EVIL EYE is a new Amazon Prime Video horror movie. It’s one of the four movies from Blumhouse being released on Prime Video in time for Halloween 2020. The two first “Welcome to the Blumhouse” movies were released last week and every movie features a completely separate story.
Sunita Mani is the character we follow throughout this Blumhouse horror movie on Amazon Prime Video. She stars as Pallavi in Evil Eye, and you might recognize her from the Netflix series G.L.O.W. or the USA series Mr. Robot. Also, she was in the Netflix comedy Wine Country (2019) so she’s been doing all kinds of genres these recent years.
Sarita Choudhury plays Usha and should be a familiar face to many. She’s been in movies such as M. Night Shyamalan’s Lady in the Water (not to be confused with The Lady in the Water from The Haunting of Bly Manor) and the two final The Hunger Games movies. Also, she’s been in TV series such as Jessica Jones, Homeland, Blindspot, and The Path.
In Evil Eye, Sarita Choudhury and Sunita Mani portray mother and daughter, respectively, and it works perfectly. Their chemistry (including the respect and constant guilting) makes the story come together from the very beginning.
Finally, I should mention Omar Maskati and Bernard White. Omar Maskati was in the amazing true-crime Netflix series Unbelievable, Better Call Saul, and Tyrant. And Bernard White, you’ll recognize from The Matrix movies, the Homeland series, or maybe Silicon Valley where he played a recurring character.
For most of Evil Eye, you will be left wondering about what is real and what might be imagined. We keep seeing flashbacks and it’s difficult to be sure how much past experiences influence the current situations.
I enjoyed the fact that this story unfolds slowly and enables us [the audience] to go through the journey of discovery. Something we do with the daughter (Sunita Mani), which means we’re in her shoes for most of this movie. We do, however, have a lot more information than she does – or at least sooner than she does.
While this story plays out in an Indian-American family, I have no doubt that it’s familiar to many. Once you reach a certain age, there are expectations for you to get settled down, get married, and start a family. At the same time, you should also be strong and independent. But not too much, obviously. It’s a tricky minefield that can result in some wrong choices along the way.
Evil Eye was directed by Elan Dassani and Rajeev Dassani who also directed on the Netflix series Jinn. The two also wrote and directed the short film Seam (2017) together and are in pre-production on their next movie Illusion. This is the feature film debut for Elan Dassani as a director.
Elan and Rajeev Dassani are Indian-American and identical twin brothers who have worked quite a lot within genre productions.
The screenplay for Evil Eye was written by Madhuri Shekar (The Nevers) and was based on her award-winning, best-selling Audible Original production. She even won the 2020 Audie Award for Best Original Work and is currently working as a staff writer on Joss Whedon’s upcoming HBO series The Nevers.
Overall, I really enjoyed Evil Eye and can definitely recommend watching it!
Evil Eye is out on Amazon Prime Video worldwide from October 13, 2020.
