In the eerie ’80s, schoolteacher Andrej Romanovich Evilenko (Malcolm McDowell, A Clockwork Orange, Caligula) gets the boot from his job for being a pedo. This doesn’t slow his roll however as he soon obtains some government work… but his obsessions along with the changing political climate in Kyiv, sends him into a bit of a spiral where he rapes, kills, and eats women and children with wild abandon.
Hot on his heels is Vadim Timurouvic Lesiev (Marton Csokas), a magistrate assigned to end Evilenko’s beat ’em and eat ’em routine, but he’ll have his work cut out for him as our eponymous madman has hypnotic abilities that are good for both luring victims, and keeping ahead of the law!
Based on real-life events, Evilenko takes some liberties with the facts to provide the viewer with a bit of a schizophrenic experience.
While in reality, Evilenko was a vicious and unassuming killer, as portrayed by McDowell he is a supervillain in training replete with grandiose monologues and that aforementioned hypnotism gimmick… although that can dovetail into more standard psychosis in some scenes.
This may work against the film for some, but the end result is an entertaining performance that just goes where it wants which undercuts the gravitas of the situation a bit but is fascinating to watch.
And that being said, this is truly McDowell’s showcase, which results in most of the other characters present being a bit underdeveloped, but it’s clear where writer/director David Grieco wants us to keep our putrid peepers focused on, and McDowell picks up the beastly ball and runs with it like a motherfucker!
Another strong aspect of this production is the score courtesy of composer Angelo Badalamenti (Twin Peaks, Lost Highway) that provides heaps of unsettling atmospheric tones to accentuate the more horrifying elements of the tale at hand.
As for special features to accompany this 4K release from Unearthed Films is an audio commentary with Grieco and McDowell that covers the nuts n’ bolts of what it took to bring Evilenko‘s story to the screen.
Also included is a Blu-ray version of the film, along with the previously mentioned commentary joined by a featurette on the true crime that inspired the picture, cast and crew interviews, a photo gallery, and the flick’s original trailer.
While attempting the delicate balancing act films such as this can tread; i.e. how much grimness is too much for a standard viewer and how can the film entertain while presenting the facts, Evilenko goes for the ghoulish gold with McDowell oft times playing for the cheap seats in a performance that brings to mind Doctor Doom as much as it does Dahmer… and while it may not offer the somberness the material may deserve, it never fails to be compelling!
