User reviews

Well I personally found the film about average. The story centres around cousins Spike (Patrick O'Bryan) and Hoax (Stephen Geoffreys). Also in the picture is Hoax's religious nut mother Lucy (Sandy Dennis), who wins my award for the most annoying character I've ever seen in a movie, and that's not a good thing.

At the start of the movie Spike loses a game of poker to a gang and as a result must give up his motorcycle. Not really seeming too bothered by it all he phones up a number, 976-EVIL, which puts him through to some cheesy sounding "horrorscope" service. Paying some attention to what he hears Spike finds a way of getting the money for the gang so he isn't required to give up his bike. Hoax, who is basically a nerd, the subject of constant bullying also in turn phones the number and starts to hear the twisted horrorscope's advice...

The film itself is ok. Nothing special at all, but fun in it's own little way. O'Bryan and Geoffrey's performances were quite good, unlike the majority of the cast. 976-Evil is badly made in my opinion. The acting is bad and the direction is lacklustre...but lets give Rob some credit, at least the film wasn't too bad. The major problems with the film lie in the screenplay, acting in horror can be forgiven occasionally, and sometimes shaky direction can actually be of benefit to horror, but the screenplay needed to be solid and it wasn't.

The plot evolves far too quickly in some places and not near fast enough in others. After a particular incident in the film involving fish falling from the sky Jim Metzler is introduced as Marty, a journalist for a religious magazine, or at least I think he was, at one point he did pass himself off as a private investigator! Considering the rather small amount of information Marty was given throughout the film he certainly seems to trace the problems to the '976-EVIL' number rather quickly, this to me was a major plot fall.

Also some characters in the film just seemed to appear, while others disappeared for a while then came back with no explanation for their absence or why they've chosen to suddenly show up. The whole story seems very inconsistent on the speed at which it moves. To watch this film and fully enjoy it I think you need to keep concentrating which unfortunately in a film like this can be quite difficult to do now and again, but I think that's the only way for the whole film to make sense.

All in all a quite enjoyable, yet unsatisfying horror film, don't expect too much gore though there were some quite cool special effects and make-up and don't expect a masterpiece. Also, as the story is rather weak don't expect too much from that either, otherwise you will be disappointed. It's the type of horror film I'd probably watch again on sleepless nights.

Not the best horror film that you will watch, but it is significant as Robert Englund's director debut.

It's a typical story of a nerdy teen (Stephen Geoffreys) with a whacked out mother (Oscar-winner Sandy Dennis looking a lot heavier than I remember her), who keeps getting his head shoved in the toilet by the school bullies, and just wants to be cool like his cousin Spike (Patrick O'Bryan).

He manages to find a way to reach out to the dark side and get revenge on everyone - well, almost everyone. His goofs in his first attempt to scare his cousin's girl (former Cowboy's cheerleader Lezlie Deane) and kills her. If you have a thing about spiders, you may want to fast forward through this part.

He perfects his craft as he changes into a satanic beast. The makeup and special effects were really good. The only problem I had was the length of time that it took to get here. The movie was pretty boring up to this point. Maybe Englund will do better as he directs himself later this year.

Of course, there is a sequel where Spike returns to battle the evil.

Nerdy kid in town (Stephen Geoffrey of "Fright Night") gets revenge on everyone who ever wronged him when he hooks up with Satan, via horror hot-line "976-EVIL." Directed by Robert Englund of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" fame, the film is obviously very low budget but not completely without charm. As an actor turned director, Englund obviously cares about his characters first and foremost, and in turn, his film gives them ample time to breathe. Also, the man obviously paid attention during his tenure as Freddy, as his film takes many visual cues from the "Elm Street" series and tries its best to rise above its meager budget. There's also an underlying sense of humor (again, a byproduct of being Krueger) that helps make the whole easier to swallow.

