The Fear

Director - Vincent Robert 

Starring - Eddie Bowz (Mad Dog Coll, Murder in the First), Heather Medway (Seinfeld, Friends), and Ann Turkel (Humanoids from the Deep, Night Court)

Release Date - 1995

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "He's whatever scares you the most"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     No one, and I mean no one, can question my love for Vinegar Syndrome.  Sure, they do, on occasion, release a film that I don't really care for but a majority of their releases are phenomenal.  Back in January it was speculated that Vin Syn was releasing the 1995 horror film The Fear.  I had never heard of this one prior to these rumors so I turned to YouTube where I found several clips from the film.  It looked extremely cheesy but it could be fun.  When Vin Syn officially announced the release I was looking forward to checking it out.  I want to thank Vin Syn for sending this one my way!

     The film follows a group of young adults who visit one of their own's lakeside childhood home to work on fear therapy.  However, an old wooden mannequin comes to life and with all their fears made flesh.

     I went into this one with an open mind and looking forward to adding another Vin Syn release to my collection.  After almost 30 minutes into it I found myself struggling to follow these painfully dated characters in a story that just didn't work for me.  I really wanted to like this one but I couldn't get into.  The acting in this one is forced and not very genuine.  The characters are so 90s that it feels like an odd music video feature members of various nu metal bands.  The characters and their inability to react in a genuine way to the different scenarios does make the story feel weaker than it actually is but I would have loved to see the film cast people that actually dedicated themselves to their roles.  The mid-90s was the horror revival with films like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer so it was very possible to cast unknown actors and pull off a hit.  The story for this one has endless possibilities but the approach they took to it made for a very dull and almost predictable film.  Having a wooden mannequin bring people's fears to life before killing them could have been something nightmares are made out of especially if it was grounded in real life fears of being stalked and killed by a serial killers and so on.  It does do a rape angle that could have been way more effective and impactful but it doesn't fully explore that as much as they could have.  Instead, we get random other real but not as terrifying fears being brought to life with a laughably bad wooden man shambling around to the tune of what sounds like the coconut horse from Monty Python.  Finally, the film has several deaths and none of them are as bloody or gruesome as we would have loved.  The 90s was known for taking risks in the genre as most productions turned their back on over the top deaths and practical effects.  We get a nice looking wooden man but that's it.  Nothing else effects wise to enjoy.  Overall, The Fear is not what I was expecting and one I didn't care for at all.  It was a bit of a chore to finish and I can't, in good faith, recommend this one.  If you are a collector then you will want to snag this amazing release for your collection.  However, if you are looking for something new to watch then I would skip this one and check out something else from the Vin Syn catalog.