film is entertaining enough that I was never bored, but it lacked the creativity and fast- paced humour a premise like this should have.

It begins promisingly with a lot of funny jokes, but after the first 15 minutes, the jokes kind of take a backseat to the exposition, and the humour becomes less crafted, and more akin to an Apatow joint. Adam Scott is great as usual, and though I expected his sidekick Al to be incredibly annoying, Bridget Everett was having so much fun I warmed to her after a while, Clancy Brown is also good. The rest of the cast is pretty average, Kate from LOST phones it in, and Turk from SCRUBS is distracting, as he's cast as one of the 3 useless comic relief step-dad friends that never have an impact on the story. The kid that played Lucas was also really awful, even by the standards of child actors. Why didn't anyone give this kid better directions. Nothing he or any of the other child actors said or did were well-done at all.

The direction was much better than any modern Apatow-esque comedy. Craig used a lot of horror conventions to his advantage and I wish the script he wrote paralleled his direction, even if the cinematography still looks like a cheap Netflix film. He does however, use identical speed-cutting transitions to Edgar Wright that is incredibly distracting, like with the same sound effects and pacing and everything.

The structure was not great, it lumbered in parts and then sped through the climax at an insane rate. The film also stops several times and repeats aspects, like expositional scenes.

I wish this were as strong as "Tucker & Dale" which I strongly recommend, yet "Little Evil" lacked a great supporting cast, or any innovative way to spin the subject matter. Instead, it's just a funnier version of the Omen, which was already kinda funny to begin with.
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6/10
Worth watching but flawed
jnlurie20 June 2022
The acting, the story, the writing, the cast, the premise ... this should have been a home run. But it's painfully slow. And it needed the director to allow the actors to improvise to bring out true humor in the situation. Either they needed a better editor or a more competent director (he hit it hard with Zombieland but this? Not so much).

That all said, it's worth watching. If, for nothing else, the mens therapy group scenes. Actually laugh out loud funny. The rest? Not so much.
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5/10
Decent, but not consistent.
AverageJoesDriveInPodcast4 September 2017
I'm not going to lie; I was kind of disappointed with this one. I had such high hopes for another Tucker N Dale Vs Evil type horror comedy. It's not a bad film, but the laughs were a little too few and far between for me. It had its moments but just wasn't consistent. I will say there are a few genuinely touching moments though, which I wasn't expecting, so it had that going for it.

Part of me thinks this one might get better upon repeat viewings. I'm not really sure why I feel that way, maybe it's because I wanted to like it more than I did.

Worth a watch, but if you were as excited as I was to see this one, lower your expectations.

My Rating: 5.5/10
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8/10
A cheeky little twist on a tired tale
bowmanblue3 August 2018
I actually heard about this film due to a Youtube video mentioning the 'Top Ten Most Undiscovered films on Netflix' and, I think it's fair to say that 'Little Evil' earns its spot on that list. The story about parents finding out some sort of child in their charge turns out to be possessed/spawn of evil/whatever and then has to struggle with the emotional conflicts this brings up. And, 'Little Evil' conforms to every single beat of this horror sub-genre. And yet it's actually a lot better than most similar films that have come before it.

A man marries a woman who has a son he hasn't really had the chance to get to know (okay, I had a bit of a problem with this, but, seeing as the film is so enjoyable, I'll let that one slide). Of course, when he does get to become the boy's stepfather, he certainly gets more than he bargained for in terms of fatal supernatural events happening all around his new family. So far - nothing new. I guess the big difference is that 'Little Evil' is not just a horror (in fact, there's not an awful lot of gore/scares to be found here), it's definitely a horror-comedy.

Basically, 'Little Evil' is a shining example of how it doesn't matter if the story itself is as old and unoriginal as time and yet, if the script is well-written, it will succeed. The characters are so good and play off each other so well that any tired genre tropes or plot-holes are barely worth talking about. The humour just works. There's few major mega laugh-out-loud moments, but you will find yourself smiling all the way through. I guess it's worth mentioning about the 'message' this film offers - namely about the importance of family, or rather the importance of whatever family you choose for yourself. It acknowledges the role that a stepparent chooses to take and points out some of the pitfalls that come with the role.

