eannamac
OK it's a low budget film by a first time director & scriptwriter, but even by Z-movie standards this is a bit disappointing. There are a few decent moments which show that there is ability present and though went into it, however these and an occasional laugh is not enough to cover for the cobbled together plot and acting. I can't comment too much on the script as my Greek is not quite up to it yet, but when people just wander off the screen (aka dead in Zombie movies) and re-appear 20 minutes later the film descends into farce. There is a sequel, even a committed Zombie fan like me might just give it a miss. More judicious editing and some re-shooting would have saved it from this miserable score.
HumanoidOfFlesh
So here we have zombies on the bloody rampage in Athens.They were awakened from their eternal sleep during one unfortunate event in a forgotten cave.The epidemic spreads through the bite.The zombies are running fast and killing almost everyone in their sight."To Kako" aka "Evil" plays like "28 Days Later" on steroids.Unfortunately I prefer zombies walking than running like hell.There is plenty of gore,some splattery head-shots,cannibalism,squashed heads and beheadings.There's also the standard horrible acting and amateurish scene construction with several annoying dark comedy moments.Still I'd give "To Kako" 7 out of 10 because it possesses the intensity and charm of a film helmed by a director who firmly believes in his creation.
veo
We all hate the Hollywood remakes of foreign movies, like {REC) / Quarantine, Ju-on / The Grudge, Ringu / Ring, Nattevagten / Nightwatch etc... But where's the Hollywood remake when you need one?! Because To Kako, or Evil, is exactly the kind of movie that might have been good given more money, better script based on the original one, (better) actors and so on. The original script is very well-intended, the author really likes zombie movies, but his literary vein endures only for the first half of the film; after that, it seems the writer couldn't wait for the film to end so he threw in some fast jokes and zombie shooting and that was that. There are some good tricks, some good ideas, few very good scenes, the fight looks bad but at least they tried to think, if not choreograph, every move. The movie makers also obey the rules, even the rule that says every rule must be broken. For example, Yorgos Noussias' zombies don't die exclusively by brain destroying, but can also be killed by stabbing in the chest at least if the scene (one of the zombie that was put to sleep in the restaurant scene) was intentional. Of course, To Kako is a film exclusively for die hard zombie fans (pun pretty much intended). Only we can watch such cheap productions, achingly bad acting, stupid character motivations, dialogs ripped off from another 100 movies, artificial conflicts, fake fight scenes, horribly lighting, goofs (like the blood spurting out from a zombie cut in two but spurting out and upwards from the low half as the heart was of course in the upper half!), confusing editing at times... and I won't continue the list, because, despite all those shortcomings, I still liked the movie. To Kako is pretty much a kind of The Elephant Man (but the character, not the film): inside there's a great person, but you hate the way he looks. It's hard to look at him, but you ignore his appearance because you know down there there's good soul. As for the horror factor, yes, it exists, although achieved more by editing (the sudden bursts of the zombies
) and sound, which is the easy way to do it. Nevertheless, this film had one thing that was more scary and horrific than any other; it really made my hair rise and my teeth ache
and I'm talking about the music. The score was absolutely idiot, ruined many scenes and also killed any attempt to disbelief suspension. On the other hand, one of the best thing in this movie is its humor. I mean not in the sense that it has many jokes or wise cracking, but there is one of the funniest (or rather hysterical!) moments I have seen in zombie flicks the one involving Argyris and the zombie who interrupted his fun. Oh, and speaking about humor
or maybe goofs?... or maybe genre transgressing?... anyway
I didn't get the scene at 00:37:27, with Argyris hiding behind a, like, 6 inch thick tree
Was it some attempt to put some cartoon fun in a zombie movie?... Hard to say! Finally, the actors. As I still liked this film, I will only add that here at IMDb it's mentioned a sequel will come out next year, starring Billy Zane. Let me just say Mr. Zane is going to be the Dustin Hoffman of the cast. Not a word more!