Filthy Clint Howard Rocking the Satan Review - 'Evilspeak'

Evilspeak (1981)

Review by Jude Felton

Two siblings, two vastly differing careers. One starred opposite the Fonz, the other had a bear as a best friend. One went on to a very successful career as a director, the other remained cool as hell and to date has made well over 200 film and television performances. Yep, I’m talking about brothers’ Ron and Clint Howard. We all know that Ron lost his hair and maintains a very healthy career as a director, but it’s Clint who will always be the cool one. He pops up in everything, including his brother’s films, but also headlined some terrifically entertaining horror flicks, such as Ice Cream Man and the film I’m reviewing here; Evilspeak.

Scream Factory has, yet a-bloody-gain, dug up and dusted off an old-school gem and slapped it on Blu-ray. Thank you guys and gals, as this is just a wonderfully fun movie.

Any film that starts off with nudity and a beheading before the opening credits have finished is bound to be a winner, and this revenge flick is no different. As Stanley Coopersmith, Clint Howard is the brunt of bullying and victimization from the hands of students and faculty alike, at the military academy he attends.

This being the early 1980’s though finds Stanley with access to a primitive, by our standards, home computer. It’s here that he manages to conjure up all manner of satanic goodies, in order to wreak his wild and very gory revenge.

Evilspeak is a film that entertains, from start to finish, with gore aplenty (especially towards the latter stages), a terrific lead performance from Howard and tons of elements ripped from other films. Nods to Carrie, The Omen and any number of revenge flicks all combine to help make Evilspeak a winner, and with the advent of the home computer being utilized anyone would think that they would take over the world one day….

The visuals and audio on this Blu-ray release are definitely up to Scream’s usual high standard, and impress throughout. Sure, part of the charm of catching an older flick like this is to see it in a raw version, such as an old VHS, but it is absolutely fantastic to see it cleaned up and uncut here.

This is a film that delivers thrills, chills and laughs throughout its running time, and hopefully with this new release it will see the film win over a whole new set of fans. Terrific fun and Clint Howard with crazy hair? What the hell more could you ask for? Okay, you get a healthy selection of special features too. Now rush out and buy this beast!

Evilspeak is released by Scream Factory on May 13th.