Review: Evil Eye

Director: Elan Dassani and Rajeev Dassani

Screenplay: Madhuri Shekar

Year: 2020

A few days ago, in the "Nocturne" review, the companion of "Evil Eye" in the second and last round of movies in the “Welcome to the Blumhouse”, I pitched the question of where would the quality balance leans towards with these two films. With "Nocturne" I commented that it was towards the positive, but with "Evil Eye" the comment is completely opposite. 

Pallavi is a young Indian woman living in the United States but still under the influence of her country of origin’s conservative and traditional culture. After being single for a long time, Pallavi meets her ideal partner for her mother’s relief, who thought her being single was the cause of a curse. However, Pallavi’s mother starts suspecting that this man is related to a man that tried to kill her 30 years ago. 

If “Nocturne” fights with “Black Box” for the first spot, “Evil Eye” fights for the last one with “The Lie”, although it has all odds in its favor to win it. On “The Lie” there was at least an effort to create an interesting plot and characters and some atmosphere. “Evil Eye” lacks any effort to create an exciting film, and it only seems to have as a purpose showcasing some characteristics of the Indian culture and little more.

“Evil Eye” delves into the Indian culture with topics such as arranged marriages and superstitions. Its whole plot is based on a superstition that tries to make it seem frightening but fails miserably in achieving it. However, it also devotes some effort in showing how the United States culture, a much more liberal one, clashes with the more traditional Indian culture, this aspect being the most interesting of the films for those of us who like cultural themes. 

The work of the directors Elan Dassani and Rajeev Dassani is atrocious. The complete disdain for details, like having modern cars and technology in a retrospective from 30 years ago, and the overwhelmingly slow rhythm makes this movie a challenge to watch. The screenwriter Madhuri Shekar, who adapts her audiobook to the screen, fails in her attempt to connect the viewer with the story or the characters, both boring. In the characters’ case, it is a shame because the cast does a good job, but the characters are so uninteresting that there is not much they could have been done.

Luckily, “Evil Eye” was the last movie I saw in the “Welcome to the Blumhouse” series because had it been the first, I can assure you that I would not have watched the rest of the series. If a while ago, I complained about “The Lie”, now I feel like I had no idea what I was talking about. “Evil Eye” is one of the most uninteresting and boring movies I have seen in recent times, and that Blumhouse has put this movie into a Halloween series should be considered a crime.