Haunting Fear

source: Haunting Fear

Moviecut—Haunting Fear

A by-the-numbers thriller from director Fred Olen Ray, renowned for making exploitation films on an extremely low budget. This passes the time but offers up little in the way of story or intrigue, as is the case with lots of these films, not much happens for three quarters of the film until the action of the finale. To pass the time there are a number of gratuitous * and sex scenes. Brinke Stevens is forever taking her clothes off to have a bath, while Delia Sheppard is constantly writhing about while naked. These scenes get boring quickly and are obviously tailor-made for the dirty mac brigade. The story is loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe's theme of being buried alive, but director Ray just doesn't have the budget to do justice to the story, his tale lacks the lavish costumes and sets of Roger Corman's Poe series of the 1960s. Along with the central story (woman is cheated on, buried alive by husband, then comes back from the dead) are a number of sub=plots to lengthen the running time. The most obvious of these is the story involving the husband's embroilment with a debt collector, whose assistant sits around in a car for the whole film before finally taking action at the end. The husband's affair also gets tiring quickly, although to be fair Ray does intertwine the plot threads quite well. The cast is probably the most interesting thing about the film; Ray has once again gathered together a group of talented exploitation has-beens, past-its, and nobodies. Jan-Michael Vincent is probably the biggest name but doesn't have much of a role, while Jay Richardson manages to put a fine balance between a cold-blooded murderer and a human being who cares about his wife. Brinke Stevens has never been much of an actress but carries the pivotal role fairly well. Robert Clarke is believable as a doctor while Robert Quarry and Karen Black fill out minor roles and are welcome faces in the cast. Added to this is Michael Berryman in a cameo appearance as a creepy morgue assistant. The special effects are kept to a minimum until the finale, where Ray murders off just about every major character in the cast. Things are quite bloody here with a number of brutal stabbings, but we've waited a long time for the action so it is quite disappointing. The various 'supernatural' aspects are handled amateurishly and are therefore embarrassing, take the disappearance of Stevens at the end for example, a cliché or what? HAUNTING FEAR comes across as very empty and lacking, but for undemanding fans it will pass the time.

A woman's nightmares fuel her fear of being buried alive.The cheating husband wants her dead and decides to make good use of her phobia by sticking her in a coffin and leaving her in the basement.Of course B-horror movie queen Brinke Stevens transforms into hideous ghostly creature.The only reason to see this amateurish junk flick is Michael Berryman in a really small cameo and two sex scenes with Delia Sheppard.And the last twenty minutes of Brinke's bloody rampage are quite fun to watch.The special effects for example laughable decapitated head are truly awful.Better watch "Scalps" or "Alien Dead" again.Of course I ain't expecting classy entertainment from Fred Olen Ray,but "Haunting Fear" is too dull to be enjoyable.

Well the B movie antics are packed to the max in this film. But it is very enjoyable. If it is on go ahead and watch it and it might be worth a .99 cent 3 day rental from your video store.

Looking at the box in the video store you will see names such as Fred Olen Ray, Brinke Stevens, Karen Black, and Jan-Michael Vincent. The kicker, of course, is "A Troma Team Release." These are not arguments for quality, and indeed there is no mistaking this film for anything other than a B-movie. However, it can be surprisingly effective, mostly due to the amount of heart Brinke Stevens puts into her portrayal of the lead character, the neurotic Victoria. If you want B-movie cheesiness and excess you'll uncover a fair helping of it here, but don't be surprised if you find yourself a bit more involved in the storyline than you originally expected.

I purchased this video quite cheaply ex-rental, thinking that the cover looked quite nice. And it was nice, but the movie is trash. I can handle B-grade, I sometimes even enjoy a good B romp (ie. 'Surf Nazis Must Die' is a classic example of how entertaining the genre can be), but this was just bland bland bland. Incredibly dull scenes were broken up too sparsely by good wholesome cheap * and entertaining dream horror sequences. This movie has very little to offer.

First off...with names like Fred Olen Ray, Brinke Stevens and Jan-Michael Vincent, plus distributors like "Rhino" and "Troma" on the video box, you know what you're getting into with this one. B movie mania! If you're actually expecting to see a thriller "based on Edgar Allan Poe," then forget it and head straight for the excellent series of Roger Corman 60s Poe films. This is pure, unadulterated sleaze (with just a pedestrian attempt at a plot similar to "The Premature Burial"), complete with lots of R-rated, ready-for-video sex and nudity. However, it's certainly entertaining and fun in a slipshod kind of way... Brinke (who has three * scenes in the first 30 minutes) plays rich, traumatized, insomniac housewife Victoria Monroe, whose fear of being prematurely entombed stems from her belief that the same fate befell her father (Hoke Howell). Her worthless husband Terry (Jay Richardson) has racked up some serious gambling debt (owed to a gangster played by Robert Quarry) and, with help from his kinky, blonde, European-accented sexpot secretary Lisa (Delia Sheppard) plots to do away with Brinke for her money. Name-value actress Karen Black drops in briefly wearing a blonde wig as a hypnotist (she's way too talented to be playing an insignificant role like this), 50s sci-fi/horror star Robert Clarke plays a doctor and family friend and Michael Berryman shows up for a decent nightmare sequence performing an autopsy on a still-living Vicki. Jan-Michael Vincent mostly sits outside a house in his car making goo-goo eyes as Brinke enters and exits the home. The kill-a-spouse-for-the-inheritance plot has been done a million times before, the ending is an unintentional laugh riot (concluding with a direct rip-off of the Zuni Fetish Doll segment in TRILOGY OF TERROR) and whoever created the awful stabbed face and decapitated head FX for this release needs to sharpen up on their skills a bit. Brinke does a decent job making her character somewhat sympathetic, but the biggest surprise of all is how good former Penthouse Pet Delia Sheppard is in her role. She stole every scene she was in and easily gave the standout performance here.

I really enjoyed this movie, probably because I didn't expect much at all from it. It's got good atmosphere, suspense and scary moments. And Delia Sheppard...well she's just too good! Great ending as well, really creepy. I suggest you to watch it if you can.

Unhappy and neurotic heiress Victoria Munroe (a very strong and intense performance from Brinke Stevens) not only suffers from nightmares about being buried alive, but also must contend with wormy no-count husband Terry (Jay Richardson in sturdy sleazy form) and his lusty mistress Lisa (deliciously played with lip-smacking wicked aplomb by the delectable Delia Sheppard), who are plotting to kill Victoria for her money. Writer/director Fred Olen Ray relates the engrossing story at a brisk pace, does a neat job of crafting a suitably morbid atmosphere, and further spices things up with a generous serving of tasty bare distaff skin courtesy of Brinke and Delia as well as two incredibly raunchy semi-pornographic sex scenes which are performed with scorching naughty abandon by Mrs. Sheppard. Moreover, there are sound supporting contributions from Robert Clarke as concerned family physician Dr. Carlton, Jan-Michael Vincent as pesky private detective James Trent, Karen Black as helpful hypnotherapist Dr. Julia Harcourt, and Robert Quarry as menacing mobster Visconti. Michael Berryman has a nice bit as a creepy mortician in an effectively macabre nightmare set piece. Chuck Cirino's shivery score hits the spine-tingling spot. Gary Graver's typically proficient cinematography provides a pleasing polished look. Best of all, Stevens really sinks her teeth into her juicy lead role; she's a lot of fun towards the end when she goes gloriously off the rails cackling psycho crazy. A cool little B-grade fright flick.