Villian(s)  Malevolent organism

Actor(s):  Richard Crenna, Joanna Pettet, Andrew Prine, Cassie Yates

Brief Description  The Evil (also known as Cry Demon or House of Evil) is a 1978 American supernatural horror film directed by Gus Trikonis and starring Richard Crenna, Joanna Pettet, and Victor Buono. According to retrospective trivia on IMDb, the film was distributed by Roger Corman's New World Pictures. While the script originally framed the antagonist as an ambiguous demonic force, the producers insisted on a climax where the remaining protagonists descend into the basement to face the physical embodiment of the Devil himself.

Plot:
The story follows a psychologist, Dr. C.J. Arnold (played by Richard Crenna), and his doctor wife, Caroline (Joanna Pettet), who buy a dilapidated, secluded Civil War-era mansion known as the Vargas House. Their plan is to renovate the property and reopen it as a drug rehabilitation clinic. To help clean up and restore the estate, they invite a group of friends, students, and volunteers. However, the mansion was intentionally built directly over a gateway to Hell. The nightmare begins when C.J. unknowingly unlocks a pit in the cellar, releasing a malevolent, satanic force that had been chained there. Immediately, all the doors and windows slam shut, trapping the entire group inside. Rather than relying on a typical slow-burn haunting, the evil entity quickly begins picking off the volunteers and staff one by one in a series of gruesome, bizarre deaths. The survivors suffer through spirit manifestations, violent possessions, self-mutilation, and fires while desperately fighting to escape the house and close the pit.