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The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

I guess I have a soft spot, a very small one, for this forgotten film, which was directed by horror icon Robert Englund. I think it's because it came out at the end of the 80's, which is the decade I saw the majority of my horror films, as I consider myself a horror buff. I've seen it listed as either 1988 or 1989, but I don't think I've seen many more horror films since then, as the 80's wrapped up my teen years. An interesting tidbit has star Stephen Geoffreys basically become a gay porn star not long after this film came out, no pun intended. You probably won't recognize anyone else, other than perhaps Sandy Dennis, and maybe Robert Picardo. I thought the premise of the film was fairly original; you call a "horrorscope" number, and you get to speak to the Devil. There's a catch though, if you don't do what "he" says, you get a strange sounding ring on a nearby pay phone(remember them?)and bad stuff may happen to you. Buyer beware! I'll get the bad out of the way; first off, I didn't like how Hoax decided to play a cruel, but deadly joke on Suzie, considering she was very nice to him, and even tried to protect him from bullies. Her death scene was pretty lame, as far as horror standards go. Also, the way the house turned into a foamy ice inside, and the fire effects under the house, were cheesy at best. I did like the creature's make-up for the most part, although the extra large hands and feet could've been done better. I also thought the fish falling from the sky was interesting, and I haven't seen anything like it before or after this film. Mark Dark was a very cool addition, but I wish there was more background on his character. To finish this review, I'll reiterate that this has some late 80's charm to me, and was probably one of the last horror films I saw, at least from what I can recall, as the 80's gave me some really cool horror film memories, and I'll proudly include this film as well.

The fact that this film is directed by Robert Englund in the late 1980's, it's well worth the watch since he brings the Nightmare on Elm Street cheese into his first film. 976-Evil is decent for the comedic horror genre, having a humorous tone, funny character perceptions and weird plot twists. All this stems from the main character Hoax, played by Stephen Geoffreys, also known for his role in Fright Night. Aside from the originality of 976-Evil's horror/comedy complexion, there isn't really a whole lot else offered. Special effects near the end were awfully bad and a lot of uninteresting scenes were persistent throughout. Also, two lead characters were introduced in a really weak way, no character development, just thrust quickly towards the end. Englund's So is 976-Evil worthy of a watch? Perhaps, it does consist a lengthy list of pros and cons for sure but it really depends on the viewers taste of horror.

