LITTLE EVIL

(2017) Original Netflix productions can be hit or miss, but when I saw the trailer for what appeared to be a parody of sorts of The Omen - well, as big a fan as I am of the original trilogy there was no way I could miss that.  Adam Scott stars in the horror comedy Little Evil as Gary, a real estate agent who's finally found the woman of his dreams in Samantha (Evangeline Lilly), the two marrying after a whirlwind courtship. The only fly in the ointment seems to be Sam's five-year-old son Lucas, whom Gary didn't get to spend much bonding time with prior to the wedding - and sure enough, early in the film as Gary is trying to settle into being a stepdad and husband, viewers slowly learn that something fairly sinister and unnamed happened at the wedding ... something somehow related to Lucas, who hasn't exactly taken a shine to Gary. In fact, it would appear Lucas might be downright evil - a sentiment echoed by Gary's group of stepdad friends (led by the hilarious Bridget Everett as Al, who steals every scene shes's in and, in fact, nearly the entire film), who've all felt the same about their stepkid(s) at one time or another. But no, creepy little Lucas really IS evil, complete with a demonic goat puppet (LOVE Reeroy!) and the ability to make people harm themselves, and soon it becomes necessary for Gary and Al to find a way to stop both Lucas and the oncoming Apocalypse - all with, somehow, not killing Lucas and ruining Gary's marriage.  For the first hour of Little Evil I thought the film was good/okay; I laughed out loud in spots, yes, and the performances are fine even if the film itself sometimes didn't seem sure of when it was a comedy and when it was going for scary.  But then a flip in the plot happens, something I didn't see coming, and the last thirty minutes of the film made me kind of fall in love with the whole thing (look for Sally Field in a terrific supporting role that's worth seeing the movie for alone). Having not seen many films about step-parenting the anti-Christ to compare it to, I can still say - without hesitation - that Little Evil is a very strange, very funny indie comedy that for-sure puts a check-mark in the "plus" column of Netflix original productions. (rated TV-MA)  7/10 stars