Evilenko 4K Review (Unearthed Films)

Evilenko is a 2003 serial killer film written and directed by David Grieco (Borgata America, Valdagno Arizona, The Ploy, Notarangelo Ladro Di Anime, and La Favola Inventata). The estimated budget was $9,700,000 and it grossed $87,760 worldwide at the box office. Explore the mind of a true monster, a notorious serial killer who mutilated and devoured more than 50 children. For many years, Andrei Evilenko (played by: Malcolm McDowell from A Clockwork Orange, Halloween franchise, Time After Time, Caligula, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, Class of 1999, and Gangster No. 1) eluded the obsessive Detective Lesiev (played by: Marton Csokas from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, xXx, The Equalizer, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, and Cuckoo) and the psychiatric profiler Aron Richter (played by: Ronald Pickup from The Chronicles of Narnia, The Mission, Darkest Hour, Zulu Dawn, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) from all his horrific crimes. He couldn’t control his weird urges and it eventually took over everything. His sanity started slipping away at the gradual crumbling of his precious Soviet Union, Evilenko is a man who will live, die and kill as a communist!!!! Evilenko is an interesting character study on Russia’s most infamous serial killer Andrei Chikatilo. Chikatilo had a job as a teacher before he was forced to leave after being exposed as a pedophile. He went for a different career that gave him more free time and that’s when he let his perversions completely take over his life. He started picking up children where he sexually abused, killed, and ate them during his reign of terror in the Soviet Union. He was a loyal communist and he wasn’t shy to represent his beliefs. The script takes it’s time getting to know the Russian madman. There’s lots of character development and build up to his madness. Don’t expect a non stop thrill ride with Evilenko, it takes it’s time but it’s truly worth the wait. Malcolm McDowell as Andrei Evilenko gives one of his most underrated performances here. He transforms himself into the real life monster, you get to see what lead up to this shocking story. Evilenko seems like a normal guy to most people but he’s not even close to that in reality. Marton Csokas is great as Detective Lesiev. Csokas goes against his usual typecasting in this. He’s played the villain so much, it’s definitely a change to see him as the hero in Evilenko. They have a fascinating dynamic together when they finally meet after all the tension before. The rest of the supporting cast includes Ronald Pickup, Ruby Kammer (Alien Exorcism), John Benfield (Cold Skin), Evgeniya Gladiy (The Debt), Ihor Ciszkewycz (Cold Blood), Frances Barber (Mr. Holmes), Vladimir Levitskiy (Anton), and Vernon Dobtcheff (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). Evilenko doesn’t hold back when it comes to the violence and gore. I think it gives the detective a little more screen time than it should but it really focuses on Andrei Evilenko for the most part in this. It takes you through his origins to his downfall. No one really talks about Evilenko when it comes to the serial killer sub-genre but hopefully this brand new home video release gives it more attention. Andrei Chikatilo is known if you know anything about true crime but he’s not as publicly prolific as Dahmer, Gacy, Bundy, Gein, Ramirez, Fish, and others. It’s a messed up subject but It’s worth checking out. It’s very different compared to it’s companion piece Citizen X and the more recent inspiration from the gruesome events Child 44. The Red Ripper was one of craziest murderers of all time, RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Unearthed Films! This 2160p (1.85:1) unrated transfer with HDR10 is from a brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative. I checked out Evilenko when it was originally released and I’ve owned the 2006 DVD from TLA Releasing, this is a major upgrade compared to every past version of this serial killer feature. Unearthed has been killing it so far when it comes to their 4Ks. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track on the UHD. The audio is improvement also. It’s not a generally explosive type of film but it does have it’s moments. The score sounds fantastic. All of the dialogue is crisp, the suspense is elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has English and English SDH subtitles. It has a brand new exclusive “Audio Commentary” with director David Grieco and lead actor Malcolm McDowell. It has some solid information about the production and real life case. They have some personal stories from the production. It’s worth a listen, it has some fascinating stuff in it. That’s the only extra on the UHD, the rest are located on the blu ray. It has 81 minutes of “Cast and Crew Interviews”. It features the director and all of the main cast here. It has some video footage of Andrei Chikatilo in this. David Grieco shares his first experience seeing anything about serial killer Andrei Chikatilo. He wrote a novel based on him and the crimes but changed the names of the real people involved for it. He was determined to direct a feature about it and it took awhile for him to make it happen. Malcolm McDowell says he had a place in Italy, his friend David Grieco approached him with the screenplay for it. He brings up that he didn’t do much research on the real life Chikatilo. He made the role his own. He shares his process and experiences on it. So many other people that worked on it provide so much history about the production. It has the 27 minute “Evilenko Dossier: Andrei Chikatilo”. It shows a variety of clips from the movie. Director David Grieco chats about The Red Ripper a little bit here. It has various interviews with locals that were familiar with everything. This is dedicated to the real life monster Andrei Chikatilo that inspired Evilenko and a few other movies. It’s a quick overview of the events. It has all kinds of footage when Chikatilo was on trial for his crimes. It has English subtitles for it. It has the 69 minute “2021 Retrospective Interview” with director David Grieco and lead actor Malcolm McDowell. They chat about the project. I love how passionate this film maker is about this project. He brings up the origins of this. He actually went to the trial and he said he even interacted with Chikatilo. He has lots to say between all the different special features on this disc. Malcolm goes over how he got involved with Evilenko. He tried to get something changed from the film but Grieco left it the original way he wrote it. It has the “Photo Gallery”. It has the “Trailer” for Evilenko. Unearthed Films provides a good amount of material to keep you entertained after watching this feature. It comes with a slipcover. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!