Married suburbanite Gary Kender (Richard Nelson) has a bee in his bonnet about his new neighbor Eric Longfellow (Don Leifert). Gary seems like the kind of guy who complains a lot under ordinary circumstances, but in this case he's correct to be suspicious of Longfellow. However, he can't possibly suspect the truth: "Longfellow" is actually a former corpse that was resting peacefully in a cemetery until it got possessed by the title entity. And the Longfellow body that it's using WILL regularly deteriorate unless it goes out and kills on a consistent basis, draining unlucky people of their life force. This we are all shown in the opening minutes, so the film, written and directed by Maryland cult favorite Don Dohler, isn't really functioning as a mystery. We KNOW that this Longfellow character is bad news, and we spend the film waiting for him to be either caught dead to rights, or eliminated. And "Fiend" is quite a bit of fun for cult-horror lovers. Although there are predictable moments that are certain to guarantee audience laughter - like the cheeseball visual effects, and the variable acting - this actually works pretty well, and it does have some solid atmosphere. The locations used really help a lot. One big asset is the haunting electronic score (by Paul Woznicki) that this viewer can still hear in his head even now. Tension is derived from the fact that Gary will naturally have a hard time convincing his skeptical wife (Elaine White) that Longfellow SHOULD be regarded as dubious. (When a neighborhood child, played by Dohlers' daughter Kim, is murdered, Gary doesn't believe the B. S. story that Longfellow hands the cops; rather, he refuses to believe that Longfellow didn't see or hear a thing.) Nelson pours on the intensity, while Leifert is fun to watch as our pompous antagonist who has nothing but contempt for his nemesis. Fans of Dohler and John Waters will note the presence of cult character actor George Stover as Longfellows' milquetoast assistant. Other Dohler regulars like Tom Griffith and Anne Frith make appearances, his son Greg has the key role of concerned, frightened neighborhood kid Scotty, and his wife Pam plays one of Longfellows' victims. This is worth a look for viewers who enjoy low budget genre pictures. As I've said in other reviews, often films like this have the heart that's sometimes missing from mega-budget studio pictures. Eight out of 10.

Gary Kender (with a big moustache) suspects that his music playing neighbour Eric Longfellow (with an even bigger moustache) may be a local serial killer. He discovers that Longfellow's deeds are being made by a red glowing fiend that has inhabited the dead body of a music teacher. This is a slow moving film with scenes of a man feeding a cat, a bottle of wine being opened, a candle being lit, a man opening a box and a man getting into his car filmed at a slow pace, to say the least. Richard Nelson as Kender must be one of the most unappealing heroes in film. One wanted to punch his nose five minutes after his character first appears. Don Leifert as the fiendish Longfellow is moderately entertaining and Elaine White as Marsha Kender is winsomely cute. As is Pepper who played Dorian the cat. George Stover is suitably cringing as Dennis Frye. Not a film to set the pulse racing, to say the least.

FIEND (1980) is the third Don Dohler indie sci-fi/horror I've seen, following THE ALIEN FACTOR and NIGHTBEAST, and while I enjoyed those two I'm afraid to say that this one is really pedestrian. It's another microbudget story about an evil force that raises a corpse from the dead and causes it to go on a rampage as a kind of psychic vampire, sucking the life force from its victims. The whole thing is very tedious, particularly with the dull dialogue and non-performances, while the kill scenes are laughable: the problem I had is that the killer has a red glow that looks exactly like the one in the old 'Ready Brek' porridge adverts on British TV! Laughable stuff.

Remote and secretive immortal Eric Longfellow (a creepy portrayal by the beefy Don Leifert) needs to absorb the life force of others in order to continue existing. Longfellow moves to a quiet suburb in Maryland where nosy neighbor Gary Kender (a solid performance by Richard Nelson) begins to suspect something is amiss with Longfellow. Do-It-Yourself indie auteur Don Dohler does a solid job of crafting a spooky gloom-doom mood, keeps the enjoyable story moving along at a steady pace, and grounds the fantastic premise in a believably blah everyday small town reality. Moreover, Dohler deserves extra praise for having the guts to bump off a little kid as well as end on the film on a pretty downbeat note. George Stover offers sturdy support as Longfellow's timid toady assistant Dennis Frye. The modest (not so) special effects possess a certain lovably rinky-dink charm. Richard Geiwitz's fairly polished cinematography boasts several nifty tracking shots. Paul Woznicki's shivery synthesizer score hits the shuddery spot. A fun little fright flick.

