Haunting Fear (1990)

   

Produced, Written & Directed by:

Story by: Edgar Allen Poe ("Premature Burial")

Starring:

Brinke Stevens .... Victoria Munroe
.... Terry Munroe
.... Lisa
.... Detective James Trent
.... Dr. Carlton
Karen Black .... Dr. Julia Harcourt
.... Visconti

Special Appearance:

.... Mortician

Release Dates: Direct-to-Video: August, 1990 (UK)

 

 

 

 

Rating:

 

Victoria Munroe (Brinke Stevens) has inherited her father's home which is worth alot of money after he died but continues to have nightmares about him as well as her husband Terry (Jay Richardson) burying her alive.
Terry is tired of his wife and her depressed attitude and has an affair with his secretary Lisa (Delia Sheppard) in which she wants him to get rid of his wife for good since he is in debt from a gambling that he's lost to a mobster Visconti (Robert Quarry) and can't get the money inherited under his wife's name so Lisa suggests him to kill her.
Meanwhile, Victoria asks her Dr. Carlton (Robert Clarke) to get someone to do a hynosis on her in which he goes to the aid of Dr. Julia Harcourt (Karen Black) as they thought they cured her for these terrible incidents but her nightmares are about to come true when Terry and Lisa give her a shocking surprise. Yet, their evil plan backfires and are going to face some deadly consequences.

 

We spot a nice still beginning with a good camera shot on the character Victoria Munroe slowly walking as well as close uo shots on her feet and then going near a coffin as well as a near jumping scene on her dead father rising up which looked slightly cheesy missing the jumping moments here.
We have a well focused moment with her going down stairs in the kitchen as well as hear the loud ticking sounds of the clock as well as a good shot on coffee being made too. Seems to draw you in a bit wondering as to why she's hearing these small noises turning loud.
Also there's a well focused situation with the husband Terry getting a bit stern with her about what is going on with her which seems to blend in fairly well but not overly terrific either due to the low budget plotline that we see in the story so far.
There's also a moment when she takes a bath and good shots on her lying in it as well as interesting horror moments on some blood bubbling up in the water which offers a nice twisted moment here making you wonder if she's hallucinating or not.
We spot a sharp conversation with Terry in his office and then his secretary Lisa coming in and what she was saying to him leaves you the impression that she wants to jump his bones that it leaves you that clue they will have fun together since it seems to be the common thing in a story with a businessman having an affair with the secretary as well as perfect shots on them getting it on and nice close up shots on her knocking things off his desk and getting aggressive with their lustful behaviors which looked strong and seemed to be a drawing card to the story and making you feel aroused while watching this.
We spot a discussion with Victoria talking to Dr. Carlton about her nightmares as well as her fears in which this was supposed to draw you in on what she says yet this all looked too cheesy to be taken seriously in a horror story such as this one which the situations looked terribly trashy.
A cheesy moment with Victoria sleeping and then suddenly looking like she's croaking as well as Terry planning to get out fo the home and have his fling with Lisa and then hearing a cheesy voice over of Victoria speaking that she's alive as well as him pretending to be upset she's dead as well as him being happy about her dead and investing the home when he calls Lisa up in which we think that this guy's a true scumbag but it was done cheesily regardless.
Plus we spot a good camera shot looking up and spot a freaky Mortician watching over her and planning to do his thing for corpses like draining her blood etc. which looked nicely done in a terrific twistwed cheesy horror fashion as well as her voice over freaking out which leaves a psychological feel to everything on imagining if you aren't dead and others think that you are and imagining on getting cremated while still being alive which is pure torture. Nicely done here.
There's another good siutuation with Terry in his office as well as Lisa discussing on how to invest the money on his home as to kill Victoria which seems to catch your attention and a good device on a horror story and having a feeling that something bad will turn into this.
A nice moment between Victoria and Dr. Carlton with their aggressions towards one another as this looked rather intense and her accusing him of trying to kill her with his prescriptions that he gives to her which is another nice add on to the mystery in a horror flick.
An amusing moment with Detective James Trent going to someone's backyard while a borad is swimming in a pool without a bathing suit and taking to some mob boss Visconti about a serious situation which seems to look fitting on what is happening in a cheesy but fun type of fashion.
A good focused sitation with Detective James Trent talking to Victoria while she's gardening which seemed to flow well and looking fairly uplifting as well. Then we suddenly see on what she dug up which really looked memorable to anyone who watched this flick and nicely put into the story as well. Also we spot what seemed like a romantic discussion and sympathy while they're together in their room but the situations looked terribly cheesy to get the feel within all of this.
However there's a good still scene between Dr. Carlton and Dr. Julia Harcourt in his vehicle discussing Victoria's accusations and what to do to help her out which there's good camera shots on their conversations looking good and natural.
Also we have a perfect soothing moment with Julia hypnotising Victoria which draws you in to the story pretty good as well as talking to her in her sleep along with internesting cheesy deep sounding voice overs on Victoria speaking as well as discussing the terrible moments that are about to happen to her as well as Julia telling others that she might be discussing a sitation from a different lifetime which seems rather interesting while we keep watching on what's going to happen here which adds some mild suspense to the story as things looked a bit more intense while this keeps on rolling.
There's a moment when we spot Victoria suddenly trappe din a wooded object as this was a brainteaser wondering if she is having another one of her nightmares but suddenly it's real as we spot Terry talking to her as well as Lisa sneering nastily towards her while planning their deadly deed with her which makes you feel sorry for poor Victoria herself for going through this. Definetely borrowing the story from Edgar Allen Poe.
Some perfect artsy lustful scene's between Terry and Lisa which looked good and vicious by what they were doing which was another good arousing moment in this flick. As well as a perfect possesion change that we reveal in Victoria and a nice camera shot on her breaking through the wooded box which adds a perfect touch to the terrors that will unravel later on.
Also we spot some cheesy ghostly sounds from Victoria calling towards Phil as well as spotting some really crappy horror violence effects when this woman attacks him which looked terribly lame.
Intersting moment when Victoria chases Lisa out of the house and looked intense when she repeatedly stabs her.
Good moments when James tries to find Victoria in her home and she cuts off the phone cord and him looking for her in a dark room which seemed rather spooky as well as her lashing out at him adding perfect intensity.
Bottom line is that there's some fun horror elements in this flick as well as alot of weak elements along with some leaky holes and a weak plot too which some scene's seem to be a bit lagging but that's a Fred Olen Ray film for ya offering lustful moments and alot of cheesiness. Can be a fun film if you're in the mood for it though.

