Lurking Fear

Director - C. Courtney Joyner (Trancers III)
Starring - Jon Finch (Hammer House of Horror), Ashley Laurence (Hellraiser), and Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator)
Release Date - 1994
Genre - horror
Tagline - "Infinite evil"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Full Moon is one of my favorite companies.  When I was younger I watched several Full Moon movies and I quickly fell in love.  The first films I saw and fell in love with was Sideshow, Subspecies, Robot Jox, and Castle Freak.  A few months later I watched Lurking Fear and it cemented my love for Full Moon, as well as, everything H. P. Lovecraft.  The film was very entertaining and really brought me into the Full Moon fan club.  I grabbed the movie years ago on VHS and watched it several times with friends.  Sadly, while I was away at college my sister sold or gave away a good portion of my collection forcing me to pretty much start over.  Over the years I was able to find the film in one of those horror collections from Echo Bridge one day while I was browsing the bargain bin from Wal-Mart.  The quality as not that great but it would due until something better came along.  That came when Full Moon released the film on blu and was kind enough to send a copy my way for review.  

     The film follows an ex-con who is told by a mortician that his father hid a large sum of money in a corpse for him.  He leaves to find the cemetery with the money filled corpse.  After he leaves a gangster and his goons visits the mortician and is told the same thing.  They kill the mortician and track down the cemetery.  It just happens to be in a the middle of a small town plagued by a big problem.  The town has a problem with an incestuous family that has been breeding for generations and are now monstrosities of mankind.  They have ran everyone in town off except a young woman out for revenge, a pregnant woman, the church's priest, and the town doctor.  The ex-con, gangster, and his goons, all arrive the night the remaining townsfolk decide to make a stand against the creatures resulting in anarchy and bloodshed.  

     Late 80s and early 90s Full Moon flicks were special in their own right.  Band started changing things up and started filming most of his films in exotic locations like the castles in and around Italy and so forth.  The director of Lurking Fear, C. Courtney Joyner, chose to film in Romania and that is what makes this film unique.  Almost every scene is a work of gothic art.  The imagery is amazing and Joyner made the right choice by going with this location to film.  The acting in this one is decent but nothing amazing.  This is typical for any Full Moon film.  The cast does put forth an effort but doesn't fully dedicate themselves to the role.  This made the story flow but doesn't really sell the cast on the viewer.  The story for this one is loosely based on Lovecraft's story by the same name.  The film begins with some some action and a little gore before we get thrust in the middle of some serious character development along with some crucial story.  We then jump to the meat of the film where we get some great creature action and blood.  The story is solid and mostly entertaining but there is a few slow scenes and several characters we don't need.  Finally, the film has several kill scenes.  They are bloody and somewhat brutal but they are not that gory.  The film's first kill is the bloodiest and did not set the tone for the film.  With that being said, the disfigured creatures living in the catacombs under the city look great.  The look would later be duplicated by Castle Freak next year by Full Moon for the film's creature.  Overall, Lurking Fear is one of Full Moons better looking features.  The imagery is amazing and the creatures look great.  Fans of Lovecraft and Full Moon must check this one out.