Vacationing couple Tony (Diego Ribon) and Cindy (TERROR AT THE OPERA’s Coralina Cataldi. Tassoni) travel to the Alps for a romantic retreat. Along the way they pick up a frightened hitchhiker literally running for her life and encounter an eccentric local horror novelist (Luciano Crovato). He warns them of the area’s history of witchcraft and the once-dormant spirits who now stalk the countryside once again. Incredulous, the couple disregards the warning and continues on their trip, which inevitably ends in blood and spooks.

Europe’s reply to Sam Raimi’s EVIL DEAD and Lamberto Bava’s DEMONS, EVIL CLUTCH lacks the low-budget savvy of Raimi’s film and the go-for-broke vigor of Bava’s film. Director and writer Andreas Marfori is quite comfortable cribbing the flagships of the EVIL DEAD films (the frenetic POV camerawork and quirky visual style) but can’t replicate what made those films work so well: imagination and real enthusiasm. The numerous POV shots are superfluous and serve no narrative purpose other than to spice up a monotonous film. No wonder Marfori relies so heavily on flashy camerawork, as the film lollygags for nearly an hour before finally kicking into high gear. The first fifty minutes are devoted to usual low-rent tomfoolery including badly dubbed dialogue to twist one’s brain and confused continuity. Case in point: Crovato cryptically warns the couple of the impending danger by prophesizing what might happen to them, and the film inexplicably jumps to "what if" sequences of the couple in dire circumstances. The overall effect is disorientating and inept. The pacing, however, proves to be the film’s Achilles heel, and the good stuff (read: gore) at the end proves to be too little, too late.

Things would be mitigated somewhat if Marfori lobbed a few fresh ideas into those initial fifty minutes. But unfortunately, EVIL CLUTCH has "me too" slashed all over it. For one, it mimics Raimi’s EVIL DEAD relentlessly. The couple end up in an abandoned cabin (complete with cuckoo clock) and there is a fatal encounter with a tree (although nowhere nearly as graphic as the incident in EVIL DEAD). And then, of course, there are the zombies (actually phrased as the "evil dead" by Crovato!) that sport the same cakey makeup of the original deadites. Adriano Maria Vitali’s score is highly derivative of DEMONS’ guitar-heavy soundtrack, and the assorted demons attack to the tune of heavy metal like Pavlov’s dogs. What the hapless viewer is left with is a cliff’s notes of two far better genre films.

Unfortunately, the performances don’t help either. While Tassoni gives it an honest effort, her performance is bogged down by the film’s under-achieving atmosphere. Fans will delight, however, in viewing Tassoni virtually reprising her "demon" role in Lamberto Bava’s DEMONS 2 in the "what if" sequences. The bulk of the performances, however, range from downright lousy to inexplicable (especially Crovato’s performance).

There are, however, a few fresh moments that stand out . The main demon’s "weapon" (a serpent-like claw extending from her vagina) is certainly eye-catching, and most of the film’s budget was obviously funneled into this intriguing contraption, which also gives the film it’s admittedly fun tagline: "The Nightmare that Grabs you Where You Least Expect It!" The final showdown-while nowhere near as spectacular as it should be-is entertainingly over-the-line and splashy, including lopped off hands, decapitated heads spewing bile and the like. Undeniably, the standout sequence is the final disintegration of the resurrected spirits. Although the sequence is an obvious rip-off of the climatic duel in EVIL DEAD, it volunteers a tantalizing glimpse as to how Raimi’s film would have looked if given the gift of a higher budget. Otherwise, the shock and gore sequences miss that essential scintillation of Raimi’s and Bava’s films. It’s especially disheartening to see potential humor fall flat, and the result is painfully awkward, even surreal. One such scene has poor Tassoni on the receiving end of a fishing hook!

Perhaps John Stanley put it best in his Creature Features guide, pinning EVIL CLUTCH as "an excessively gory Italian film executed without artistic finesse or an understanding of what makes the genre bleed best." Indeed, EVIL CLUTCH trades coherence, style and restraint for the worst of genre conventions. Fans new to the genre may allow it more merit, but for grizzled veterans, EVIL CLUTCH just won’t pass the smell test, and despite some star power, it joins other instantly forgettable dross such as REDNECK ZOMBIES in horror’s skid row.