Little Evil

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Gary (played by Adam Scott) marries a pretty woman named Samantha (played by Evangeline Lilly) and becomes the stepfather to a young boy named Lucas (played by Owen Atlas). Gary soon begins to wonder if Lucas is actually the antichrist. Before I go any further, I want to issue a minor spoiler warning just in case you want to see this movie and haven’t yet. Adam Scott provides the perfect straight man for the horror-comedy. He’s sort of the guy who reacts to the insane things around him with the right level of grounded. Young Owen Atlas brings just right balance of being both funny and creepy at the same time. The editing feels very much like it was influenced by Edgar Wright, and that definitely is something I enjoyed. The moments where Adam Scott’s Gary begins to bond with the child could have easily felt like tonal whiplash, but I actually really liked them. They added some heart to the movie and gave both Gary and Lucas some extra depth and development. This extra depth could also be said of the scene where Samantha describes how Lucas was conceived to Gary. It gives her a little more development and kind of helps explain why she acts the way she does throughout most of the movie. She probably suspects there’s something wrong with Lucas, but may choose to remain oblivious. Throughout the movie, there are some pretty funny references to some pretty famous horror movies (most notably, The Omen). The only real issue I have with this movie is that, while I chuckled and laughed pretty consistently, I only had one real belly laugh. Overall, while Little Evil didn’t get a lot of belly laughs, it was still a decently funny horror-comedy. It’s on Netflix, so check it out if you’re interested.

8 / 10