A shame, though, that aside from some decent characters and solid cinematography from Paul Elliott which attempts to establish a foreboding mood, the film barely has enough juice to reach its lame conclusion. While the first half sets our characters up nicely, the second more or less tears down any progress made by dispatching of decent characters too quickly and wrapping things up in what feels like a very rushed and hap-hazard sort of way. The film's main weakness is in its script which stretches its premise far too thin and requires its audience to fill in the blanks a few too many times. Also, the gore and make-up effects from the usually consistent Kevin Yagher are surprisingly substandard and, at times, laughable. What should be an undeniably enjoyable 80's cheese-fest is instead a frustrating and uneven dud that could have and should have been much more. Stephen Geoffrey aside, horror fans will recognize Lezlie Deane from "Freddy's Dead" – another actor whose career went absolutely nowhere in the following decade.

I do not understand why everyone else hates this movie. Yes, it is cheesy in a lot of the standard horror genre ways, but I really got into it. The main reason a horror film doesn't work is because the characters don't hook you. I started to care about the characters after just a few scenes. The mother who is in love with religion is hilarious--we all know people like her. The son, Hoax, is heartbreaking because he is so weak that he will grasp at anything to be strong. I think we all know him too. Robert Englund was very careful to build up the suspense. There are lots of times when you know that someone is going to die, and he draws it out to the point where it is almost painful to watch (I obviously can't give examples without ruining it.) So, I recommend it to anyone who likes horror.

So this was the legendary Robert Englund's big directorial debut??? Hey, I LOVED him as iconic Freddy Kreuger, but as Director? I hope this was his only project.

How some Reviewers could rate this even remotely above a 3-point is beyond me. Only due that Geoffreys plays the title role is the reason I sat through it all (should I have stated 'Suffered'?) waiting for it to improve. It didn't. The acting is terrible, the entire plot; below B-film quality, the action was lame and very slow (if you can describe it as such) and God-awful. Englund appears to give his characters absolutely nothing to work with; no depth whatsoever. And he portrayed Freddy Kreuger?! One would assume he'd have utilized his iconic expertise into this genre and produced a horror film even Krueger would have been proud.

The poker scenes, especially near the end where the biker chick has a moment with Spike...I sure thought this was a HORROR FILM - because THAT was romance scene. So just where WAS the "horror"? Not ONE SCENE is remotely "scary". The entire special effects were special, and well beyond cheesy; poorly executed would be a better term. Either the producer was high that time or the graphics dept. was on break, recruiting a C-student apprentice.

As said, Geoffreys plays the lead; but that's par the course. The character directions were weaker than last weeks coffee. The film altogether: Insufferable.

We sat dumbfounded through most of this train-wreck. And here it apparently was an over-rated horror movie??? That film reviewer must have been on Quaalude's or something.

Thank heavens Geoffreys and J.J. Cohen did other very excellent acting work.

When I stumbled upon the 1988 horror comedy "976-EVIL", I must admit that I found it interesting that the movie was directed by Robert Englund. I didn't even know that he had dabbled in the craft behind the camera.

Needless to say that I had never even heard about "976-EVIL" from writers Rhet Topham and Brian Helgeland, as I sat down to watch it in 2021. But with it being a movie that I hadn't already seen, and with Robert Englund involved, of course I opted to sit down and give "976-EVIL" a chance.

Uhm, well this movie was a bitter pill to swallow. The movie fell entirely short of providing me with much of any real entertainment or enjoyment. Sure, there was a thick late 1980s archetypical feel to the movie, for better or worse. But "976-EVIL" just didn't cut it for me.

The movie does have some interesting enough people on the cast list, with the likes of Stephen Geoffreys, Robert Picardo and Paul Willson. But given the fact that the actors and actresses in the movie didn't really have much of any proper contents to work with from the script, then they were just restricted in putting on stellar performances.

For a horror comedy, I have to say that the movie fell short. The comedy was nowhere to be seen, and the horror was just mundane and bland.

