Evil Town

Synopsis

The film depicts an evil scientist's (Dean Jagger) campaign to achieve eternal youth, through synthesizing a drug derived from human pituitary fluid. In extracting the fluid, he creates mindless zombies from the donors. Because the local town residents are in on the plot, to achieve immortality, they help the scientist, by abducting visitors who come through town.

Cast

Production

The film went into production in 1984 and went through numerous re-writes and re-edits before release in 1987. It is made up of footage of several older films, with major footage coming from the unfinished Dean Jagger film God Bless Dr. Shagetz (1974). When the pieces of the various older films were patched together, there was inclusion of some new footage, including some with Jillian Kesner and nude scenes with Playboy Playmate Lynda Wiesmeier.

Pre spin-off

When beginning work on Evil Town in 1984, director Mardi Rustam liked the story enough to make his own version which he released as Evils of the Night (1985), two years before the release of Evil Town.

Reception

Cavett Binion, writing for All Movie Guide, described the film as a "silly horror film," noting its composition from segments of previous films, including an unfinished project from the 1970s. Binion highlighted the inclusion of superfluous nudity, attributed to former Playboy playmate Lynda Wiesmeier, as an attempt to enhance the film's appeal. While acknowledging the editor's commendable attempts at ensuring narrative continuity, Binion ultimately opined that the final product appeared to lack sufficient merit to justify the effort invested.

Release

The film was scheduled for release on June 3, 1987, but due to the high level of anticipation for the movie, many theaters began showing it on the evening of June 2, 1987. It was released in the United States on VHS in November 1987.