The Fear (1995)

   

Directed by: Vincent Robert

Written by: Ron Ford

Story by: Ron Ford & Greg H. Sims

Starring:

Eddie Bowz .... Richard
Heather Medway .... Ashley
Ann Turkel .... Leslie
Vince Edwards .... Uncle Pete
Darin Heames .... Troy
Anna Karin .... Tanya
Antonio Lewis Todd .... Gerald
Leland Hayward III .... Vance
Monique Mannen .... Mindy
Erick Weiss .... Morty

Special Appearance:

Wes Craven .... Dr. Arnold

Release Date: Direct-to-Video: January 20, 1995

 

Rating:

 

A man named Richard (Eddie Bowz) who is scared about his past childhood life goes up to a remote cabin with a weekend group who are having the same issues for "fear therapy".
Richard's girlfriend named Ashley (Heather Medway) finds a wooden statue in a drawer as Richard explains to people the statue's name is Morty (Erick Weiss) which the indians created and to confess their fears to the statue.
However, the statue seems to stalk them in their rooms and other areas.
When the weekend guests are trying to conquer their fears they all seem to behave possessively and act nasty towards one another and then Morty starts to kill some of these guests. 
Richard must meet up to his fears before he becomes Morty's next victim along with his other friends too that are trying to survive.

 

We have a nice beginning with the camera circling up with the trees and the blue sky. There's also a good moment with a child named Richard  running away in a forest as well as him encountering a grave being dug up with people in masks which we spot great shots of as well and a good creepy feeling to it too.
We have a fairly decent conversation between a shrink and the now older Richard discussing his issues in a psychiatrist office.
Then him and his gang of friends go up to the rockies for a nice vacation at a resort. Good shots on a car driving by a road on a mountain.  
The setting with Richard gathering everyone in the room to talk about their past and fears is fairly decent with the wooden figure Morty sitting on a chair and the patients talking to him. When you look closely there's a change in this figure which kinda looked chilling.   
One of the people Tanya is being too scared to go into a hot tub with Uncle Pete trying to talk to her on coming in. It looked fairly cheesy to watch but in an entertaining way. But then she slowly walks into the hot tub showing her gigglingin which I got a crining feeling that something is about to happen and it's an almost jumping moment.
Later on we spot a good smooth discussion between Mindy and Gerald as she spoke flirtatiously and lustfully towards him showing nice expressions and he speaks softly back which looked relaxing and effective.
A good rough moment between Gerald and Leslie in their room together as it looked a little dysfunctional.
Mindy decides to take a bubble bath with a nice camera shot on her lying in a bathtub acting relaxed with her eyes shut as it looks believeably soothing. However it was a little too long to watch this and hate to disappoint the exploited fans that there wasn't really anything to reveal here.
The gang goes to a Christmas type of fun park at night in which there's a well done disturbing moment when Leslie tries to make out to have some fun when going to a theme park and Gerald shrugs her off showing an aggressive attitude and making her upset. Definetely makes you feel sad for her.
We have some creepy shots on Mindy riding in a miniature train looking scared as there's a nice dark shot of her halfway in a tunnel and something strange is happening.
There's great intensity on Troy  when he tries to get away from Leslie when she acts obessive towards him.
Tanya goes into the forest in which there's a perfect and creepy setting with her calling out in the forest and voices start calling to her. A nice dark feeling within all of this.
Durin all of this Richard has a nice flashback sequence when he was a child and Uncle Pete getting nasty towards him as well as Morty approaching as well. 
A nice psychotic moment with Troy attacking Ashley in the forest at night and having a battle.
Along in the story line pays a tribute to other horror flicks especially a terrific creepy moment with Richard being pulled by zombie hands from the ground and a ghoul rising up while he's struggling.
Another paying tribute in the story is that someone becomes possessed as it seemed to pay a tribute to The Exorcist but however it doesn't look distrubing and quite cheesy to watch but eneterining in the same way too.
Morty becomes menacing and attacking others as this looked wild and crazy with many horrific situations when he is like this and Richard needs to do something to put an end to all of this. All of this looked strongly done.
A perfectly nice moment at the end that involved Morty and a child playing with his soccer ball.
Bottom line is that this film is incredibly imaginative and fairly original with what is happening to people's fears and the statue Morty causing these fears to come to real life. Alot of fun to watch as well as very intense with what is going on which does the trick very well and can become inspirational even for a low budgeter like this one.

The acting is at an even pace but not at all terrible. Lead actor Eddie Bowz (Richard) needed a wee bit of a push during the beginning of this film as the one disturbed by his past and Morty but he does pull it off well afterwards with tense actions to his part and good energy. Does well by getting cold and serious when he discusses his past fear showing cold expressions as well. Also shows off a nice performance by confronting someone by showing that he is not afraid anymore.
Heather Medway (Ashley) shines off well as his sympathetic girlfriend. Draws in a good seriousnesss into what moments were discussed. Shows off some nice energy when she had to behave this way. Also shows off nice onto the camera within whatever she had to do here.
Ann Turkel (Leslie) showed off a nice and soothing attitude as someone whom is the loving kind. She tries to act warm hearted while talkng to others which makes you want to really like her. Also shows a goos emotional hyped up attitude when the terror strikes offering a good versatality.
Vince Edwards (Uncle Pete) brings plenty of charm to his part in the film seeming like a likeable guy until the horror starts. He does well by suddenly acting evil towards someone up in an attic.
Darin Heames (Troy) brought it on as a pothead who likes to goof around but at the same time was a bit much. He for sure came across as believeably annoying along with acting like a womaniser so he brought on some characteristics. At the same time he isn't funny like he was intended to.
Antonio Lewis Todd (Gerald) came across well as a nasty and irritable prick in the film which you hope something will come to him. He was convincingly obnoxious and really thrusts his rage big time while pointing a gun to others. Had the perfect bad ass looks too which was another good plus to his role.
Anna Karin (Tanya) wasn't overly terrible in her role but needed a few lessons like when she gets scared she is a little too over the top. However she seemed to show off nicely in her presence.
Monique Mannen (Mindy) really brings the attention to the screen with her flirtatious attitude and soft words. She really reacted believeably angry when she opened her eyes and smacked someone in a tub which showed some nice reactions. She really knew how to trip out on a scene and get demanding when she gets scared. 
Erick Weiss (Morty) does his blocking well as a statue turning his head and body when trying to go somewhere. He really knew on how to act deadly when attacking someone. He was a true force of nature.

There's a brief breast shot on a woman fornicating in bed during a flashback scene.

A man is stabbed by a wooden crucifix.

We have some great prickly sounds along with nice synthesizer classical violin sounds and electric piano sounds too Also some harmonising vocals for when the suspense piles up like in the living dead scene which is a great touch which was all composed by Robert O. Ragland. All of this sounds similar to what Charles Band composes for Full Moon Pictures.