Boy, was this ever a wasted opportunity?
There are two presentable features to this film. One is the story; or at least the premise of it. The second is the acting.
The premise of the story is that Dr Andover has found a way to combat fear by taking on the amygdala itself, through the use of a deprivation tank style piece of machinery called the Fear Chamber. The trouble is something else is using the chamber... to come through into our world.
This concept allows for a lot of leeway in the story. The only constriction is your imagination. Shame that the writers, Aaron Drane and Robert Hall, were lacking in the inventiveness department. There's a nice moment when entomophobic Megan is in the clinic claiming to have insects burrowing under her skin. She's opened up a wound by constantly scratching. Dr Osborn cuts into the wound to lessen the swelling and the fear essence starts to seep out. Spiders start to leave their burrow and scurry over her body onto the floor. They leave this idea right there... on the floor.
This would have been the ideal way for the fear essence to get around. Manifest itself os one person's fear and infect the next person they come across, rinse and repeat... Just imagine a hundred spiders crawling into peoples open mouths, ears, and nostrils. Then their fears would manifest, say, a fear of rejection. The infected could become multiple personalities speaking in different voices, each of which rejects the main host. What would be worse than you rejecting yourself? These screams and arguments could then infect anybody within hearing distance... and their fears would manifest... rinse and repeat.
This would have opened the way for a more script-driven movie and the inventiveness in the story may have made it into the filming too. Unfortunately for the viewers, the writer Robert Hall is less imaginative in his direction. There really is nothing new here. Truthfully, the direction appears below parr. There is one scene where Sara returns to the clinic where Hall tried to get creative. The camera is about twenty feet off the ground looking at the clinic. It drops down to shoulder height. I thought it would then move towards the clinic, which would have been nice and then Sara could have walked passed into the vision and on to the clinic. What happens after the drop though is a nasty cut to Sara's back as she strolls to the clinic. This feels not only nasty but looks awful. And the film is filled with similar camera work.
Luckily enough all the actors and actresses are more than passible in their portrayals. I enjoyed Fiona Dourif (she has those same scary killer eyes of her father - you can tell she's Brad's daughter) in the two Chucky flicks she's been in and she's better in this as the lead, Sara. It's a solid and engaging performance. Robert England, who drew me into watching this film, comes across, as always, perfectly. This guy has scared me in the Nightmare films, made me laugh in V the series, and entertained me in everything else. As Dr Andover, he comes across as confident, controlled, and ambitious. His ambition is to help people. However, when this ambition gets tainted by the fact that the people he's helped are coming back to the clinic because their fears are resurfacing, he starts to fall apart. His confidence is knocked and is usurped with doubt. England does a great job of showing this change in his character. Shame the direction damages his performance.
Doing a little research, I cannot believe this film came from a TV series. There were five episodes back in 2009, five years before the film. I have to say I'm not going to hunt them out as both the writer and the director for the series were the same as the film.
All in all, I wouldn't advocate watching this movie unless you're a die-hard England or Dourif fan. If you like horror, there is very little in this film as it lacks atmosphere. Something you would really expect would be evident in a film based on fear itself. So if you want a horror flick to watch and enjoy there are plenty more. Go check out my Absolute Horror list for an idea and to see where I've charted this miserable waste of time...
I'd rated this as a 4.5 so it should have been a 5 on IMDb but I just couldn't bring myself to do it...
There are two presentable features to this film. One is the story; or at least the premise of it. The second is the acting.
The premise of the story is that Dr Andover has found a way to combat fear by taking on the amygdala itself, through the use of a deprivation tank style piece of machinery called the Fear Chamber. The trouble is something else is using the chamber... to come through into our world.
This concept allows for a lot of leeway in the story. The only constriction is your imagination. Shame that the writers, Aaron Drane and Robert Hall, were lacking in the inventiveness department. There's a nice moment when entomophobic Megan is in the clinic claiming to have insects burrowing under her skin. She's opened up a wound by constantly scratching. Dr Osborn cuts into the wound to lessen the swelling and the fear essence starts to seep out. Spiders start to leave their burrow and scurry over her body onto the floor. They leave this idea right there... on the floor.
This would have been the ideal way for the fear essence to get around. Manifest itself os one person's fear and infect the next person they come across, rinse and repeat... Just imagine a hundred spiders crawling into peoples open mouths, ears, and nostrils. Then their fears would manifest, say, a fear of rejection. The infected could become multiple personalities speaking in different voices, each of which rejects the main host. What would be worse than you rejecting yourself? These screams and arguments could then infect anybody within hearing distance... and their fears would manifest... rinse and repeat.
This would have opened the way for a more script-driven movie and the inventiveness in the story may have made it into the filming too. Unfortunately for the viewers, the writer Robert Hall is less imaginative in his direction. There really is nothing new here. Truthfully, the direction appears below parr. There is one scene where Sara returns to the clinic where Hall tried to get creative. The camera is about twenty feet off the ground looking at the clinic. It drops down to shoulder height. I thought it would then move towards the clinic, which would have been nice and then Sara could have walked passed into the vision and on to the clinic. What happens after the drop though is a nasty cut to Sara's back as she strolls to the clinic. This feels not only nasty but looks awful. And the film is filled with similar camera work.
Luckily enough all the actors and actresses are more than passible in their portrayals. I enjoyed Fiona Dourif (she has those same scary killer eyes of her father - you can tell she's Brad's daughter) in the two Chucky flicks she's been in and she's better in this as the lead, Sara. It's a solid and engaging performance. Robert England, who drew me into watching this film, comes across, as always, perfectly. This guy has scared me in the Nightmare films, made me laugh in V the series, and entertained me in everything else. As Dr Andover, he comes across as confident, controlled, and ambitious. His ambition is to help people. However, when this ambition gets tainted by the fact that the people he's helped are coming back to the clinic because their fears are resurfacing, he starts to fall apart. His confidence is knocked and is usurped with doubt. England does a great job of showing this change in his character. Shame the direction damages his performance.
Doing a little research, I cannot believe this film came from a TV series. There were five episodes back in 2009, five years before the film. I have to say I'm not going to hunt them out as both the writer and the director for the series were the same as the film.
All in all, I wouldn't advocate watching this movie unless you're a die-hard England or Dourif fan. If you like horror, there is very little in this film as it lacks atmosphere. Something you would really expect would be evident in a film based on fear itself. So if you want a horror flick to watch and enjoy there are plenty more. Go check out my Absolute Horror list for an idea and to see where I've charted this miserable waste of time...
I'd rated this as a 4.5 so it should have been a 5 on IMDb but I just couldn't bring myself to do it...