There isn't that much else to say about 'Little Evil.' It's simple. It's nothing new (if you've seen any 'Omen-type' horror film). It's not that scary or gory, but it is damn good fun and a worthwhile addition to your Netflix 'watchlist.'
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6/10
Great premise for a trailer ... not a feature film
randalrauser1 September 2017
The trailer for "Little Evil" was hilarious. Unfortunately, there isn't enough material here to sustain a feature length film. Forty minutes in I found myself looking at my watch ... and I don't even wear a watch. I was hoping for "Zombieland" but alas, I got "Krampus".

If you like the supernatural horror genre and horror/comedy mashups in particular, "Little Evil" is still worth a viewing, not least to catch the abundant allusions to "The Omen," "The Shining," et al. All others should pass this one by.
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1/10
Should've been called "Little Drivel"
knightox20 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
There's very "little" good to say about this snore-fest. It tries to be funny but falls flat at every turn. Even the great, villainous Clancy Brown as the evil cult leader couldn't salvage this train wreck. The morbidly obese lesbian "AL" character dropped the F-Bomb every other word and was incredibly irritating as she called every male "Bro!" (in between F-Bombs). The mother was completely oblivious to the fact her son had brought complete destruction to all those around him, especially slaughtering former husbands and boyfriends. And the step-dad took forever and a ton of prodding to be convinced the kid (Lucas) was actually the anti-Christ. And then, after being tortured and buried alive by Lucas, the step-dad gets chewed out by the mom for not caring for the emotional well-being of the pint-sized, psychotic, satanic little monster!?! Yeah, then the step-dad has some unequivocally idiotic change of heart and decides he's gonna love this murderous demon "because you don't have to be like your real dad" or some kinda BS even though Lucas has ALREADY committed countless atrocities and deaths! It ends on an even cheesier, dumb note that I won't even bother to explain. If you want a funny, scary movie you'd be much better served watching "Army of Darkness" again.
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7/10
A Wonderful Little Movie
Eric2665 July 2018
While this is not going to make any "Best of 2017" lists, its deserves to be seen. The horror spoof genre has been a bit overdone in the past with movies like Scary Movie and all the Friedberg/Seltzer mixed bag of spoofs. However, director Eli Craig knows his way around an homage flick (see Tucker and Dale vs Evil) so I'm not surprised he turned out an entertaining movie again. While DaTvsE was on point almost the entire time, Little Evil meanders a bit and misses out on some great chances to send up the genre. Where the Scary Movie ilk beat you over the head with the spoofs, Little Evil is a bit more suttle, being more homage than spoof. Case in point, the little boy is sitting in front of a TV with white static on it. Its an obvious reference to Poltergeist, but the little boy does not utter the words "they're here" like all of us have done at one time or another. The mere visual was enough.

Adam Scott plays Gary, who has just married the perfect girl, Samantha (Evangeline Lily). Samantha has a withdrawn son named Lucas, who might or might not be the anti-Christ. The laughter comes from Gary trying to connect with the kid like any stepfather would, except the kid might be Satan. Along the way Gary is joined by members of a stepfather support group who all pretty one dimensional aside from a lesbian "stepdad" named Al. The other members of the group are recognizable comedians if you follow comedy.

The plot doesn't try to be creative, but it flows along nicely and there are plenty of laughs along with some genuine moments of honesty and sincerity. Adam Scott is good at playing the normal guy with a weird streak. Evangeline Lily does the sexy girl-next-door female to perfection and she is good here, too.

With a crisp running time of 94 minutes it doesn't feel padded in any way. My only criticism is I think there was some gold that didn't get mined in an attempt to go for the laughs. I think they could have make this a darker comedy about being a stepdad to the anti-christ and it would have been funny AND scary while respecting the source material AND being original in the same manner as Tucker and Dale..
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6/10
mediocre but not funny at all
trashgang8 September 2017
I watched this Netflix Original for one reason only, Eli Craig. Seen his flick Tucker And Dale vs Evil (2010) it's still one of my all time favorite horror comedies. So when i saw the advertisement of his next comedy I was ready for it.

Have seen Little Evil I was left with mixed emotions. As a movie itself on part of the script it wasn't that bad after all and there are a lot of references towards the old school horrors like The Omen (1976) and Poltergeist (1982) amongst others but I didn't laugh one moment, even as there are a few moments intended to be funny but for me it wasn't.

