Evil Calls: The Raven

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Evil Calls: The Raven is a British horror film directed by Richard Driscoll (Kannibal) and starring Rik Mayall, Jason Donovan, Eileen Daly, Norman Wisdom, Robin Askwith and the voices of Christopher Walken and Marianne Faithfull.

The synopsis reads:^{[citation needed]} A group of students who go to a haunted forest called Harrow Woods in New England for a weekend vacation investigate the disappearance of horror novelist George Carney and his family who went missing presumed dead two years before. Led by lecturer Karl Mathers, the group embark on their investigation to learn that the forest has more horrors to offer then first realised as they discover that in the 17th century the infamous witch Lenore Selwyn was burnt at the stake within Harrow Woods. As she struggled against the flames she cursed the very land that her ashes fell upon. With the knowledge of this information the group are murdered one by one on their weekend of horrors.

In the film Jason Donovan plays Gary, a website designer who helps plan the trip into Harrow Woods. Rik Mayall plays Winston, a menacing spirit of a former hotel manager who tricks writer George Carney into killing his wife. Norman Wisdom plays Mayall's father, who also appears to guide Carney in amoral ways. Marianne Faithfull provides the voice of the masked woman who appears to George (like Winston) in the bathroom. 'Confessions' star Robin Askwith plays George's brother Vincent; a nasty piece of work who is having an affair with George's wife (played by model Jules Wheeler). The George Carney story appears in flashbacks as the students, particularly Anna, who is psychic, investigate Harrow Woods and the abandoned log cabin where the George Carney family was suspected to have been murdered two years previously on a family holiday.

Originally titled Alone in the Dark, the title was changed to Evil Calls just before release to avoid confusion with the Alone in the Dark computer game and its movie adaptation. This is why in some interviews the actors mention it by this name. Evil Calls is the first in a trilogy of Raven movies, inspired by the poem by Edgar Allan Poe.

The film pays homage to, amongst others, The Shining, Reservoir Dogs and The Blair Witch Project (teenagers go into the woods to film a project but end up being killed off sequentially).

There was a limited theatrical release before the DVD was released on Valentine's Day 2008. At present the DVD can only be purchased through the filmmakers' own website.