cult film freak: ELYSSA DAVALOS IN THE TV HORROR MOVIE 'GOOD AGAINST EVIL'

Elyssa Davalos as in GOOD AGAINST EVIL Year: 1977

This proposed TV pilot that's almost a TV-movie isn’t quite sure who the main character is – important when kickstarting a possible series...

So let’s begin with a group of Satan Worshipers led by the always deceptive and devious Richard Lynch: They steal an infant during the 1950's who grows up to be Elyssa Davalos as Jessica Gordon when this movie takes place, 1977...

Exotically beautiful and living a seemingly charmed life, Jessica works in the garment trade and has everything all mapped out. Until Dack Rambo's Andy Stuart, a handsome, confident writer living in his van, smashes into her vehicle, and romance ensues – but the couple's dogged by a hissing black cat sent by Lynch’s minions, all making sure the sparks don’t fly in a semi-involving tale thanks to Davalos, who, unaware of the devil inside, effectively plays a two-tier role...

Elyssa Davalos in GOOD AGAINST EVIL Rates: ***1/2

At certain times, like when entering a church or getting too close to Andy, her expressions balance neatly between passionate human love and a hypnotic prowess for whatever is beyond her (or his) reach and/or understanding...

But then something happens when Jessica, taken back to her devil worshiper guardians, completely vanishes... Andy then helps a girl we learn is an old friend, Kim Cattrall, whose baby has a high fever — she's burning up i.e. demon possessed...

Thus the shift from a taut romance with Davalos turns into an EXORCIST clone where rogue priest Dan O’Herlihy tries saving the child, and these new characters were simply forced upon us too quickly. Instead, had the pilot centered on Davalos’s character as a wishbone for Dack Rambo and Richard Lynch i.e. the GOOD AGAINST EVIL promised, there just might've been something worthwhile. Instead, the last act with Priest and Mother and Child seems more like the first episode had the pilot actually worked. But it didn't because our central starlet vanished. Who's far too pretty to lack closure.