Fear No Evil; Ritual Of Evil

FEAR NO EVIL was one of those films I had taken for granted, along with its talented director, Paul Wendkos, for many years, until I was reintroduced to the title at a private screening (along with another Wendkos feature, THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BELL) giving me a chance to view this gem with a fresh, mature eye. Critically acclaimed when broadcast as a television movie on March 3, 1969, for NBC Television’s first “Movie Of The Week”, this intelligent and well-written motion picture is nearly forgotten, and in many ways can almost be viewed as a ‘lost film’. 

Speculating on the seed of the story that would be released as FEAR NO EVIL, in view of the  flood of medical dramas then on television, was it originally meant to be a story of a hip professional shrink dealing with mental illness, or was a supernatural element plot device intended from the start? Again, Gary points out, “Although psychiatry served as the basis for a number of TV series (“The Breaking Point”, “Eleventh Hour”) and Universal was giving every professional prime-time leading man treatment during this period (Roy Thinnes as “The Psychiatrist”), I honestly feel that THE BEDEVILED/FEAR NO EVIL was always intended as a story about a handsome psychiatrist who realizes that x-amount of his patients aren’t crazy, just beset by demons…hence his special interest in all things dangerously supernatural, starting with the Siletski case. The “Enter David Sorell” speech pretty much says it all. And FNE and RITUAL OF EVIL were green-lit by NBC Programming exec Mort Werner, who is on record as saying “There’s always interest in the occult…the Jourdan character could return annually.”

BEDEVILED was given the go ahead with veteran Hollywood writer Guy Endore signed on to do the story. But, as reported to me by Jonathan Etter, the writer was unable to deliver a finished product and Richard Alan Simmons ended up doing the project. Despite the problems, Endore was still given a screen credit for story. Richard Alan Simmon’s story about death, loss, demonic forces, and the fight to restore faith and life was totally original in this highly intelligent and dramatic presentation. The dialogue, written for Louis Jourdan’s David Sorrell, is brisk and interesting (with a caustic dry humor) as his opening scene, taking place at a gathering of friends at his apartment, illustrates. We see a comfortable flat, the walls decorated with various images of primitive art (occult related?), as a sonorous voice intones “In the name of the smoldering legions of hell…I call upon The Devil and his servants…the demon Baal and Forcas…demon Marchocis…Buer…Astaroth…Behemoth…Asmodeus…And Theutus….All these [the camera finally sets upon the speaker - a casual, hip, cigarette-smoking younger man, scotch in hand. This is psychiatrist David Sorell, played by Jourdan] summoned hot upon these hours…to do battle with a pack of infidels…who never know when to go home and who drink up all of my booze and sit around insulting their host”.

Later in the story, meeting with his patient, Barbara Arnholt (Linda Day George), who had just lost her future husband, Paul Varney, the viewer gets a glimpse into his professional mindset as they go over the woman’s situation and question whether she has experienced seeing her dead lover.

It is from this point on that the complex screenplay by Richard Alan Simmons goes into high gear as the viewer is plunged into a nightmarish dark world of power-mad obsession, betrayal, loss, and the supernatural. Adding to the tension is the cutting back and forth from Dr. Sorell’s investigation to his patient Barbara Arnholt’s ongoing struggle with the demonic forces attempting to possess her. The mixture of Lynda Day George’s involving acting style with the detached, and cold direction of Paul Wendkos, plays on the viewer’s anxieties concerning the Barbara character. As does the Simmons script. In fact, each time the story cuts from the Barbara character to the Dr. David Sorell character, Barbara is left in an extremely vulnerable state. The character of David Sorrel comes across almost as an alternate Father Karras from THE EXORCIST (with Harry Snowden, his friend and mentor, in the Father Merrin role) as a man who first uses his mind to find a rational explanation (shock-survivor’s guilt – mental illness) to Barbara Arnholt’s situation before exploring the other possibility).  

