SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2025 REVIEW! Richard Hunter’s experimental thriller, Foul Evil Deeds, is one of those films that makes you think Slamdance. Let’s get into it.
Foul Evil Deeds takes a seemingly improvisational cinéma vérité approach in exploring mankind’s subtle depravity. We follow several storylines of your average citizen trapped on the hamster wheel of life when a moment of temptation knocks them onto an entirely different path.
We have a janitor working in a private school. He’s the first in and the last out as he cleans the school day after day. At night, he tolerates the all-night nightclub he sleeps in. We later learn that he’s part of a rehabilitation program, and if he keeps his head down, he may just have the chance to see his two sons.
We then meet three boys kicking a football down the road to and from school, taking the occasional break to smoke weed. Mischief ensues. Meanwhile, vicar and his wife find maggots in their home, which leads to the discovery of a dead rat in their attic. When the vicar sets traps around the home, the foul stench of death persists, leading to a horrible discovery. Finally, there’s a dry cleaner who lets his emotions get the best of him with his young, attractive co-worker, a lawyer lives a double life after work, and a father hides a dangerous secret from his young son.
“…a moment of temptation knocks them onto an entirely different path.”
I should warn you: Foul Evil Deeds is a slow burn. The first half introduces us to the characters living their everyday lives. As we get to know them, “evil” is thrust upon them or allowed to emerge in the end. The film feels more like an anthology as each story looks at evil from different perspectives. For example, the three teens are pretty average kids throughout the film, and it isn’t until the very end that they get theirs.
I like how an accordion interlude leads us into the very bizarre second half, during which everything falls apart. The storytelling is nontraditional, which is both good and bad. The first half of the film is long. I kept asking myself, “What’s happening?” It felt like random events, like walking down the road or making coffee. This first half really needed to be shortened for a film that’s almost two hours long.
The real action doesn’t begin until the second half when secrets are revealed. I like that the “evil” ranges in severity from a simple mistake or harmless gag to life-and-death consequences. The cast’s performances feel real; any comedy comes from a dry British perspective. Trying something new, different, and “out there” is precisely what experimental filmmaking is all about. It may not find a broad audience, but the Slamdance audience may eat this film up.
Foul Evil Deeds rewards those willing to embrace its experimental nature with its cinéma vérité style, slow-burning tension, and deeply unsettling exploration of human nature. The payoff is a haunting, twisted descent into the moral abyss.
Foul Evil Deeds screened at the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival.
"…rewards those willing to embrace its experimental nature..."
