Remember what I said a few days ago about all the amazing horror films of 1987? Here’s another one. The lone survivor of a lake house massacre bands together with a cop, a doctor, and the survivor of a similar massacre to fight the evil that killed his family and friends. They have to race against time before the main villain brings back an old god named Yog Kothag using a quasar. Forever Evil is a combination of devil cult movie, police procedural, vigilante flick, and wandering nightmare on film. It is the very definition of regional horror, made on a low budget in Texas, but I love it.

I love the opening titles being hand-drawn animation of a POV trip through a maze. I love that all the actors are normal looking people, and even the pretty female lead in the movie still looks like someone you would actually know. I love the real wooden farmhouses used for locations instead of sets, and the crazy 70s vacation house which for some reason has a glass hydraulic door. I love that there are real cafeteria workers in the hospital scene. I love that it’s 1987 and they smoke in a hospital, and that they have to use microfilm to research the evil cult they’re chasing after, and have to drive around in a truck to find people. I love that no one in this movie talks like a real human. I love that there’s a character who reads tabloid articles over the phone to a friend. I love that there’s a scene in the middle of the movie where the writer of the film shows up to read tarot cards to a woman who looks and acts like the lying lady from True Stories, especially because I get serious ASMR from tarot cards being read.

Most of all, I love that I first saw this back when Netflix was mainly used for checking out physical discs, back in 2007, and that rental coincided with a particularly low period in my life. I know that sounds strange, but for me I am so introspective that I value all my experiences and the processes of going through them. When I found Forever Evil I was just getting seriously into horror as a way to work out aggression, an aggression which I no longer feel, and yet this movie provided me a mellow and dark mood that I still feel nostalgic for. This mood persists even when you watch this with the commentary track on while the writer and director chat about it. I can’t count the number I’ve watched Forever Evil, but I usually do watch it with that commentary track, and I respect everything they did and tried to do. Some of the best regional horror ever came out of Texas! Keep My Grave Open, The Abomination, and Forever Evil. Give me a Texas movie any day. I’ve got two VHS copies of Forever Evil, and I’d gladly buy more.