Waitress/dancer Janet (Pamela Collyer) is dating a world class cheesefart of a man named Dino (Jack Langedijk). One night, they get into an argument, and he throws her out of his apartment (before she has a chance to get dressed!), and she turns to her sex worker pal named April (Nanette Workman) for help. April suggests that Janet joins her on date since one of her johns has been requesting two girls. She reluctantly agrees but things go wrong and both April and her client are slashed to death. When Janet wakes up in the hospital with her wrists slashed, no one believes her story. Now she and Dino the douchewaffle must solve the case themselves because the cops ain’t buying any of it.

The “Canadian giallo” is real because people are tagging certain films with that phrase on IMDB. I’ve seen some of them like American Nightmare (1983), which I recommend, and The Surrogate (1984), which I do not recommend. Surprisingly, Evil Judgement (1984) hasn’t earned that badge of honor yet, but since that phrase has been thrown around already regarding this release’s marketing, it’s just a matter of time. While the plot has some giallo traits imbedded in there, it’s the Dario Argento-like imagery in a some of the stalking scenes that stands out the most.

Evil Judgement was one of those infamous Canadian tax shelter films where the government would partially fund homemade movie productions through tax breaks for investors. Director/co-writer Claudio Castravelli and his producers made the most of this to get this solid little slasher in the can. I just love watching Canadian films and looking for those little differences in sensibilities, accents, and some occasional bilingual signage. I really dig the synthy/rocky score by Corky Laing, the drummer of the classic rock band Mountain.

Castravelli moved into producing after Evil Judgement. He was one of the producers on Night of the Demons III (1997), a film that I love despite me having seen it. One of the cinematographers on this film is Roger Racine, who also shot the hideously bad Zombie Nightmare (1982), a Blu-ray that sits proudly on my shelf even though I haven’t seen the film in over 15 years out of pure terror.

I don’t want to harsh on Pamela Collyer’s less than great performance too much when her character is written as such a whiny dorkus. Heck, I’d be whiny too if the man in my life was even a fraction of the prickbagel that Dino is. Good God, I have seen some bad boyfriends in movies before, but this hotheaded flapass really makes my blood boil. Further testing the limits of my patience is Inspector Armstrong, the worst possible man on the force to investigate any case, much less one involving a serial killer. I hate this character so much.

While more likeable characters would have gone a long way with Evil Judgement, I still recommend it to fans of offbeat slashers as well as to diehard giallo seekers that are willing to look for that wonderful subgenre’s influence wherever it may be. The plot is quite clunky and some of the character’s motivations are pretty stupid at times. It’s still a fun, trashy, and shockingly violent watch, and I particularly like a wintry setting for slashers which Evil Judgement has tons of, you know, because it’s Canadian!

Vinegar Syndrome rocks another release of a film that slipped way under my radar. Evil Judgement looks and sounds awesome. There is an excellent commentary track with the director, production manager Pietro L. Serapiglia, and co-writer Victor Montesano. Between that and the interviews on the disc, you will have earned a master’s degree in Evil Judgement knowledge. There’s also an audio commentary from the always entertaining Hysteria Continues! podcast. Last but not least there’s a really cool featurette with writer/filmmaker Caelum Vatnsdal about the Canadian giallo. Highly recommended!