Something Evil

Beware the supernatural jam jars! Early Steven Spielberg TV movie that is a considerable step down from Duel released the previous year, but showing signs of a directorial craft to follow. Something Evil is not a great horror movie, well it was to those of us at a very young age who were allowed to watch it that is. The plot finds a family of four moving into a pastorally pleasing Pennsylvania farmhouse only to find a demon resides there. Hubbie works all hours in the city while mama and the two young children fall prey to something that manifests itself as red goo in jam jars or via a wind…

**_Tame television precursor to “The Exorcist”_** This was Spielberg’s second of three TV movies before breaking into cinema as a powerhouse. Meanwhile star Darren McGavin just got done doing the first Kolchak movie, “The Night Stalker,” which would lead to a sequel the next year, “The Night Strangler,” and the TV series in 1974-1975, albeit just 20 episodes. It was influenced by Hammer’s “The Devil Rides Out” from a few years earlier, not just the devil and possession elements, but also the protective circle. It takes these ideas and meshes them with the milieu and television budget of…