It is now-well-known character actor Carroll O’Conner who really was (and still is) a find in his very first made-for-television movie as the ruthless Myles Donovan, a man willing to sacrifice his friend, Paul Varney, and even his own sanity, in trying to peek into the unknown. Obviously a friend of David Sorell, having known him for a long time, Donovan shocks the good doctor by admitting his spiritual corruption – on an almost Mengele level – which revolts the compassionate psychiatrist. In one of the highpoints of the film we observe two mindsets in a quiet duel – without the time-worn physical battle found in your standard drama. Myles: (smug) “Are you gonna judge me David?” David stares silent. “Because the only difference between you and me is I guard my fascination, my knowledge. How do you see yourself? As White Magic fighting Black?…Good against evil?” Sorell: “Against you?…yes. Against this thing you’ve done.” Myles: “But do you understand what evil really is? Because it’s won its case, Doctor. One worships the all-powerful, if one worships at all. Look at the misery of our world – the agony and suffering. Can you doubt that Satan leapt from Heaven not as vanquished but as victor…and gave us science the destroyer…my own particular shrine? (voice raised) We’re all hostages of Hell, Doctor, all we can do is cry for mercy. Do you deny my logic?” David is quiet, shakes his head “Your case fails.” Myles: “Prove that!” Sorell: (with loathing) “Life is a denial. What you worship is death.” Myles:” What I worship is the power…to do what I’ve done.” Sorell:” What you’ve done to Paul Varney!” It is an interesting study in human nature of a man being driven by extreme ruthlessness to achieve his goal – even when taken over by the demon in the climax, one really begins to wonder if there was much difference between Myles Donovan and the entity named Rakashi?. This is indeed a very far cry from the lovable bigot, Archie Bunker, of “ALL IN THE FAMILY” for which Carroll O’Conner would be known world wide.

Director Paul Wendkos  went beyond the confines of television by thinking in terms of a motion picture for the big screen. As described earlier, we have a reality of distorted visuals and tilting angles (even the use of color and shadow is in in the vein of Mario Bava), not seen before in a television project. The director, in Jonathon Etter’s excellent book, referred to this film as “one of the best things I’ve ever done”. Wendkos would later go on to direct THE MEPHISTO WALTZ (1971) for Twentieth Century Fox and Quinn Martin Productions, based upon the novel by Fred Mustard Stewart, a film very close in style to FEAR NO EVIL and later  the acclaimed LEGEND OF LIZZIE BORDEN starring Elizabeth Montgomery (1975). 

FEAR NO EVIL received high ratings when broadcast on March 3, 1969, and excellent reviews.

With the success of FEAR NO EVIL (see my previous entry), Universal ordered a second pilot film for BEDEVILED, bringing back Louis Jourdan's Dr. David Sorrell character, a psychiatrist who deals in cases of the occult, and Wilfrid Hyde-White as his mentor and teacher Harry Snowden. The case this time involves a former patient of Sorrell's, Aline Wiley (Carla Borelli), an heiress who has committed suicide, and who was involved with a cult of devil worshippers. Her mother (Anne Baxter) (pictured) insists she's being haunted by Aline, her new husband (John McMartin) (also pictured) thinks it's all nonsense, and younger sister Loey (Belinda Montgomery) may be the next victim.  

There are two standout performances. Georg Stanford Brown co-stars as Larry Richmond, a Vietnam vet and musician who has partied with Loey and has (perhaps) learned too much, and must be silenced by the cult. Far and above everyone else in the film (except Jourdan, of course) is Diana Hyland's character of Leila Barton, a love interest for Sorrell and also the main manipulator of the film.

With her Satanic powers, a leering statue of Pan (subbing in for the Infernal One) whose eyes glow when she makes her Death Spell, some black candles and a picture of the victim, she goes to town, killing off cast members one by one in various picturesque ways. Larry gets his out by the seaside in his rented house, as well as others, until finally Loey is in line as the next sacrifice.

Sorrell figures it out, and confronts Leila - in a refreshing touch, she not only admits her guilt, but tells him blatantly there's no way he can stop her, using her seductive wiles to try and make him her lover and consort, instead. He leaves to try and save Loey, just as Leila pulls out the statue, the candles ... and a picture of Sorrell. As he's driving on the busy freeway, he becomes disoriented - Leila is using her powers to make his death look like an accident. Sorrell is made of stronger stuff, however, and manages to overcome her spell and save Loey, exposing the cult at the same time.

Rushing back to Leila's apartment for one final confrontation and to put a stop to her killings, Sorrell finds it completely empty - the sorceress has gotten away completely, with her words ringing in his ears of how they could have been great together ... "another time, my love" ... setting up her character's possible return if the show had gotten the greenlight to go to series.

The music (again by Billy Goldenberg) is highly reminiscent of the themes used in FEAR NO EVIL, heavily borrowing the sonic tone and mood of the first film. Sadly, editor Byron Chudnow did not return for the sequel, as it could have used his master touch. The film commits the gravest sin (no pun intended) for a horror film, feature or TV-wise: it's just plain not scary. It tries (BOY, does it try), but it never achieves more than an unsettling mood in places, and that's just not enough. This was borne out by the low ratings it received upon it's initial airing, and was the final nail in BEDEVILED's coffin (sorry!) for it to be picked up as a series. As it stands now, it's an interesting occult footnote.


(Richard Ekstedt, Films in Review )
(Walter van Boseua, Conjure Cinema)