My rating of "976-EVIL" lands on a very generous three out of ten stars.

The scant few teenagers who went to see "976-EVIL" in 1989 probably had no idea who Sandy Dennis was (just as the kids who first saw "Carrie" didn't know who Piper Laurie was), but the veteran actress manages to bring a few minutes of class to an otherwise lousy, fifth-rate screamer about a nerdy high school kid acquiring demonic powers from a satanic phone number. Amateurish mishmash, derivative and grimy, marked the directorial debut of Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund. Englund offers precious little originality, but he does let Dennis strut her stuff in an amusing, fanatical supporting bit heavily reminiscent of Piper Laurie's religious mama from "Carrie". * from ****

Eighties horror tends to vary; it can be either trashy and great or trashy and trash, and unfortunately this film belongs more in the latter category. But that's not to say it's all bad! Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund directs a film about an outsider getting their revenge, in the style of films like Carrie and Evilspeak. The plot isn't very original, as we've got a rather common 'evil down the phone' theme, and it also features some kid getting possessed. In fact, it's not even a world away from A Nightmare on Elm Street, in which Englund made his name; but unfortunately, even some of the sequels to Craven's commercial hit are better than this film. The plot follows some kid who finds an advert for a 'horrorscope'. Naturally, he can't resist phoning it up, and neither can his younger cousin (it would have gone straight in the bin if I'd found it). Unfortunately, it turns out that whoever rings this number gets possessed by the devil and begins getting his revenge on all those who have wronged him. As you've probably guessed; brains aren't a major strongpoint here.

The relationship between the two cousins that the film centres on makes up its backbone, and it could have been good if Englund had spent a bit more time concentrating on it. Unsurprisingly, the kill scenes and gore seem to be Englund's main priority, and while I don't necessarily have a problem with this; the final third is pretty much entirely about the younger cousin's 'revenge', and it doesn't take long to get really boring. Before that, however, the film seems to be mimicking the USA's other popular genre in the eighties; teen comedy, and it's actually quite funny with it. It becomes rather annoying at the end when just about everything you've seen leading up to it amounts to nothing, though. The acting isn't too bad, with future gay porn star Stephen Geoffreys taking the lead role and convincing as a young kid despite actually being in his mid-twenties during filming. Patrick O'Bryan is his opposite number, and while it's not exactly a mystery as to why he hasn't made many films since, he puts in a decent performance overall. On the whole, this isn't a horror classic; and it's not really all that good either, but if you're into eighties horror; there's something here.

Receiving a strange calling card, a teen living with his cousin realize that a growing obsession with the horoscope line after it's predictions come true realize he's gained Satanic powers through the line and when a spate of violent murders occurs they ban together to stop him.

For the most part, this here wasn't all that bad. One of the main elements to this one is the fact that this is one of the cheesiest films of it's time, as most of this is taken up by the general tone of the plot. The very idea of it's central premise, being invested of Satanic powers through a horoscope hot-line is pretty goofy, and yet there are certain scenes here that play off that goofiness with gusto here as the action of that occurring is where this one really gets enjoyable. The opening stalking scene of the victim being blown up and set on fire in a phone booth, having the spiders in the oven- dinner, the bathroom stalking when he's possessed taking out the gang- members who bullied him and the second poker game held during the rampage are perfect examples of the cheesiness throughout here, as they should not be taken seriously and yet come across as perfectly serious during it's time. As well, the film's at its best at the last half hour, which is where all the fun really starts to happen since the body count picks up and we get the highlight with the trip through the frozen house is ably chilling as it contains a few nice suspense sequences and features a really nice jump at the end in addition to the big final confrontation that works rather nicely. Alongside the fine gore for the kills and the great cheese here, these are the film's positive points as there wasn't a whole lot against this one. One of the biggest detriments, which is also it's greatest asset, is the high amount of cheese on display. While it makes the film a lot of fun, the fact is that it makes it appealing only to those who enjoy that in their films. For those who want it more serious, the cheese here will make it a lot harder to get into. The central premise is a little hard to swallow, the joke- filled nature of it drags it down slightly, and the biggest drawback is the tone given to the film. There's a bluish hue surrounding most of the film that gives it a low-budget feel and really does make it a little tougher to sit through. The other big problem against it is a slow beginning. This is a necessity to build it up, but to make the first forty minutes of it so uneventful beyond setting up angles to play off later is a problem to overcome. Though not as prominent as the cheese factor, it still hurts it to a degree. Likewise, the rather confusing narrative doesn't help this by seemingly introducing characters here for no real reason and letting them survive as they do is a little surprising, which doesn't really do the film many favors either, and all told these here are the film's biggest issues.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity, a brief sex scene and drug use.