There aren't any funny moments or awkward ones like in Tucker And Dale which made that one hilarious. The comedy here lays in the words spoken. Or the action they are going to take against their children (the sh*t scene).

A mediocre flick with for me no comedy at all, sad because it could have been so much fun.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5
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5/10
Worth seeing once
mistoppi9 September 2017
I was browsing through Netflix when I found Little Evil, which had come out recently. It seemed like a fun horror comedy, perfect for the day, so I decided to watch it.

There are many things I like in Little Evil, but it doesn't go above average. Of course the idea isn't original, isn't this a play on very typical stories about kids who seem to be the spawn of Satan. Most of them are actual horror movies, though. Little Evil mixes that horror story with the theme of being a stepparent in a humorous way, which itself is fresher than the movie might feel when you read the summary.

But in the end the story doesn't go where you'd want it to go. Of course some of the plot points are good, and the movie is fun and light, and there's something very special about it. But in the end the only thing this movie ends up being is somewhat funny. Everything else is actually quite superficial, and let's be honest, the humorous side probably wouldn't be as good if you watched this movie several times.

So definitely worth seeing once, if you're not too serious for horror comedies, but that's all.
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7/10
The lead female character is a B-star-star-star-star!!!
Amthermandes3 June 2018
Ok, so the movie it worth watching, got some funny moments, keeps the entertainment up, but it is lacking a lot of something. The humor could be more, the plot could be less translucent, and the characters could use a little more development. But all in all, it's a fun flick, good if you like horror, especially good if you're a fan of horror-comedy. But man, that female lead character is more annoying than a goat's head stuck to the jimmies. Because not only is she STUPID as hell, but she is completely oblivious to ANYTHING wrong about her son, or anything at all with her surroundings. Makes for a totally unbelievable and frustrating character. Still, fun flick. Check it out.
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3/10
Little Evil: Shockingly bad!
Platypuschow30 December 2018
Adam Scott, Evangeline Lilly, Clancy Brown, Tyler Labine, Donald Faison in a comedy horror?! Sign me up I thought, this is going to be incredible I assumed. I was wrong, I was very sorely wrong.

It tells the story of a man who marries only to start believing his step son to be the anti-christ. Hilarity was supposed to ensue, why didn't it ensue?

You see when it's funny it's funny, in fact in a few places it's hilarious but the vast majority of jokes miss their mark to embarrassing degrees. The film is full of unlikable characters, the plot is rushed, the editing is shoddy, the soundtrack is baffling and for some reason they though adding Edgar Wright transitions would be a good idea.

I mean come on! A comedy horror with that roster! How did you balls it up to this extent? I cringed multiple times throughout the film, why is it so bad?

On paper this is diamond dust, in reality its a soiled cubic zirconia.

The Good:

Great cast

Some decent ideas

The Bad:

Everything is executed poorly

Concept is wasted

Soundtrack is confusingly awful

Just not funny

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Eli Craig needs exiling from the movie industry

Someone shrunk ACDC's Brian Johnson

When Evangeline Lilly is made to be unlikable in a film it's game over man, pack up your stuff and get the hell out!
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7/10
Gary....don't overreact!!
planktonrules4 September 2017
Adam Scott (of "Parks and Recreation" fame) plays Gary, a guy who's just become a step-dad. Gary's excited about this and wants to be the best dad for young Lucas. The problem is that the kid might just be the Antichrist…and Gary starts to wonder if this might just be a deal breaker! That, and the fact that Lucas buried him alive in the yard at the beginning of the story! But, oddly enough, there's much more to this strange story than this and it ultimately becomes a battle between good, evil and not quite so evil.

This film debuted this week and is a Netflix original. In many ways, it's like a combination of "The Omen", "Rosemary's Baby", "Problem Child" and "Ghostbusters II" all combined into one strange concoction… with an emphasis on comedy. While the plot itself if just fine, what stood out in my mind was the bizarre way everyone reacted as well as the indescribably strange dialog. These combine to make the film very watchable…but also, at times, a film for older viewers. Of course, given that the film is about the coming of the Antichrist, it's not surprising that I say it's not exactly a family-friendly movie! But, it is funny and I liked it enough to feel encouraged, as just about every Netflix original I have watched has been excellent or better!