FIEND is awful. It's hilarious. It's about a dead guy who strangles people and takes their lifeforce away from them in order to replenish himself with blah, blah, blah. Who cares about plot? This cheese ball is good for only one thing. Ridiculing it. Dig the scene where the woman gives her friend a ride home and conveniently drops her off a mile away from her house. Another priceless piece of entertainment from Prism Pictures.

A not very entertaining movie with strangulation deaths. Ok make-up and cartoon animation that creates a red glow. Mostly talk. The ending is pretty odd, but it's a long time coming. Maybe kids would like it. Everybody has got a scary neighbor who's yard you don't want the kick ball to fly into.

Baltimore director Don Dohler made a number of interesting very low budget horror and sci-fi features back in the day, probably the best of which was the highly entertaining The Alien Factor (1978). His films always at least attempted to make the most of the meagre production values at their disposal. Fiend is another such film and one which does some decent things on a shoe-string budget. This one is about a strange entity which reanimates a corpse, who then moves into a suburban neighbourhood and promptly begins a campaign of serial murder. This fiend hides under the guise of a music teacher. The acting is basic and the make-up and effects work are of a cheap standard, although I did quite enjoy the animated red spectre which creates the undead fiend. But, as in other Dohler films, there is an unmistakable earnestness to proceedings and it always feels like he at least makes an effort to try things irrespective of his tiny budget. Like his other films, the Baltimore setting adds something different too, with lots of outdoor shooting and local flavour. As a horror film, it has its moments such as the closing scenes which carried at least a little bit of threat I thought. It's a film which should appeal to fans of this director and those who appreciate low budget horrors from the period. It's hardly a lost classic or anything like that but like other Dohler movies it does have a certain charm and honest endeavour.

Everyone should see at least one (and preferably more) of Don Dohler's low budget indie movies. Fiend is consistent with the Dohler brand; put together on the cheap, stars a bunch of his friends and relatives, and is just good crazy horror movie fun. They're usually horror/sci-fi cross-breeds, and Dohler showcases his specialty, special effects, in the production. This time, a ghost or spirit looking like a bright light enters a grave and reanimates a body. The walking dead man, frequent Dohler star Don Liefert, gives an adequately sinister touch to his blood thirsty character. He draws life essence from his victims, and has a voracious appetite to do this, since he has to replenish his energy frequently. Of course, this means there will be a high body count unless the fiend is stopped quickly. Only a neighbor of his suspects the guy, who is living amongst his victims in suburbia. The tone is more sinister and bloody than other Dohler films; even a child is among the victims. The rampaging beast is merciless, and the violence somewhat masks the mediocre acting of the cast. The low budget is visible at times throughout the movie, and the MST3K gang probably would have bludgeoned this film if they had ever shown it. Still, like all of Dohler's bargain basement horror flicks, it makes for a good thrill ride.

Super good cult/horror/mystery (obviously not much of a mystery for us). I can't believe its taken me this long to discover a gem as good and unique as this. Thanx to the good people at Retromedia Entertainment for making it possible by providing a nice collectors edition DVD. This low budgeter is full of clever story and dialog. The highlight is the brilliant, long, creepy, suspicious, elusive performance by the main character Mister Longfellow. There's also a cute, loving wife... but unfortunately she wasn't as smart as her concerned neighbor husband. A classic example of how a film doesn't need a budget to be good... just a writer/director who knows what he's doing and a few friends to help. Thats all you need. It keeps the atmosphere. And the spirits. If you haven't seen Fiend you are missing out!

"Fiend" is definitely one of the better examples of low budget "z-grade" horror. When I put this on, I expected it to be one of those "so bad it's hilarious" horror films, and even though the first scenes initially had me in fits of laughter, it's not one of these films. Once you've seen 5 minutes of the atrocious acting, jumpy editing, bad frame composition, laughable special effects and poor lighting and colour matching, its humour wears off. However, it actually creates a surreal and dreamy atmosphere reminiscent of the classic "Night Of The Living Dead" that will linger even when the film is finished. The story revolves around a married man trying to prove that his neighbour, a "fiend" that is an evil spirit in the body of a corpse who must feed on the living to retain his youthful appearance, is responsible for the spree of murders that have been occurring in the neighbourhood. "Fiend" will brilliantly draw you into that neighbourhood yourself and make you suspend your disbelief and the unnatural dialogue and amateur acting soon appears normal as you become a part of the surreal world the film creates. The surreal atmosphere, predictable yet intriguing story, and climatic ending make "Fiend" a forgotten gem that I'd recommend to all fans of low budget horror.