Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Early TV movie effort from Spielberg that is rather uneven. I'm not really sure why this doesn't work better. I guess there was little money and a lot of TV people looking over his shoulder that may have not helped the process. Whatever the reason, the location screams that it is a set, so flat and airless. When the spirits arise and the winds begin to blow, I realized why it had been absent, before but surely some sense of heat or rain would have given some sense of life to this clapperboard and cardboard. I also wonder whether using Ralph Bellamy was a good idea, he didn't seem to fit too well but would probably have been difficult to tell. Sandy Dennis is pretty much as she always is and I always like her but here when everyone seems a bit strange we could have done with a more staid central character. Otherwise, reasonable enough and there are scares particularly at the end, even if they are a bit undermined by an early sign of sentimentality creeping in and almost spoiling things.

Something Evil (1972)** 1/2 (out of 4) Steven Spielberg film has a wife (Sandy Dennis) talking her husband (Darren McGavin) into buying an old farm house and a short time after that she begins to feel that there's something evil living there with them. This made-for-TV movie came just after the director did DUEL and while it's certainly not in the same league as that movie, the overall effect is pretty good. The biggest problem with the film is easily the screenplay because it really doesn't have anything we haven't already seen from countless haunted/possession films. We basically have the wife playing the victim as she finds herself either being haunted or she's simply going crazy. The formula is pretty much followed from there as we have the husband who doesn't believe her but there's one old man (Ralph Bellamy) who does. The film takes quite a while to get going after a good opening sequence but I will admit that the ending was quite good and the twist in the story is also worth waiting for. The performances are certainly a high mark as both Dennis and McGavin are very good and believable in their parts. Bellamy easily steals the film as the neighbor who knows a lot about demonic possessions. Spielberg's direction certainly helps during the murder/possession scenes and I also liked the way he did the camera-work during these moments. Still, the screenplay just doesn't have enough going for it to where the director could really make something more memorable.

Spielberg's rarely-seen second (and last) made-for-TV movie actually predates two horror milestones: within his own filmography, of course, JAWS (1975) but, (more importantly) relating to genre, THE EXORCIST (1973). Mind you, the child possession here only occurs (sans make-up) at the climax and the exorcism requires nothing stronger than a motherly hug! Incidentally, SOMETHING EVIL also anticipates the recently-viewed (and remade) DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK (1973) which, apart from being similarly-produced for the small-screen, this shares a good many plot points with it: the wife being fond of a country-house which is soon revealed to be 'inhabited' by some sort of malevolent spirit, while the husband is a workaholic who only really witnesses his spouse's breakdown – since he barely comes into contact with the supernatural forces at work. By the way, one could perhaps detect the germ here for Spielberg's subsequent producer-only credit on POLTERGEIST (1982)! The film was surprisingly written by Robert Clouse (who, despite being deaf, would soon prove a leading action director!), with the cast being equally notable: Sandy Dennis (who keeps hearing disembodied baby cries in the night, as well as coming across large jars filled with undisclosed gooey stuff!) and Darren McGavin (a director of TV commercials who decides to shoot one on his new property – only to have his current 'actress' die in a car wreck after a party he organized) as the central couple, Jeff Corey – featured in another TV-sourced title I checked out during this "Halloween Challenge" i.e. CURSE OF THE BLACK WIDOW (1977) – as the superstitious landowner (he is often seen spilling chicken blood all over the soil in an effort to ward off evil) and Ralph Bellamy (basically playing the other side of the coin, as an occult authority, of his memorably restrained devil-worshipping cult leader in ROSEMARY'S BABY {1968}).While we never get to know the history of the place (other than that the previous owner had mysteriously killed himself, as per the pre-credits sequence), that is to say, who or what is behind the eventual possession and why it specifically targets the protagonists' boy, Spielberg demonstrates a lot of his essence here, namely his – for lack of a better word – classical handling of suspense and action but also the home-spun qualities that would be particularly frowned upon by his detractors! In the long run, the film – whose presentation on the copy I watched was extensively window-boxed! – is as well-made and acted as any picture to emerge from this era (a fair number of which have deservedly gone on to acquire cult status over the years, including his own DUEL {1971}), despite not being especially impressive or even memorable.

A couple from New York move with their two children to a run-down farm house in Pennsylvania.Soon after moving Margery(Sandy Dennis),a housewife/painter begins to experience various unsettling events;she sees the caretaker sprinkling the blood of a slaughtered chicken in the fields. She hears a baby crying in the barn late at night,the sound emanating from an old wood stove.Two guests at a party that the couple throws are killed in a mysterious accident.Eventually with the help of a new friend she begins to believe that her home may be inhabited by a devil and that she is it's target for possession.Her husband played by Darren McGavin of "The Night Stalker" fame doesn't believe her and the supernatural events escalate..."Something Evil" does not feature any blood and the devil force is unseen.The film is pretty creepy with subtle frights and all around solid acting.7 out of 10.