Being a horror movie buff, I tried really hard to like this movie but it was awful. The characters were cardboard, I didn't care about any of them. There was no suspense, no scares, and nothing to keep your interest. I found myself yawning and looking at the clock.

The one character I did enjoy was the Aunt played by Sandy Dennis. She is so wacky, I loved her dialog. But she can't save this abomination of a movie.

The spiders scene was the only scene that showed potential, but even that was color by numbers. There was absolutely nothing original in this film.

The climax of the movie was as laughable as a soap opera and just as stupid. Even watching with an open mind and checking your brain at the door will not help this clunker.

Don't even bother renting this stinker of a movie.

So, maybe this movie isn't up for an acdemy award, but look at what people are saying. Just because Freddy Krueger directed it, people think it's going to be another "Elm Street" venture? Personally, when I first saw this movie I didn't like it. I thought it was poorly acted, and rather stupid. But then I looked INTO the movie and I saw that it had a message. Yes, a message! I can identify with Hoax, no, not because of the atmosphere at home or because of a cousin that saves the day. In high school every day, I've faced toilet dunking and another horrible things that cruel people have done to me. I know exactly how Hoax felt. And I understood exactly what went on. If you're looking at it from a different point of view, then this movie isn't for you in the first place. But for anyone who has had to deal with cruel jocks and for anyone who has always been ridiculed by girls and others, this movie is for you. Just don't expect it to be another "Elm Street" installment!

Some moments work better than others and the film takes a trip to bizarro world towards the end and you stop caring, but for Robert Englund's directorial debut, 976-Evil has more style than expected and at least two great performances from Stephen Geoffreys and Sandy Dennis. Geoffreys is great as the put upon high school dork who gains his confidence due to demonic possession and Dennis swings from the rafters as his campy religious freak mother. Also worth seeing for some great effects even if it seems like this movie got the MPAA on a bad day. Even the so-called uncensored version feels like it was cut to ribbons.

What do we have here. A nerd who gains supernatural powers. A buncha punk wannabes that act like they're the in-crowd. A bunch of stupid bimbos. And a dumber Religious fanatic mother. This movie is not worth anyone's time. This is one of those movies about nerds get back that's been done several times. Maybe it's the better of the bunch but that doesn't say much. The acting ranges from pitiful-decent. The hero jumps in after most of the movie is over and then finally does something heroic instead of notifying the police! Otherwise throughout the whole movie we don't know who's the hero or who's the villian because everyone is so stupid that no one even cares. There is only one scene in this movie that's good, where the nerd is trying to impress a girl and gets onto his motor powered trashy bike and crashed into a wall! The nerd does try to be funny at times (in a Freddy Krueger type of way) but notice I say "try". The music is tasteless, and so is the script. I think you would be more interested if you called another 9 number ; )

