Put Michael Myers in a Trump Mask and You’ve Got ‘President Evil,’ the Wacked-Out Slasher Movie of Our Time

All movies are political, especially horror, as Terrifier's Damien Leone recently found out the hard way. The sociopolitical message of Art the Clown might not be very overt, but for other horror films, it's right out in the open. Such is the case for a 2018 horror comedy cleverly titled President Evil. This low-budget film, co-written and directed by Richard Lowry, is part loving tribute to John Carpenter's Halloween, and part highly political satire, as its Michael Myers-esque killer stalks his minority victims while wearing a Donald Trump mask and carrying a butcher's knife with the American flag painted on the blade. President Evil will make you smile if you're a big Halloween fan. It'll also make you laugh, as well as angry, no matter which side of the political aisle you sit on. And that's the point.

What Is 'President Evil' About?

In 2018, The Shape made his return to the big screen with David Gordon Green's Halloween. In more ways than one, 2018 became the perfect year for a little movie called President Evil as well. The plot centers on Lana (Sitara Attaie), an American Muslim woman who is babysitting a Mexican boy named Pepe (Jacob Jorge Lennex) on the night of the State of the Union Address. As Lana goes about her day, she starts noticing a man dressed up in a suit and wearing a Donald Trump mask who is stalking her.

The man Lana is seeing is David (Ryan Quinn Adams), who stabbed his mother to death when he was a child, and has escaped the asylum he's been in ever since. The stalking leads up to an outright attack against Lana and her two female friends, Bianca (Lys Perez) and Medjine (Amber Boone). One by one, they will be killed by the man in the Trump mask until only our final girl remains. Will she be able to take down her attacker or be saved by David's doctor (Ruben Estremera)?

'President Evil' Is a Hilarious 'Halloween' Parody'

If that plot sounds rather familiar, it's purposeful, because President Evil is a love letter to Halloween. This is seen from the very first second, with the film giving us a simple black and orange font for its opening credits, with a song extremely similar to John Carpenter's Halloween score, and the famous jack-o-lantern replaced with a bright orange Trump mask. From there, we meet Lana's father, Aakif (Kevin Alain), at his home, which is the exact Michael Myers house that still stands today. President Evil uses several Halloween filming locations, from Laurie Strode's (Jamie Lee Curtis) house, with Lana recreating her same walk (there's even a pumpkin on the corner steps), to the exteriors of the Doyle and Wallace homes, where Michael Myers attacked in the third act.

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"You failed, Michael. You want to know why? Because I'm not afraid of you."

President Evil's initial story beats are almost identical to Halloween's. The opening scene has young David outside watching his mother and a man make out, before he puts on a mask, walks upstairs, and kills her. His doctor is then seen leaving the hospital to track him down. Meanwhile, Lana is at school when she sees David in his Trump mask watching her, and then again David is seen standing beside the exact same hedge used in Halloween when Michael is watching Laurie and her friends. This doesn't mean that President Evil is a shot-for-shot remake. Halloween is the starting point, but Rob Lowry has his own story to tell.

'President Evil's Satire Bites Deeper Than Any Knife

In President Evil, David is after minorities. He's got his mask, his suit, and his butcher's knife with the American flag painted on it. It's not white girls he's following, but the Muslim Lana, the Mexican Blanca, the Black Medjine, and later, their trans friend, Gabriel (Vinn Sander). Just like Michel Myers, David never speaks, but we get the point, as the film has fake, racist speeches by the President playing throughout. We even get winks to Hillary Clinton, Vladimir Putin, Rudy Giuliani, and more, either through how a character acts (a doctor who looks like Hillary is trying to warn everyone about David), or with fairly blatant names.

President Evil is silly at times, and goes for the comedy, such as when Lana is running from David at the end and has to climb a giant wall similar to the ones on the Mexican border, but it also has something much deeper to say. For example, in Halloween, little Tommy Wallace (Brian Andrews) is scared of the Boogeyman, but in President Evil, Pepe doesn't hold back in saying that he's afraid of Republicans. Sometimes the satire is used for humor, and sometimes it's a little too on the nose, with Lana and others giving long monologs that are more political speeches than realistic dialogue, but it never fails to be biting.

President Evil was released just before the 2018 midterm elections. This might have been a low-budget attempt to get its viewers to vote, but that didn't stop it from being an enjoyable slasher homage with an important message behind it. Over six years later, President Evil is just as important now as it was then. President Donald Trump is back in the White House, and he's as divisive as ever. Whether you love him or hate him, opinions about him are strong. Everyone has something to say about him, even a little Halloween parody.

President Evil

Release Date

October 18, 2018

Runtime

81 minutes

Director

Richard Lowry