UNSEEN EVIL

Produced by Johnnie J. Young and David Sterling
Directed by Jay Woelfel
Written by Scott Spears
Edited by Eric Chase
Director of Photography - Scott Spears

Dr. Peter Jensen - Richard Hatch
Ranger Chuck MacNeil - Tim Thomerson
Kate - Cindi Braun
Mike - Frank Routolo
Dana - Cindy Pene
Williams - Jere Jons

Richard Hatch was so stoic in his days as Apollo on Battlestar Gallactica, that it's unsettling to see him play such as soulless villain as Dr. Peter Jensen in Jay Woelfel's UNSEEN EVIL. In the 20+ years since the show has been off the air, the man has become a pop culture icon to devoted fans around the world. I guess, like so many other actors typecast in heroics, underneath lies the desire to play someone truly despicable. Somehow that's supposed to be more fun than being a role model.

Woelfel helps keep Hatch reigned in with a role that could have gone off into Nicholson-Joker land with some hammy scene-chewery. As Jensen, Hatch plays a college professor blinded by greed who resorts to pillaging Native American artifacts from a sacred burial ground. Simple vanity motivates Jensen's petty greed; he's a man who has been passed over time and time again for the recognition he feels he deserves. If he can't have fame, he would rather have fortune.

Comparing UNSEEN EVIL to Woelfel's other film with Richard Hatch, IRON THUNDER, you can get a sense of Hatch's everyman demeanor where less is more. In IRON THUNDER there are a few sequences where Hatch talks to himself, something I find utterly annoying in movies. It's an easy way out for the director the convey plot details or character issues. Besides, actors rarely ever seen convincing when they do it, but in IRON THUNDER Hatch came off totally believable. He keeps his speech and mannerisms so low-key that the words feel matter-of-fact. If you go back and look at Gallactica, it's also how he approaches Apollo.

In UNSEEN EVIL, Hatch isn't playing a character as far off the deep end as in IRON THUNDER. Dr. Jensen is a down to Earth guy who feels it's time for his hard work to pay off. He manipulates those close to him to help achieve his goal, including Kate, a student with whom he once shared a romantic involvement. Like everyone else, Kate only saw the professional side to Jensen, a man who comes across smart and caring, someone willing to preserve ancient treasures to be shared with future generations.

Kate joins Jensen on what appears to be one more dig. Along for the ride are a few students Kate's never seen before as well as a woman Kate's never met, but one who is familiar with the territory, an Indian guide named Dana. Like Jensen, Dana is motivated by less than honorable motives, but unlike Jensen she still have a conscious. When Dana realizes she's in over her head, she seeks the help of the park Ranger, played by the wonderful Tim Thomerson.

At the dig all hell breaks loose as an ancient being protecting the digsite goes about taking back whatever's been stolen. If you've read the interview on this site with Woelfel, you should already have an idea how the movie plays out. In the interview Woelfel comments that he's been criticized for killing off all the wrong people first. UNSEEN EVIL is a formula monster movie that breaks the formula with genuine plot twist... and people don't like it? That's something I can't understand.

As the story unfolds, events are kept tightly together and UNSEEN EVIL becomes a textbook example of low-budget moviemaking where the filmmakers have to make-do with what they have: a cave, a bus, volatile characters, and a monster that can't be seen - which saves on the fx budget and helps play-up the fear of the unknown. There are certain moments where the movie tries to bite off more than it can chew with some out-of-place cgi effects, but unlike other movies the effects aren't the point those scenes and aren't as distracting as they could be.

Writing this review after interviewing Jay Woelfel puts me a disadvantage in that I've already discussed the thematic ground with him, much of which he spelled out for me - from character motivation and flaws to an the intention NOT to have UNSEEN EVIL be a Native American soapbox. Woelfel is also nice enough to shell much of the film's credit off on screenwriter Scott Spears, dispelling the myth that directors hog all the limelight for themselves. With UNSEEN EVIL, both men have a small movie they can be proud of.

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