Much better than you may have heard, though it requires a great deal of patience. The first half is pretty slow, but not completely without merit because it showcases the comedic talents of the gifted Sandy Dennis who is a riot as the taunted teen's overprotective, religious fanatic mother. Dennis takes the Piper Laurie role in CARRIE even further, but this time plays the role for laughs, and she's absolutely magnificent every minute she's on the screen. She comes across in this film as an even more out-of-control Shelley Winters(another great actress). The second half however is what viewers will most likely remember about the film because it features some very wacky and crudely effective special effects. The FX are pretty good too for such a low-budget effort and all. Besides Dennis, the top acting honors go to Stephen Geoffreys who is just about perfect as the terrorized teen who turns the tables on his tormentors. Generally speaking, audiences and critics alike have been much too harsh on this nifty little flick. Actor Robert Englund, who had played nightmare-invading/teen throat-slashing Freddy Krueger in the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET movies for several years, was a perfect choice to direct this scary/funny movie. I don't care what anyone says, good job Robert!!!!! Yes, CARRIE is a masterpiece of horror, but if you wan't to see a more humerous take on the same theme, then 976-EVIL is the way to go.

Oh!...I am in awe of how terrible this movie is. I am a huge horror movie fanatic. And i finally got a chance to see this. It is one of the worst i have ever seen, next to "Troll 2" (that might even be better). I could barely make it through. The directing was awful, the storyline is SO awful, characters are 2d, special effects are worthless. It was so bad, i wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. The story is about a Nerdy boy who lives with his Christian "mommy", who gets picked on at school by bullies in the bathroom. They spend a lot of time in that bathroom it seems. The cousin of this infamous nerd is a bad ass motor cycle riding 80's boy toy who's reckless with the "babes". They all seem to tamper with this phone-line 976-evil, that tempts them into doing naughty things, via "satan". After some time, the main character (nerd), gets obsessed and the evil takes him over. Wow. Then the tension builds!...He goes on a minor rampage taking foes out. I wouldn't want to spoil the terrific ending in case your tempted to see this (note the sarcasm). If i could rate this below a 1, i would.

It is a waste of anyone's time. You will actually kill brain cells by watching it.

976-EVIL (1989) was a bad movie that came out during the 80's horror movie explosion. This was also Robert Englund's attempt at making a movie. He took a topical theme and try to add a horror spin to it. But all you got was a badly directed and acted film with a creepy villain trying to be a second rate Freddy Krueger (i.e. spouting off very bad one liners).

A no good rascal (Spike) who lives with a strange woman and her nerdy kid is extremely bored. Besides spending his time riding around like a rebel without a clue an keeping the kid (Hoax) from being eaten alive at school,. Spike has nothing to look forward to in life. One day he comes across and ad for a 976 number. The phone number promises it could "help" him with his problems and what not. He tries it but is spooked by the voice at the other end. But someone close to him has a use for the number. Who can that be?

Overall a very bad movie. Maybe if they had a better scriptwriter and director, if might have succeeded. Sadly it fails as a horror film and as a black comedy. Although the first film was bad, the sequel was actually entertaining. My advice to you is to avoid part one and skip ahead to the sequel.

Strongly avoid, unless you really dig bad movies and film-making.

Bad stuff indeed.

I watched this movie after years of really wanting to. Funny that I watch it now in an age where a number such as this is pretty outdated. I also am surprised to see that Robert Englund directed this one and I think he did okay as most of the problems I found with the film came more from the story and from the editing. The imagery is great and it has some okay acting as it is not stiff, the end has the killer getting a bit too cute with the one liners actually reminding one a bit of Freddy Krueger's lines in the Elm Street horror films.

The story has a strange phone number that seems to predict things a bit too well being used by a dude named Spike; however, Spike soon stops using the number after nearly being killed by a runaway car. His cousin, though, finds the number and listens to it and heeds it and is soon transformed into a supernatural killer with the power to take revenge on all those that wronged him.