By the way, there is a tiny joke in the film where they talk about what it is to be a good American…including loving the music of Rush. Rush, if you didn't know it is a Canadian band! And, also, interestingly enough, the leader of the death cult in this film, Clancy Brown, also is the voice of Mr. Krabs on Spongebob! Oh, and did I mention that Sally Field makes an appearance as a social worker…from Hell?! How did they get this Oscar-winner in this picture?!
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5/10
meh...
larsbrekke1 September 2017
It was an okay movie, i really like Adam Scott's previous works but this time he didn't get to me. The humour is alright, most of it isn't funny but weird and childish. (the dark humour in this movie is terrible) Bridget Everett is playing as lesbian stepdad ''AL'' and are ''Gary's'' (main person)helping hand in stopping the Antichrist. In most of the scenes ''Al'' is just cringe-worthy. It was kind of a brain-dead movie,no real reason to pay attention to details. But again, the movie was watchable and got a few scenes that will give you a grin.
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10/10
Definitely a must watch, could be a Halloween Special yearly!
cjbrownlv10 October 2019
Remember when cable had funny special movies? Well, kudos to Netflix, because this Movie has become a household favourite (especially during Halloween time!) Owen Atlas is a natural - he will appeal to both kids and adults (kudos to the great casting!)
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7/10
Not much of a comedy, but a neat entertainer.
Vetrrich_Chelvan27 May 2021
The film hasn't got much story or drama or comedy in it. It's just there, as a time pass entertainment which you can watch when you are absolutely bored. It has some feel good element in it. Some of the scenes are cheesy and cliché but still it's ok.
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4/10
Behold - the power of the state
stratus_phere10 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
I would like to think that if a teacher commits suicide at school, they don't try to blame the new stepdad of the kid, and use the power of the state run school to force that stepdad to go to therapy. I would like to think that if a birthday clown accidentally catches on fire, they wouldn't blame the stepdad as if he somehow caused it, and then use the power of the state to force an evil social worker into their home. And finally, I would hope that if the rapture is coming and an evil cult wants to kidnap and murder the kid, we could at least count on the police NOT taking the side of evil, instead of arresting the legitimate stepdad.

I would also hope that if I had a stepson bury me in the backyard, my wife would not somehow find a way to blame me for that. And I would hope that her idiot friend would not spew such vitriolic hatred at me.

Bad writing. Good concept, but incredibly bad writing.
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good intentions yet confused
arjantin781 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
I am writing the review in the middle of the movie, but I don't think the second half will change anything in terms of what I want to say. I found the idea interesting and decided to watch the movie. It has its perks. It has nice ideas like people going on with their everyday stuff although they know it's the end of the world and the kid actually is the Antichrist etc. However, the execution somehow misses something. It's not scary when it intends to be scary, neither it manages to be funny when it intends to be so. I wouldn't call it a waste of time, but it's not as good as Tucker & Dale vs Evil by the same writer/director. After finishing the movie: It would have been badass if the kid were not saved and actually brought about the apocalypse.
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6/10
I guess not all Netflix originals can be gold
Shred_Master23 September 2017
Since Netflix started making its own movies and shows, they have pretty much been justifying keeping the monthly subscription, despite their increasingly pitiful movie collection. With programs like House of Cards, Orange is the New Black and the Marvel shows, they stand out among the pay streaming services that try to seduce cord cutters.

Of course though, as this particular movie points out, they can't all be home runs. The first mistake was, this showed up in the horror movie category. Really, the best place for it is comedies but a very dark comedy at that.

The movie was all over the place with what it was trying to be. If I could sum it up, I would say maybe a very loose adaptation of The Omen (which is actually referenced), except with less scare and more attempts at jokes that mostly fall flat and attempts at action, where they have zero knowledge of competent stunt work and special effects. Then there is the family aspect, which is meant to be heartwarming but mostly comes off cheesy, due to the abrupt changes of tone throughout.

The 2 main actors are decent enough and they are well known. Most of the other actors are forgettable and one dimensional.

If this seems interesting to you, there may be some entertainment value to keep you occupied. If however, you're looking for Netflix's next great thing, this ain't it.
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