BEYOND EVIL [1980]

 THIS ONE KINDA PLAYS LIKE A TV MOVIE. 

Herb Freed (GRADUATION DAY) brings us a rather lackluster stab at the possession film which has some occasional good moments in it.  However, any opportunity to see John Saxon (R.I.P. sir) and Lynda Day George is OK with me; I have a lot of time for both of them!  Larry & Barbara Andrews have just gotten married and show up on a Caribbean island where Barbara's ex-husband (!) has arranged a place to live for them.  Yeah, I don't get it either.  Apparently Barbara's ex-husband was a real jerk to her but he's also Larry's best friend (!!) and he's the guy they chose to find them a place to live.  No, it doesn't make more sense as you delve into it.  Anyways, instead of a nice luxury apartment that he promised, Del Giorgio (Barbara's ex) has gotten them a huge mansion to live in.  Of course, said mansion was the site of the murder of a notorious voodoo witch queen named Alma Martin 100 years ago.  What a bargain! 

The expected violent deaths start happening around the Andrews until soon enough Alma makes her bid to possess Barbara and all this is designed to bring Alma back from da grave.  I will say that the casting of Janice Lynde as the voodoo queen is excellent as she bares a striking resemblance to Lynda Day George.  Both women do a terrific job in the back-and-forth possession department and Lynde gets to shoot green light out of her eyes now and then.  John Saxon, as always, give his usual great performance although he hasn't got a lot to do here.  Michael Dante (WILLARD, THE NAKED KISS) is OK and appropriately annoying as Barbara's oafish ex.  I must make mention of the music score by Pino Donaggio as it is the most over-the-top, Mickey Mousing score you could put on a horror film; it's the equivalent of the "dah dah DAAAAAAAAAAHHHH" sinister music you'd hear on a cartoon or a sitcom parody of a horror movie.  It's quite odd since Donaggio is also the composer for such films as CARRIE, DON'T LOOK NOW, THE HOWLING, TOURIST TRAP, BLOW OUT and quite a few other films where his scoring is perfectly fine.  This is another one that's fine if you have nothing better to do.