Surviving Evil

2009 "Some islands are better left alone."
4.2| 1h30m| en
Details

A TV documentary crew arrive on a remote island in the Philippines to film a survival special. Their back-to-the-wild adventure proves to be more terrifying than they ever could have imagined

Director

Producted By

uFilm

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime. Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!
GamerTab That was an excellent one.
Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies
Stephan Hammond It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
jlthornb51 Terrence Daw directs this highly original, pulse-pounding horror adventure film that features some exotic location shooting as well as a superb script. The characters are well developed and as the story progresses we come to actually care about the fate of these people. The plot concerns a film crew in the wilds of the Philippines whose members find themselves fighting for their very lives against ... no spoilers! Billy Zane gives one of his finest performances here in the role of Sebatian "Seb" Beazley and it gives him an opportunity to once again excel as an actor. High adventure, terrifying horror, and an engrossing human drama, Surviving Evil is sharply produced film that deserves to be seen by a wider audience.
Paul Andrews Surviving Evil is set on Mayaman Island in the Philippines where a crew of TV documentary makers land, there to make an episode of Surviving the Wild with Sebastian 'Seb' Beazley (Billy Zane) as the adventurer host. Local guide Joey (Joel Torre) speaks of the legendary Aswang creatures of myth supposedly born out of the horrors of the Spanish invasion centuries ago but surely mythological Vampire like shape-changing creatures can't exist in reality? Well yes, they do & they particularly like the taste of human flesh & are attracted to a pregnant woman's blood, as they would be. As the Aswang attack can the crew use their survivalist knowledge to beat the creatures & make it off the island alive?This British South African co-production was written & directed by Terence Daw & one has to say that while Surviving Evil had potential for a nice fun creature film it really isn't very good & to be honest apart from slightly better production values & a bit more blood Surviving Evil is no better than those awful Sc-Fi Channel creature feature films that they make. I liked the idea about the makers of a nature survivalist TV programme getting stuck on an island full of monsters but apart from an excuse to strand several people there the survivalist aspect never comes into play & no-one ever uses any survival skills like building traps or trying to camouflage or tyring to find some secure shelter. No, once the monsters show up there's nothing any more clever or inspired here than 'let's all run & scream'. The opening sequence features a tribe being slaughtered bu something nasty which sets the film up nicely but it takes ages for the action to kick in after that, our TV crew arrive & then spends over an hour just talking & while I don't mind some build-up & scene setting it came to the point where I got really bored with it. At less than 90 minutes long Surviving Evil felt longer as there's only twenty odd minutes of monster action in it, that character's are better than expected with Billy Zane's host Seb coming off as quite likable but he bails well before the end leaving us with two annoying women who scream a lot. The script is also very vague & doesn't make much sense, the guide speaks of these creatures being supernatural somehow & can change shape but during the film they can be killed with spears & behave within the realms of reality apart from when they shape-shift, there's no reason as to why they wait so long to attack the crew or why they waited so long to kill the original tribe & there's a strange climax in which a phone is heard ringing next to a woman who fell down a hole but it was said earlier that there was no signal on the island & so what anyway? I mean is a phone ringing meant to be a twist? It just seemed a very odd way to end the film in the sense to have a phone ring, we don't really know whose phone it was (it could have belonged to any of the crew) or who was calling it & till that point the phone had no significance in the film whatsoever so why that final shot?Besides a muddled story that can't decide if it wants to be a straight creature feature or a supernatural horror film Surviving Evil has some really bad editing going on. The last twenty minutes are full of attacks but the camera jerks around & the sequences are edited so fast it's almost impossible to tell whats going on or see anything, I have never understood this style of film-making with fast editing & shaky camera movements as it just frustrates & I hate it. There are a few decent gore scenes here, there's some mutilated bodies & limbs, a freaky dead skinned baby mutant thing & plenty of blood splatter. Not scary or exciting or fun Surviving Evil takes itself very seriously but feels unfinished somehow. The special effects are pretty good here, although we never see them for more than a quick flash at any one time the creatures look pretty good & the gore effects are all on-set effects rather than CGI. The scenery & locations are nice enough but apart from the creatures the character's never run into any trouble & the terrain is left underused.Although set in the Philippines this was actually shot in South Africa. The acting is better than expected & although Billy Zane is slumming it he's quite likable here.Surviving Evil is a pretty poor creature feature that drifts between styles & inspirations, it's very slow going & the horrible fast editing makes the monster scenes once they begin a real chore to watch. It's just not much fun in any regard. No better than your average crap Sci-Fi Channel creature feature, it just looks a bit better & has a bit more blood in it.
Jan Strydom A small crew arrive at an island in the Philippines to begin shooting a documentary about a tribe that lives on the island but little do they know that something else also lives on the island, ancient creatures with a thirst for blood.This UK/South African co production was written and directed by Terence Daw and it is an exceptional little monster movie boasting a well fleshed out storyline, the performances by Billy Zane (BLOODRAYNE), Natalie Mendoza (THE DESCENT) and Colin Moss (NUMBER 10) are great as well as the performances from the supporting cast, the creature design is one of the better designs I've seen in recent low budget films and the director shows a big degree of professionalism.However, this film is not really scary so I wouldn't recommend it if you're looking to get scared stiff but I would recommend it if you want to see a really good movie.
Cruiz Dwyer A TV documentary crew, responsible for a wide selection of programmes on surviving in different terrains around the world, attempt their latest shoot on a remote jungle island in the Philippines. While filming, the crew come across some strange sightings unknown that the island is home to the bloodthirsty Aswang.From the opening credits it is evident that Surviving Evil was filmed on a low budget and very little is done to hide this fact, however the film does get slightly in quality after the first few minutes. The story itself is nothing new and is reminiscent of the Hills have Eyes 2 combined with Cannibal Holocaust, though it never gets near as gory as either. There are a couple of subplots, one of which helps the main plot along, but they have very little impact on the story as a whole and serve more to add depth to the characters and their relations with one another. Though even this is a lost cause with there not being enough screen time for true character interaction to occur. The plot is ultimately thin but with the workable pace and real intent on scaring the audience, it is never as glaring a problem as it could be.The acting side of things is fairly competent. While Billy Zane, Colin Moss and Natalie Mendoza take up the bulk of acting, the other actors persevere in making as much of the script as possible. Still this doesn't stop some weak acting at times but on a whole the cast are reasonable and definitely make up for the films other shortcomings.The biggest of which happens to be the cinematography. Director Terence Daw is unfortunately no professional having directed only television series many years ago. He attempts to do justice to the locales but to little effect with little effort going into wide or panning shots. Still he is able to gt the ferocity and quick tension of the violent attacks well enough without having to resort to full on bloody violence gore. His build up to the climax is fairly paced and the barrage attack with occurs to the crew makes for an exciting watch.There is no sex or nudity though violence and language are constant throughout. Violence is bloody but most gore is shown from corpses with the horrors sequences raining from quick cuts to darkened views on the action. Language variety is low though the F-word is muttered a good few times, mostly in bunches.There is a peculiar likability to Surviving Evil even when it is clearly far from being the best in its genre. And perhaps this is due to an acting ensemble that really try to make more of the film then there should be. When you factor in some fairly entertaining horror moments, even though they're mild by modern comparisons, you have a film that deserved a more experienced director and more money for production. It is a pity that the film is getting little in terms of publicity and this is most likely due to the film being half produced by a South African company. If the chance arises you should give Surviving Evil a chance: it's not great but you may be pleasantly surprised.