The clumsy military cadet Stanley Coopersmith (Clint Howard) is orphan and completely outcast in the West Andover Academy. He is frequently abused and humiliated by four despicable mates, and has a bad treatment from his teachers, the coach, the colonel and even from the local reverend. When Coopersmith finds a book of black mass that belonged to the evil medieval Father Esteban, he uses a computer to conjure Satan and revenge his harassers.

The first point that calls the attention in "Evilspeak" is the terrible and messy screenplay, with a Spanish priest from the Middle Ages banished from the church in the beginning of the story, and an American Academy located where this priest used to celebrate his black masses. The second negative point to highlight is the despicable characters: with the exception of the cooker Jake and the black friend of Coopersmith, every character is nasty. Sarge, Reverend Jameson, the Coach, Colonel Kincaid, Miss Friedemeyer and of course the annoying quartet, they are "prepared" to die in the blood shed in the end of the story. Last but not the least, and as mentioned in the title of another review, the lead role for Clint Howard defines the quality and level of this forgettable flick. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Mensageiro de Satanás" ("Messenger of Satan")

That is unless you're getting a quarter each time that someone screeches Clint Howard's character's name. But the drinking game, just don't, although a few glasses of wine (red, of course) might help in getting through this disgusting "Carrie" rip-off.

Strange computer (DOS era) effects and late 60's style music (done to a Gregorian chant) that sounds like the opening credits from the movie version of "Sweet Charity" adds to the repulsive nature of this badly written, unfunny and offensive view of teen revenge, seen coming from the much bullied Howard who doesn't have the charm here to be sweetly nerdy. Certainly, most of the staff and students at this military academy are genuinely repulsive, and there is the urge to see them get what they deserve. But then there's sweet Heywood Nelson of "What's Happening" as Howard's one defender, basically a carbon copy of Amy Irving's "Carrie" character, sadly completely wasted.

There's gratuitous nudity with the presence of the sadistic secretary who gets a quick comeuppance for stealing the satanistic book that Howard found and dropped accidentally, seemingly entranced stupidly by the colorful pentagram on the cover. This is of course followed by nearly 20 minutes of non-stop gore, mostly with hideously laughable special effects. Everytime a head flies off a neck, I surpressed the urge to go "wee!", although I did that in the opening prologue setting up the satanic existence of the book brought over from Spain. It's also appropriate that the sounds right before the credits rolled seemed to be gas being passed. There are so many inconsequential moments in this film that it could have easily been cut by 20 minutes minus the pep rally and the secretary bathing. I'm sure the carnivorous hogs had better taste than what they were forced to eat here, the epitome of a tomaine addled brain able to come up with such muck.

A choice example of the horror film during the early '80s, EVILSPEAK is a wacky and delightful mumbo-jumbo shocker which boasts a sterling performance from weirdo Clint Howard (TICKS) in one of his few leading roles. The clichéd plot instantly rips off CARRIE with a gender-bending variation on the central theme: a boy at military school is tormented and abused by fellow pupils and teachers alike, so takes revenge by summoning down the wrath of Satan upon them. The best method to do this? By using his badly dated '80s computer, of course! One of the few films to contain an evil computer as one of the leading characters, EVILSPEAK makes great and cheesy use of this premise to spread some maximum mayhem come the finale.

Before the gory conclusion we are treated to a fairly slow-paced film which attempts to be serious – making it all the more amusing to watch. Enjoyment is heightened by the over-the-top efforts of a cast all striving to outdo themselves – from the Nazi history teacher to the cruel P.E. coach and the dumb jocks who make Clint's life a misery. Two genuinely good performances are given by the underused old-timer R.G. Armstrong as the drunken "Sarge" and Howard himself as Coopersmith, the put-upon orphan who finds himself possessed by Satan. Howard's acting is damned good and he holds interest during many of the slow spots. Keep your eyes out for creepy Richard Moll in another effectively evil performance. The music score, kind of an over-the-top variation of the music from THE OMEN, adds to the entertainment value immensely.

EVILSPEAK's off-kilter approach to the material makes it more entertaining than many similarly low-budget slasher films doing the rounds at the time. This is a film where evil is pixelated on a computer screen in many colourful and cool interludes. Where an attractive actress is gored to death by killer hogs in her bathtub after a gratuitous nude scene. Where a man is thrown vertically upwards to be impaled on a chandelier. Where a guy's head twists around back to front in a cheap EXORCIST imitation. On top of this we get some cheesy gore scenes involving people being decapitated by swords, a heart ripped out of a chest and much much more, scenes which have been jarringly cut out of the film in even the US version – the only flaw the film contains. I would pay good money to watch the uncut Canadian release of this cheese classic. EVILSPEAK is an always-involving "possession" style horror film, worth watching alone for the fiery climax in church which has to be seen to be believed.