Eureka Blu-ray Film Review

976-EVIL (1988) • Blu-ray [Eureka Classics]

People who dial 976-EVIL receive supernatural powers and turn into satanic killers.

During the 1980s, every cultural fad or trend inspired a horror movie. Cable TV gave rise to TerroVision (1986) and the home video revolution begat The Video Dead (1987). However, it didn’t stop there. In those pre-internet days, people could call premium-rate telephone numbers (with the prefix ‘976’) for select services. These hotlines would connect you to everything including Michael Jackson’s tour schedule. Then there was the seedy underbelly frequently advertised in the back of men’s magazines, where one could call a middle-aged woman and talk dirty. It was inevitable a horror film would be made about the ’80s phone craze, and it was predictably called 976-EVIL.

1988 was a glorious year for the genre. Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice presented a unique spin on the afterlife, John Carpenter’s They Live imagined alien overlords living amongst us, and there was goofy low-budget fare such as Frank Henenlotter’s Brain Damage and my personal favourite Return of the Living Dead Part…