When the 1988 horror film "976-EVIL" was first released in December of that year, its promotional poster bore the legend "Revenge Is On The Line." However, I believe the picture might have improved on its $3 million U.S. gross at the box office if, instead, that poster had rightfully proclaimed "The Film So Shocking, It Could Only Have Been Directed By Freddy Krueger!" And indeed, 1988 WAS a big year for Freddy portrayer Robert Englund. Besides appearing as Krueger for the fourth time, in "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master" (and Englund would go on to portray his most famous screen persona four more times afterward!), the beloved actor, after dozens of film and TV appearances, directed his first film. And, as it turns out, "976-EVIL" does have much in common with the lesser Freddy films: It features some nice-looking FX, violent set pieces and a barely comprehensible story line, all tied together by some corny but undeniably amusing one-liners.In the film, the viewer makes the acquaintance of two very different first cousins. The older, Spike (Patrick O'Bryan), is a prototypically cool and handsome dude who cruises around town on a Harley and has no problem at all scoring with the babes. Spike is idolized by his younger cousin, Hoax (Stephen Geoffreys), who is the prototypical...how shall I put it? Nerd? Dweeb? Putz? Schlemiel? The two live together with Hoax' mom, Lucy (two-time Tony winner/Oscar winner Sandy Dennis), a crackpot Bible-thumper and all-around harridan, and their young lives are soon thrown into turmoil when Spike finds a card with the titular phone number emblazoned on it. Once dialed, this number gives callers their so-called "horrorscope," which is unfailingly apropos to their life situation at the moment, be it money problems, girl problems, etc. Spike has no use for this gimmick, which he deems "bullsh_t," but poor Hoax rapidly gets sucked in, and before long, has been vested--long distance, as it were--with supernatural powers and the hands and visage of a hellish demon. (Hoax kinda sorta looks like the Michael Jackson zombie in that "Thriller" video, toward the film's end, more than anything else!) All the better, to finally take vengeance on all the high school bullies who have long been harassing him. Unfortunately for Hoax, however, his "telephone bill" soon comes due....I should perhaps mention here that my only reason for renting out "976-EVIL" in the first place was because it does feature Sandy Dennis--who I have been enamored with since the mid-'60s--here in her penultimate role. Sadly, the role is one that's hardly fitting for this wonderful actress, and the result is practically an on-screen embarrassment. Decked out in a fright wig and housecoat, Sandy looks fairly ghastly here, and her performance is a mannered, wildly over the top, caricatured mess. She almost seems to be channeling Piper Laurie's performance as the crazy evangelist mother from hell in 1976's "Carrie," but to much less effect. Indeed, I have to wonder WHY Sandy decided to participate in this film at all, and can only conclude that she wanted to either (a) do another horror film, following 1977's truly freaky "God Told Me To," or (b) play a character who is just as much a lover of cats as she was. (Dennis purportedly had dozens and dozens of cats living with her in her Westport, CT home.) Whatever the reason, "976-EVIL" is assuredly the worst film I have ever seen Dennis in, and it marks the only time that she has portrayed a thoroughly unlikable character. What a disappointment for me!I mentioned "Carrie" a moment ago, and it strikes me that the Dennis character is not the only point of similarity between the two films. Both feature a teenager who is very much an outsider, who lives with a religious wackadoodle of a mom, who is in possession of extraordinary powers, and who uses those powers to wreak violent vengeance on his/her high school oppressors. But whereas "Carrie" is a class act, with many now-iconic images, "976-EVIL" just barely makes the grade. Its story line is both confused and confusing (says Michael J. Weldon in one of MY Bibles, "The Psychotronic Video Guide": "too confusing"), with sketchy characters, a sketchy plot and the sketchiest of explanations at the tail end. Still, it remains a passable entertainment, thanks to those violent set pieces (the film dishes out several electrocutions, explosions, poisonous spiders, a face slashing, eviscerations, a dismemberment and other nasty tidbits) and some memorable one-liners. In perhaps the funniest scene, the demon Hoax walks into a poker game being played by his bullying enemies. In his hands rest the bloody cardiac muscles that he has just ripped from two of their chests. His line: "Would it be possible to enter the game with a pair of hearts?" Funny stuff, and a line that ol' Freddy himself might have leered at with approbation. And speaking of Freddy, I must add here that Englund's direction is surprisingly capable and fine; he is not the problem here. Rather, screenwriters Rhet Topham and Brian Helgeland are the ones to blame, I feel, for their poorly developed plot and unfleshed-out characters. Without a solid script and story, a film has nothing, and I have a hunch that by this picture's conclusion, many "976-EVIL" viewers will be muttering a line that Barbara Stanwyck kept hearing in a famous 1948 film noir: "Sorry, wrong number...."

Yes, it is a cheesier knock-off of Carrie: Here we have our tormented, misfit teen (Stephen Geoffreys instead of Sissy Spacek this time)who gains supernatural abilities (demonic possession instead of telekinesis this time) and proceeds to take nasty revenge on the bullies who done him dirty and on his psycho-Christian of a mother (told ya, Carrie) played by Sandy Dennis, who, if humanly possible, does a more over-the-top variation of Piper Laurie's performance.But Mr. Geoffreys makes this a gem of 80's horror. His performance is so quirky and, at times, so endearing, and yet he can be frickin'SCARY when he wants to - check him out in the scene where he attacks a gang of bullies in the projection room of a movie theater. It's a thrill to watch because of him. Also the bathroom stalking. And, well, every scene once be becomes fully possessed. I'm glad to hear about his return to the genre after the (in my opinion) unfortunate turn his life took not long after he made Fright Night and this. Welcome back, Mr. Geoffreys! All in all, worth watching for horror - and, more specifically, 80's horror - aficionados.Cheers.