In the early 1980s, my Dad owned a RCA Videodisc player. Among the assortment of films he owned, a few were listed as “Do Not Watch” for the kids. The Omen films, Cruising, The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, Raging Bull, The Life of Brian, and Fear No Evil. There may be others, but those were the ones I remember in particular growing up. Over time, I’ve been able to see almost all of them save for Raging Bull & Cruising. I was able to catch Fear No Evil via AMC+ earlier this year, and honestly, I wish my Dad were still alive. I’d ask him what prompted him to get this film, and watch it on purpose. I’ll never know, but here’s this movie that he was curious enough to buy at one point.

Directed by Frank LaLoggia, Fear No Evil is the tale of three Angels – Mikhail, Gabriel, and Rafael – who are out to bring back or smite Lucifer (Richard Jay Silverthorn, who also did the make up for the film), running around on Earth as a man. Lucifer states he’ll be reborn and then smites himself. We then celebrate the baptism of Baby Andrew Williams, which really doesn’t go as planned. His parents, Greg (Barry Cooper, Johnny Firecloud) and Marion (Alice Sachs, Seems Like Old Times) struggle with Andrew (Stefan Arngrim, The A-Team) over the years until his 18th birthday. An incident with the birthday cake leaves the mother injured, a father at a loss, and a teen with more freedom than he needs.

Fear No Evil basically takes Damien: The Omen II‘s story and drops it into a public school. As the Antichrist, Andrew is pretty aware of what he is and has no real regrets about it. Having an eye for Julie (Kathleen Rowe McAllen, TV’s All My Children), Andrew stalks the grounds of his local high school. He’s found brooding from the building’s fire escape and tries his best to dodge Tony (Daniel Eden, St. Elmos Fire) and his crew. Outside of the religious themes, there’s a sequence where the bullies corner Andrew in the High School shower (though it doesn’t quite turn out the way it did in Brian DePalma’s Carrie). I’m thinking that probably was the big thing that caused my Dad to keep this off our radar. When Julie discovers she’s the reincarnation of Gabriel (now Gabrielle), she and Mikhail (Elizabeth Hoffman, NBC’s Sisters, Dante’s Peak) join forces. Will they be able to stop Andrew before it’s too late?

When it comes to the acting, Fear No Evil has some over the top performances. With the notable exception of Hoffman and McAllen, most of the cast amped up the camp level with their characters. Arngrim and Cooper both have moments where their characters are completely losing it. Whether it’s a Dad starting a bar fight because his son’s the devil, or a dodgeball sequence that goes off the rails (and had me laughing throughout), everyone kind of hams it up. I will give Arngrim some marks for his voice. When he speaks up, he reminds me of the Sister of Mercy’s Andrew Eldritch, for some reason.

I did enjoy the effects and makeup, for what it’s worth. Some of the effects are full of glitter and lasers, feeling a bit like Flash Gordon or the climax of The Manitou. Richard Jay Silverthorn, who also plays Lucifer at the beginning of the film, handled the makeup and the effects. For a movie with a pretty low budget, it’s not bad at all. The music may be the film’s greatest strength. With tunes like “Blitzkreig Bop” and “Psycho Killer”, the movie’s high school setting is peppered mix of classic rock and orchestral work. The film’s score does work well with the notion that evil things are afoot.

Overall, Fear No Evil isn’t that great a film compared to others before or after it. It does deserve some kudos for trying to deliver a tale with a small budget, and the effects are somewhat interesting. It comes across, however, as just a bit much with the acting. It’s more an “In your face” kind of evil than anything subtle.