Evilenko — Evilenko( Blu Ray)
Evilenko is a glum, often highly troubling, though largely bloodless cinematic retelling of the story of one of Russia’s most prolific serial killers- ex-schoolteacher Andrei Chikatilo. Between the late 70’s and early 90’s he took the lives of fifty-six victims- many children- with him even eating some of the victims. This early 2000 film finds Malcolm McDowell ( A Clockwork Orange, Time After Time, Rob Zombies Halloween films) playing the killer- here renamed Andrej Romanovic Evilenko, with the Leeds born actor giving one of his chillingly convincing late-career performances, and the picture featuring a lulling grim score by David Lynch collaborator Angelo Badalamenti. Here from Unearthed those seekers of extreme and unsettling cinematic fare is a new release of the film- coming as either a UHD or Blu-Ray release- featuring a new 4k scan of the film, new director/ lead actor commentary, and a few archive extras.
From 2004 Evilenko is an Italian production filmed in and around Kyiv, Ukraine. It was written and directed Rome born David Grieco- who has six credits to his name- taking two TV films, and four features. His other three features take in Valdagno, Arizona (2011) a documentary following an Italian songwriter's trip to live with Native American people, The Ploy (2011) a crime thriller focusing on the murder of film-maker Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Notarangelo Ladro Di Anime (2019) a documentary about Italian photographer Domenico Notarangelo.
Evilenko has a runtime of just under two hours- with the films pace kept largely slow, but compelling. Things open with a flash forward towards the end of the case- as we see a grey closely cropped-haired Evilenko (McDowell) creepily talking to a girl sitting in a forest glade- there is a scream, and the credits roll. We then move back to the late 70s- with the now brown parted-haired Evilenko working as a teacher. One of the girls is messing around in class flashing her pants- he asks her to stay behind, and after dropping his trousers and revealing his penis( off camera) he tries to rape her, and so the film kicks into its slow and glum gear- which is edged by moments of chilling/ skin crawling grooming, and very brief darts of threatening violence/ gore.
Fairly soon we get introduced to the killer’s wife (Frances Barber) who like him is a staunch and loyal communist- they are becoming more and more disillusioned with Gorbachev’s Russia. As the killers’ victims mount up into their twenties investigator Vadim Timurouvic Lesiev(Marton Csokas) is brought into the fore, and fairly soon he is bringing on board psychiatric profiler/ closet gay Aron Richter(Ronald Pickup).
Evilenko encounters with his victims are largely bloodless- with any nastiness shown off-screen or implied. McDowell really mangers to instil skin-creeping uneasy into these encounters- and at points, I generally shudder when he starts talking to his largely very young prey.
The main surrounding cast is also good- Csokas plays a believable, at points troubled by the case investigator. With Pickup been a good fit for the profiler with his own shady past. And Barber as the killers cooly loyal wive. Unfortunately, some of the smaller supporting roles are not great and, on a few occasions, I was taken out of the film's grim and oppressive spell- for example, Ruby Kammer who plays the investigator's wife is as flat as a pancake and as dull as flint.
The Angelo Badalamenti score is suitable low-key in its droning organ key drift- with the colours and tones of the film being washed out, grey, or subdued. Evilenko is really a mix of grim drama and low-key investigation thriller- there are a few more pacy/ intense moments here and there- but largely the film glumly moves along.
The new release features a 4k scan- this looks good and well-defined throughout, though there was an issue with the film's sound- it’s very quiet, meaning I had to push up the volume. So when you come to play the extras after- they are booming loud!...I don’t think it’s an issue on my end, as everything else I’ve played sounds normal volume. I’m reviewing the Blu-Ray version of the film.
Anyway moving on to the extras, we get a few things. First, on the new side, we get a director/ lead actor commentary- it’s a chatty, at-points sporadic track- which has some worthy facts/on-set stories. They begin by talking about how McDowell conceived Grieco to make the book he’d written about Andrei Chikatilo into a film- with the actor initially unsaw if he’d get funding due to the film's subject. The pair say they are like brothers, and how they trusted each other in making the film. The actor talks about how when he landed to shoot the film, he was unsure how to play the killer- but after Grieco showed him footage of the killer it clicked. They talk about how the character of the killer was a complex man, and how the whole film focuses on the madness of Russia. We find out that Frances Barber-the actress who played the killer's wife was great, and after a brief look at Imdb she has an impressive one hundred and seventy-two roles to her name- including Zed And Two Noughts & Prick Up Your Ear. They talk about how impressive the child actors are in the film, and find out that a few of them are the director's children. Later they discuss the prop photos & the general impressive set design of the film- pointing out sets they built. They talk about how at points the killer seems to hypnotise his victims, shots they would like to have redone, and more. It’s an ok one-play track- though its stopping/ starting is a little frustrating.
On the archive side, we get a good selection of things- fourteen interviews with the cast and crew- with a total runtime of eighty-one minutes. 'Evilenko Dossier: Andrei Chikatilo. ( 27.00) a look at the real-life basis for the character of Evilenko. David Grieco and Malcolm McDowell on 'Evilenko'( 96.00) A 2021 interview with the pair. Photo Gallery, and Original Trailer.
As a fan of the serial killer film genre, I was aware of Evilenko- but hadn’t got around to seeing it until this release. And it’s most certainly a very bleak drama come police investigator thriller- with McDowell being chilling and convincing as its lead. It goes without saying, but like many of Unearthed releases, this won’t be for everyone/ caution should be taken- though not for the gore/ extreme violence ( as there isn’t much of either), but due to its generally troubling portrayal of a child killer/ cannibal.