The story is a bit rushed, we are introduced to Spike who finds the number and then quickly uses it. He has a girlfriend who seems integral to the plot, then cast away suddenly. There is a guy who is sort of a reporter that seems to be important, but at the same time he doesn't. A teacher who seems inconsequential becomes a main character at the end. Editing that made me wonder what was going on at times. Spike, who seems to be the main character, disappears just as his cousin begins his killing spree and does not reappear till the final showdown. Still, loved the imagery especially at the end as Hoax (the cousin) has some interesting powers. Hoax is played by Stephen Geoffreys, best known as Evil from Fright Night. He is pretty much the same character, just a bigger nerd this time around.

The film had some good moments and I liked it somewhat. Just needed work (a running theme in most horrors). They needed to either establish that teacher and reporter more or simply do not have them at all. They could have had Spike try to dig for further evidence or something. The ending though has some nice kills and effects, but it also has some pretty bad one liners. It is as if they were trying to make Hoax sound like Freddy Krueger at the end with the puns and such. I am glad I finally saw this one though, because now I can watch 976-EVIL II as I have that one in a collection of DVDs. I caught this one on Encore.

A typical late '80s horror film, which has an goodish premise (a direct phone line to Hell), but which loses things at the end. While the film could have been a lot more thoughtful and interesting, it wastes the story and instead gives us lots of special effects and gore, in place of plot development.

However it's not quite as bad as some of the trash turned out in the 1980s, and the story is just about diverting enough to pass the time. Unfortunately, director Robert Englund, better known as Freddy Krueger in the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET series (and for his incessant cameos in many 90's horror films) gives us a rather poor film, this man is an actor, not a director for god's sake, so why did he even bother? Most of the scenes are too dark and it's difficult to see what's going on. Englund's presence is even more obvious in the way that the demon makes stupid wisecracks and jokes at the end of the film, just like Freddy.

The acting is pretty poor. Pat O'Bryan tries to be like Kevin Dillon in THE BLOB remake, but he's never convincing or sympathetic. He's just a clichéd rebel. There is a boring subplot involving a PI investigating the strange goings on, but this is frankly uninteresting. Sandy Dennis is quite good as the religious nutter of a mother (shades of CARRIE here) but is not given enough to do, while Robert Picardo (THE HOWLING, the Doctor from STAR TREK: VOYAGER) steals his single scene as a whacked-out loser who might just be the Devil in disguise. It's left to Stephen Geoffreys (FRIGHT NIGHT) to carry the main body of the film, and while he's quite funny as the nerdish, snivelling loser, he's not in the least bit effective at the end. I mean a tanktop, of all things, doesn't really cut it does it? There are quite a lot of special effect scenes, with people burning and getting ripped open, although there appears to be absolutely no police presence in the city where the film is set. While the gore is not excessive there are lots of people dying in bloody ways, and one girl nearly goes the spider death routine from THE BEYOND, only for the scene to change track halfway through. The demon makeup at the end of the film is surprisingly understated and therefore more realistic, and as the scenes are set in the dark this makes it more believable too.

If you can get over this film's flaws and accept the fact that it's no different from a million others, then you might enjoy it in fits and starts. Or if you're a strange fan of cheesy, poor '80s horror films then you'd probably like it as well. The fact is, though, that the theme of revenge is old (the ultra low-budget MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH did it a decade before, and better), and the theme of selling one's soul to the devil is even older, i.e. with Faust. Critical watchers would be well advised to watch something else, as there is a lot of stuff in here (90% of it in fact) which wouldn't stand up to those with a low tolerance threshold.

The rebellious teenager Spike (Patrick O'Bryan) lives with his religious Aunt Lucy (Sandy Dennis), her cats and his annoying cousin Hoax (Stephen Geoffreys) in the house he inherited from his mother. Hoax is a teenager bullied by a gang of punks and Spike protects him whenever possible. Spike finds a flyer of a horoscope dialing 976-EVIL, but he does not give much attention to the voice from the other side. He dates the schoolmate Suzie (Lezlie Deane) and they go in his motorcycle to his room. Hoax sees them having sex from his room and when Spike and Suzie leave the room, Hoax steals the panty Suzie gave to Spike and finds the flyer of his cousin. He goes to the movie theater where Suzie and Spike had gone and is bullied by the punks and the disappointed Suzie learns that he had her panty. He decides to revenge them dialing 976-EVIL and following the instructions received from the voice. Meanwhile the snoopy reporter Marty (Jim Metzler) is looking for a scoop and decides to investigate the phone number with the support of Hoax's teacher Angela (María Rubell).

