63
Bullying is not easy to watch on screen, even--or perhaps especially--if the viewer had the fortune to avoid either side of the bully/bullied equation.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
50
Village Voice by Ben Kenigsberg
Is this an allegory against blind deference to fascism? It might be, but the root-for-the-Aryan-jock dramatics seem mildly fascist themselves.
70
Evil is not, as the title would suggest, a horror film, at least not a conventional one. Based on the autobiographical novel by Jan Guillou and set in the mid-1950s, the film relates the experiences of a troubled young man who's enrolled into a hidebound private school.
50
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
Hafstrom never finds the shades in his morality tale, so while Wilson is an intensely charismatic actor, all he can do is respond to relentless, escalating tortures. It's immensely unpleasant for him, and, frankly, not a whole lot better for us.
70
The Hollywood Reporter by Frank Scheck
Although Evil eventually suffers from its heavy-handed treatment of its subject, it is a well-made and engrossing melodrama.
63
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
This didactic drama is set safely in the past and says nothing about the culture of conformity at all costs that hasn't been said before.
67
It's more about giving rich bullies the same comeuppance afforded to sneering wardens with bullwhips, and on those superficial grounds, it's reasonably gripping.
60
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
The movie is as blunt as its title. It portrays such behavior as "evil" without offering any deep insights or revelations, beyond handing out the plot equivalent of a lollipop at the end of the movie as compensation for the vicarious anguish.
75
Director Mikael Hafstrom - the gentleman responsible for last year's Jennifer Aniston bomb "Derailed" - keeps us guessing as he confidently builds suspense.