Evil Eye Review: Mother Knows Best

Release date: October 13, 2020
Running time: 90 minutes
Starring: Sarita Choudhury, Sunita Mani, Bernard White 

Welcome to the Blumhouse is a seasonal horror event by Amazon and Blumhouse that is releasing four horror movies during October in two waves.  Evil Eye is part of the second wave of movies, releasing October 13 along with Nocturne.  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.  Usha (Choudhury) has always been protective of her daughter and tried to find what is best for her.  However, when Pallavi (Mani) finally meets someone that she is interested in, Usha can't help but shake a bad feeling she has about this seemingly perfect boy.

I expected to love Evil Eye due to the melding of some of my favorite genres of film, Hindi movies and horror.  And Evil Eye does a lot right.  It starts very slowly but that lets you get introduced to the characters and their predicament.  Usha is a constantly worrying mother who lives in India and Pallavi is a free spirited daughter who lives in America.  They are polar opposites who live a world apart, but are in nearly daily contact.  The dynamic between the two and their way of thinking is really fun to see.  Usha is constantly trying to set her daughter up with nice Indian men but Pallavi prefers her freedom and to meet someone one her own.  I imagine this dynamic is pretty common for young Indian children that have left the watchful eye of their parents, and seeing the contrasting personalities of these two is really an interesting treat. 

Evil Eye is a slower burning horror film.  It's more of a psychological film about the clash of personalities and ideas from Usha and Pallavi.  Much of this plays out over the phone, and the uncertainty keeps you guessing what will happen next.  And as the story progresses, more of Usha's past is revealed to you giving the viewer some more context to her idiosyncrasies.  However, for those looking for a more traditional horror experience, that doesn't come until late in the film.  I was expecting more unease or thriller moments during the movie but that just isn't this film.  It is suspenseful at times, but not in what you would expect of a horror film.  It is not a bad movie, and I did enjoy it a lot, but it was mostly for the well done characters and the clash of personalities.  And at times, it was very suspenseful when you weren't sure what was going to happen next between Pallavi and her new boyfriend  Another thing I appreciated about this film is that there is some Hindi spoken during it but there were no subtitles.  It was a nice touch to show that the viewers don't necessarily need to always know what is going on and gave the film a little more authenticity in my mind.  And finally, although Priyanka Chopra Jonas is attached to the film, it is only as an executive producer role.  She doesn't appear on screen, although I imagine she had some input in the mother daughter relationship on screen. 

Evil Eye is a slow burning character drama with a wonderful dynamic between Choudhury and Mani and a suspenseful finale.

Rent it.

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Evil Eye is available to stream on Amazon Prime starting October 13, 2020.