"976-EVIL" is an horror movie directed by Robert "Freddy Krueger" Englund and released in 1988 only on VHS in Brazil. The plot has flaws, the special effects are dated but the storyline entertains and is worthwhile watching it again. Another interesting point is to see the cast young thirty-three years ago. Unfortunately, it was not released on DVD in my country. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Força Demoníaca" ("Demoniac Force")

Being the directorial debut of Robert 'Freddy Krueger' Englund, it comes as no surprise to find that 976-EVIL follows the same cheesy route as the numerous Nightmare on Elm Street sequels, with the villain of the piece, high school wimp turned demon Hoax (Stephen Geoffreys), cracking corny one-liners as he offs those who have made his life a misery.

There's not much originality on display, the pace is a little slow, and the film is lacking in outrageous gore effects, but with decent performances from Geoffreys (whose film career would soon take a surprising turn), Patrick O'Bryan as Hoax's cool cousin Spike, and Lezlie Deane as school hottie Suzie (who provides the obligatory T&A), a memorable scene guaranteed to have arachnophobes squirming, plus a reasonably spectacular finale over the pits of Hell, it's not a total loss, and not nearly as bad Jim Wynorski's diabolical sequel.

In "976-EVIL," Satan's on the line and if you value your soul, you better not pick up. Or so it goes in this lame-brained horror flick directed by Mr. Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund, which includes a script written by Brian Helgeland and Rhet Topham. With Englund's first time behind the camera, you would expect something truly unique or at least something close to being even remotely frightening like "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984), but when things get interesting "976-EVIL" devolves into typical slasher/possession stuff and thus joins the ranks of so many other "B" horror movies from the 1980s.

The movie at least has an inventive premise: dialing the title phone number puts you on a hot line with the Devil himself. A creepy voice (Englund) on the other end gives you some advice (your "horror-scope") and it pays off, but usually at a price: your soul.

Teenage biker-punk Spike (Patrick O'Neal), an indebted gambler, is able to use the words of wisdom bestowed upon him and break free of his poker habit before the hot line's influence has a chance to truly take hold of him. His cousin, shy and repressed Hoax ("Evil Ed" Stephen Geoffreys), isn't so lucky. Bullied and unlucky with the ladies, he dials 976-EVIL and before you know it, the otherwise good boy with good morals goes from fundamentalist Christian to practicing Satanist in the time it takes for you to dial that evil number. Now a full-fledged psychopath possessed by the Devil, he soon starts growing jet-black fingernails and scales and speaking in an ever-creepy Satanic voice who has a tendency of dropping painfully unfunny one-liners that mostly fall flat on their face.

Of course with a title like "976-EVIL," you could only expect the worst from this horror movie. The film starts off good, with one unlucky caller meeting their demise, and then the main characters are introduced but once the scares start coming, it all falls apart. But even then, it takes almost forever for that to even start.

Geoffreys, a regular in '80s horror movies like 1985's "Fright Night," seems almost pitch-perfect as the shy kid who stood to gain some confidence with Satanic powers, but comes off instead as another rejected nerd-turned-braindead screen slasher who goes on a murderous rampage against his tormentors. There is one particularly creepy sequence where he's able to manifest a spider TV dinner upon one unfortunate victim. We should have expected better from Mr. Englund and as expected, we got less. And Joe Dante regular Robert Picardo also appears as Mark Dark, the manager of a sleazy phone-sex operation.

"976-EVIL" - Hang up, fast!

3/10