The Movie: Evil Eye
The Directors: Elan Dassani and Rajeev Dassani
The Cast: Sarita Choudhury, Sunita Mani, Omar Maskati, and Bernard White
The Story: A superstitious mother is convinced that her daughter's new boyfriend is the reincarnation of a man who tried to kill her 30 years ago.
The Review:
Evil Eye is a part of Welcome to the Blumhouse, an anthology of unique and unsettling thrillers showcasing diverse casts led by emerging filmmakers, including several female directors. Produced by Blumhouse and available exclusively on Amazon Prime Video worldwide, the first four films in the series will be released in October 2020, with four more titles set to arrive in 2021.
Out of this first batch of Blumhouse films, this is the one that I enjoyed the most. The story was pretty basic but it's told in a suspenseful way and the characters are all engaging in their own ways. It was also nice to see a culturally diverse story being told with so much on display including traditions, folk tales, fashion, language, and customs and all of it was in place without any sort of "Hey look at all the culture!", it all just exists as normal in the story.
I really think that Sunita Mani needs to be some type of big star either in movies or on TV or both. I've only seen her in a couple movies, this one and The Death of Dick Long, and she is just so good. When it comes to diversity and equity in casting, she would definitely be someone who could lead the way and carve out a solid career. Speaking of careers, it was great to see Sarita Choudhury get to tackle this type of character for a domestic release instead of just getting added to a production that needs an Indian woman in a bit part.
The two women definitely hold their own both individually and even more so when they are together and I think they are what makes the movie work so well. The movie is labelled as a horror, mystery, thriller although I really don't know how much horror is involved other than there being supernatural elements. It's definitely more thriller with bits of horror and mystery sprinkled in and I am totally okay with that.
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