The acting is in mediocre shape as scream queen Brinke Stevens (Victoria Munroe) really lacked in her part of the film in certain spots as when she wakes up screaming from a nightmare or being upset she needed some improvement as it wasn't beliveable. What was more unbelieveable is when she gets emotional and trying to sound sympathetic and was plain wooden. She was simply making a complete fool out of herself. Yet when she screams and cries to get out of a situation that she's trapped inside this looked rather intense and seemed to be on the ball here. Seems to do fairly okay with her aggressive attitude in a doctor's office. Also does a nice job when she turns and acts great as someone whom seems possessed and psychotic.
(Terry Munroe) was a bit better as he seemed to do well with his serious attitude as well as getting stern at times drawing your attention as coming across like a bit of an ass. Plus seemed to do not too shabbily while having a wicked type of greedy behavior too. When he acts emotionally upset though he seemed a bit off. But when he gets aggressive with his lustful attitude he seriously knew on how to behave this way.
(Lisa) certainly drew across her role as someone whom is seazy and having that type of wicked attitude as well as coming across as perfectly cocky and evil. She was perfect with her cold speaking and knew on how to come across as perfectly nasty as well. She had the perfect skanky type of looks as a secretary. I was never a fan of her work but she did seems to pull off this role fairly well.
(Detective James Trent) was another mediocre performer as he seemed to just be saying his lines and getting very little into character. However does a good job while acting charming towards a fellow actress in which he added something into his role. Also seemed to do a fair job acting alert especially for when the terror is about to strike him.
(Dr. Carlton) was a bit on key while having a serious attitude and tried to get into this mode but sometimes it seemed a bit sketchy by trying a little too hard. However he was good with his aggressive behavior coming across as someone who might be a suspect for the evil that's about to happen later on in the story. However when he talks seriously to someone before doing and event he seemed to do alot better.
Karen Black
(Dr. Julia Harcourt) was one of the best in the cast although her role wasn't huge in this one but seemed to show off a perfect mellow type of attitude and spoke quite clearly while speaking. Drew a perfect and soothing attention when she hypnotises someone as well as speaking to them which she studied doing this scene perfectly well and showed alot of nice characteristics into all of this. I always found her to do a nice job in shows and she proves it well in this one too.
(Visconti) was cheesy by portraying a mobster but yet seemed fun by doing this with his gruff and aggressive speaking. He seemed to have the right looks and motive to be this way though which was a good plus for him since the looks did all the talking here for him. He shows off some nice energy too.
(Mortician) was the best out of the cast if I do say so myself. He was perfect with his twisted type of attitude in what he had to do with his crazy speaking as he comes across as a mad scientist and offers perfect black comedic timing in his personality here. Shows a perfect wide eyed expression too which comes across as genuinely creepy as well.

Brinke Stevens appears topless while taking a bath and her crotch briefly revealed as well. Plus she takes off her top before going to bed with her breasts revealed. Also in a nightmare sequence in a mortician room her top gets cut off showing off her breasts once again.
Delia Sheppard
shows off her big breasts while getting fornicated on a desk in an office room. Also shows off her breasts and butt while fornicating in a bed.
Greta Carlson
is skinnydipping in a swimming pool in a mobsters place as well as exposing her butt and breasts.

Blood is being drained out of a body as well as a stomach being cut open in a mortician's room.
A head is stabbed and chopped off but the effects looked terribly phony.

The music was marvellous for a low budgeter such as this one in which we have unique creepy type of piano playing sounding clear and echoey too. Also there's the odd nice clear flute playing too along with some nice deep synthesizer playing too for the dark moments. Plus we hear perfect advnetureous keyboard playing for the adventureous moments in which is right on target for what we spot in the film. There's the odd deep bonging sounds in certain spots of the film which sounded perfectly gloomy and there's some hissing sounds too. All of this was greatly put together by Chuck Cirino