Face of Evil (1996)

Directed by Mary Lambert
Written by: Gregory Goodell
Starring: Tracey Gold, Perry King, Shawnee Smith
Larry Thompson Entertainment

I have seen the face of evil and it is... Tracey Gold. No joke.

In Face of Evil she plays this maniacal cold-blooded killer that will do anything, and I mean anything, to get what she wants...

Fleeing an abusive husband, she kills a young musician on the way to a new college and then adopts her identity. Only Tracey is a visual artist, or artiste as you would say, because she's supposed to be all wildly talented. So she has to wing a few cons to get over to the art department. One of her pranks involves putting sulfuric acid in her counselor's eye drops. YEE-OUCH! Surprisingly enough it all works and off she goes to spread her artistic wings. She becomes the rebellious girl in her disparate clique and befriends a mousy Shawnee Smith, who I thought I would never call mousy, but here she plays an intense wallflower. However, she’s a wallflower with big bucks and a ridiculously hot dad played by the ridiculously hot Perry King. He's a widower and all about art, so you see where this is going, right? I mean Tracey is this insanely sexy and wild creature, so who would say no? Well, Perry King does as a matter of fact. This makes Tracey a little angry.

Face of Evil originally aired on CBS in 1996 and is an exceptional fit for Lifetime Television. It hits all the right notes, but feels fresh and is so full of fun you hardly notice you've seen it all before. Hand credit over to the actors for taking the madcap premise and running with it. Tracey Gold is really, really good in this part and relishes every second of treachery and chaos she flings at her unwitting cast mates. King is also good but needs to drop the ponytail. He looks just like that character Derril from Kids in the Hall, who was also into art. Ah, life!

Mary Lambert directed this movie and My Stepson, My Lover about a year apart and you know, she should have gotten some kind of award for that. I don't ask for much in this life but I do love a good, fun movie and Face of Evil delivers it in abundance.

And if you see a tiny Tracey Gold walking down a dark alley one night - go the other way. You have been warned.