Evil Come Evil Go (1972) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Sarah is a religious fanatic who interprets her faith as a divine mission to cleanse the world of sexual sin. She genuinely believes she has been selected by God to punish those who seek pleasure through sex. This twisted interpretation of religious doctrine fuels her violent crusade and gives her the psychological justification for each murder.

Foreshadowing: Early scenes show Sarah humming hymns while preparing for violence, establishing her conviction that killing is holy work.

• sister sarah
• religious fanatic
• divine mission
• killing
• motivation
• faith

Penny becomes psychologically trapped through a combination of manipulation, dependency, and gradual erosion of her moral boundaries. Sarah isolates her from other influences, uses the initiation ritual to establish control, and creates an environment where obedience feels safer than escape. Penny's naivety and lack of support from her wealthy but ashamed parents make her particularly vulnerable to Sarah's influence.

Foreshadowing: The ritual induction scene, where Sarah ties Penny to a bed and threatens her with a knife while they sing, demonstrates the power dynamic that will keep Penny compliant.

• penny
• sarah
• manipulation
• control
• obedience
• psychological abuse

Sarah intended to use a television series as a platform to spread her extremist religious views to a mass audience. She and Penny planned to create the show specifically to propagate her doctrine that God is opposed to sexual pleasure. This represents Sarah's ambition to move beyond individual murders and achieve wider conversion to her twisted faith.

Foreshadowing: The public street performances where they sing and preach foreshadow Sarah's desire to reach larger audiences with her message.

• television series
• sarah
• platform
• preaching
• conversion
• religious doctrine

Sarah kills Junie as both a practical measure to eliminate a potential threat and as a demonstration of absolute power over Penny. Junie's arrival as Penny's ex-girlfriend represents a connection to Penny's past that could pull her away from Sarah's control. The murder serves as a brutal lesson in obedience, Penny must choose absolute loyalty to Sarah over any other relationship.

Foreshadowing: Earlier scenes show Sarah using Penny to lure men, establishing that Sarah views romantic connections as tools to be controlled or destroyed.

• junie
• murder
• sarah
• penny
• control
• jealousy

The guitarist functions as an ominous, symbolic presence representing the inescapable nature of their violence and the dark path they walk. He appears periodically throughout the film, trailing them at a distance, and ultimately performs the song 'Evil Come, Evil Go' during the credits. He embodies the lingering danger and the notion that their murderous journey leaves an indelible mark on everyone it touches.

Foreshadowing: The guitarist first appears early in the film, establishing him as a persistent shadow that follows the pair throughout their killing spree.

• guitarist
• credits
• song
• ominous presence
• following

Sarah writes this message as a public declaration of her twisted religious mission. The phrase encapsulates her core belief that sexual pleasure is a corruption of true divine love. By leaving it visible, she transforms a murder scene into a proclamation, ensuring her victims become examples of her crusade against sexual sin.

Foreshadowing: This mirrors her street preaching where she condemns sexual pleasure as contrary to God's true nature.

• mirror message
• god is love not sex
• declaration
• religious mission
• los angeles

Sarah spots Penny while busking on the street and recognizes her vulnerability, Penny is a naive young woman whose wealthy parents are ashamed of her lesbianism. Sarah befriends her, moves into her life, and performs a ritual initiation that involves tying Penny to a bed, stripping her, and teasing her with a knife while they sing together. This ritual establishes domination and creates psychological bonds that replace Penny's previous identity with devotion to Sarah's cause.

Foreshadowing: Sarah's street preaching identifies her target audience, people seeking belonging and purpose that can be redirected toward her extremist ideology.

• penny
• recruitment
• initiation
• ritual
• order
• subjugation

The ending suggests the cycle of violence will continue indefinitely. After dumping bodies in the woods, they encounter another couple having sex. The man leaves with Sarah and Penny, implying he will become their next victim. The unresolved ending, combined with the guitarist's ominous final performance of 'Evil Come, Evil Go,' reinforces that their murderous partnership shows no signs of stopping.

Foreshadowing: The film's structure follows a repeating pattern of seduction, murder, and disposal, with each cycle reinforcing that there is no end in sight.

• ending
• future
• murder cycle
• woods
• implication
• continue

Sarah's religious ideology specifically condemns sexual pleasure as the sin she believes God has tasked her to punish. She sees sex as the ultimate corruption that violates divine love, so she targets victims precisely at the moment they engage in the act she considers most offensive to God. This creates a twisted logic where her murders are framed as holy retribution against sinners.

Foreshadowing: The opening bar murder establishes this pattern, Sarah seduces the man specifically to draw him into the sexual act she will punish with death.

• sexual encounters
• murder target
• religious ideology
• sin
• punishment

Sarah uses intimidation of Penny's tenants as a way to consolidate power and control over Penny's environment. By threatening the people living in Penny's building, Sarah establishes herself as the dominant force in Penny's life and removes potential allies or influences that could compete with her control. This tightening of the social environment makes Penny more dependent on Sarah and reinforces the abusive dynamic.

Foreshadowing: This intimidation occurs after Sarah has already initiated Penny into her order, showing the progression from psychological manipulation to outright territorial control.

• tenants
• intimidation
• control
• power
• building
• dominance