udar55 Boardinghouse owner Mrs. Purdy (Karen Black) likes to off her elderly tenants but keep their Social Security checks coming. Her deadly scam risks exposure when investigator Lester Potts (Arte Johnson) starts sticking his nose around. This is really lousy stuff and moves at a snails pace. There are a few slightly gory murders and one big nude scene but you'll be heading for the film enhancement button (FF) with the "loony" stuff of Purdy always hears her dead husband's voice crack wise whenever anyone says or does something. There is a surprisingly game cast including Martine Beswick, Virginia Mayo, Bert Remsen, Yvette Vickers, Robert Quarry, Anthony Eisley, and Michael Berryman (whose face with a gouged out eyeball adorns the VHS cover). Sadly, none of them are given anything interesting to do outside of of Berryman being a peeping tom.

merklekranz A nice assortment of cult and over the hill actors cannot save this horror - comedy. Karen Black is the same whacked character you've seen in any number of her horror films. Michael Berryman is totally wasted as a writer/voyeur. Martine Beswicke as a séance medium overacts to the extreme. The rest of the oddball borders include the most stereotypical drunk ever, and Artie Johnson shows up for a paycheck as a Social Security investigator. Almost the entire movie takes place in a claustrophobic Victorian house, and the whole thing just sort of grinds on to a very underwhelming conclusion. Those curious only because of the unusual cast have been warned. - MERK

Woodyanders Something very strange and sinister is going on at a gloomy, moldy, dilapidated Los Angeles boarding house run by endearingly batty landlady Karen Black. Lots of residents who check in check out permanently so Ms. Black and her dead, but still present wheelchair-bound husband (who speaks with Karen telepathically from beyond the grave) can continue to collect their welfare and pension checks without having to spend extra cash feeding and housing the poor folks. Said tenants are a colorfully kooky bunch played by a game cast of genre favorites hand-picked to please the horror fans: Martine Beswicke as an edgy, intense psychic, Bert Remsen and Virginia Mayo as a bickering elderly couple, screenwriter Mikel Angel as a perpetually sloshed stewbum alcoholic, Michael Berryman as a creepy peeping tom, and the astonishingly cute'n'cuddly Debra Lamb as an adorably waifish mute dancer. Popping up in fun secondary roles are Arte Johnson as a meddlesome Social Security worker, Yvette Vickers as a shrewish neighbor who's always complaining about the odd foul stench emanating from Ms. Black's basement (hmm, I wonder what that could be?), Robert Quarry as a doctor, Anthony Eisley as a cop, and Hoke Howell as a friendly mailman.Ace veteran cinematographer Gary Graver directs with a sure playfully wiggy touch, keeping the tone of this cheerfully macabre horror black comedy amusingly off-kilter throughout. Meanwhile, the pace clicks away at a solid steady tempo, the photography is impressively polished, and the lashings of mild gore and gratuitous nudity ensure that on a pure exploitation level this lightweight diversion is satisfying enough. But ultimately it's the uniformly lively and enthusiastic performances that make this amiable fluff so entertaining. Karen Black in particular brings a disarmingly wacky charm to her juicy nutjob part, making her character so totally personable in her ditzy loopiness that even the fact that she's a killer does nothing to lesson her daffy appeal. Sure, "Evil Spirits" certainly isn't the kind of film anyone will ever hail as a bona-fide cinematic masterpiece, but it's nonetheless still a perfectly enjoyable little Grade B fright flick just the same.

EyeAskance "So-so" sums it up...simply marginal on every level, with ensemble "anything for a paycheck" cast the only redeeming quality. Karen Black is her usual hammy self as the psychotic landlady of a rooming house for various misfit characters. They mysteriously disappear at random, while smiling Ms. Black continues collecting on their monthly government checks. She converses with an unearthly male voice from time-to-time...a spirit from beyond the grave, or just a madwoman's rambling dementia? Not many great thrills to be had in this, but not bad enough to be harshly criticized, either...EVIL SPIRITS is a take-it-or-leave-it crap shoot- some may find this one entertaining(and gore mongers should find it acceptably gross), but I personally was left underwhelmed and rather put off by it's occasionally over-the-top comical silliness.Hmmm.... 4.5/10, coulda been worse.