Another Evil movie review & film summary (2017)
The first part of "Another Evil" is fairly rote. While exploring his house, Dan stumbles upon a ghost in a brief scene that looks like it was shot by a high school student on their iPhone (and not in the way that Apple wants you to think). The ghost is actually scary, looking like a refugee from a better, "Twin Peaks"-inspired horror film. But he flees almost immediately. Dan then tries to hire a cut-rate psychic named Joey Lee (Dan Bakkedahl, from "Veep"). Unfortunately, Joey isn't just a laissez-faire ghost-buster (he doesn't want to get rid of the ghosts because he says they're not malevolent)—he's also kinda slovenly and dopey in a very unfunny way. So Dan, now desperate, takes a recommendation from a friend, and tries out Os, a nebbish-y loner with little social graces, and a tendency of over-staying his welcome.
Os and Dan's relationship takes over the film's story. Except Dan's not really important for the middle portion of "Another Evil." Instead, Dan sinks into the plot's background as Os' desperation mounts. Once you realize that Os is basically the film's main subject, you realize that the haunting, such as it is, is just kind of happening. Oh, sure, it's a major plot point, as you'll notice just by tallying up all the different scenes that are told from various characters' subjective points-of-view. But getting rid of ghosts isn't Dan's biggest concern: he has to get rid of Os.
"Another Evil" is, in that sense, reminiscent of black comedies like "What About Bob?" and "The King of Comedy," except Mell's film is more obvious, and therefore less unsettling. You can figure Os out just by looking Proksch over. Bald, baby-faced, and wearing a cowboy hat, a leather jacket, and wire-rim glasses—he dresses like an adolescent misfit who now realizes that his mom isn't watching him so closely any more. Proksch scoffs and whines with such ease that he often makes it easy to overlook the fact that Os is defined by facile tics: a failing marriage, a competitive chip-on-his-shoulder, a desperate need to bond with another man. Os thinks he's an artist, so he's instantly attracted to/jealous of Dan, who paints abstract images of dark circles surrounded by various colors.
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