A Fantastic Fear of Everything (2014)

Very Cool!!!

Best movie ever!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

I'm a bit surprised by the low rating this film currently holds. Sure, it's a bit off beat in terms of dramaturgy and there are certain passages where the dialogue feels forced. But those are really minor concerns as the acting, fantastic setting, wonderful atmosphere and strangeness of the films more than makes up for it.If you've ever experienced paranoia this film will hit the mark with you. The way Simon Pegg portrays the illogical mind of a paranoid person is quite spot on.The film also deserves credit for its imaginary set dressing and effective use of simple but functional special effects and the animated sequences, as well as its nods to classic horror films and victoriana.

First of all, the movie had little to no connection to panphobia, the fear everything. The protagonist just had a little paranoia.The movie seemed to go nowhere from the start, and was just making time for the "climax". The first hour just shows Simon Pegg being an annoying paranoid yelling, talking to himself, being a nut and being scared all the time. It would've just been a short, if the whole movie could've been cut and editing and it could've been a good short movie.The first 2/3 of the movie is garbage, but the last 30mn was not bad. It even has a nice motif that "connects" the protagonist to the villain.I might not watch this movie ever again, sitting through the first hour of the movie was painful.6/10

I decided to approach this film with zero background knowledge of its contents; sure, Simon Pegg standing with a knife in his underwear may detract some weirdos, but let them go watch Twilight and Scandal. This movie jumped off the screen immediately, and it does not take long for the audience to become acclimated with the antagonist's lifestyle--even his disgusting underwear habits, which many of us writers...know.What makes this film so great is how it weaves through the main characters complexities in life in such a way that the audience can easily become lost if their eyes leave the screen for just a second--he's a writer, a divorced man, paranoid, delusion, and, against his will, a dreamer. I found myself unable to even blink at times because, aside from the main character's persona matching that of my own, the shots are so well done; it's quite a shock that the director has done so little. Visually, this film's set ranks up their with some of the best in my opinion--namely the apartment he holes himself up in. At times, you yourself feel as if you are a child facing your own fears; I was frequently brought back to running up the stairs after clicking out the lights downstairs because, clearly, the shadows were going to attack me. These, among so many others, are the sort of nostalgic feelings this films provides for its viewers; that alone is worth the walk, albeit a creepy one, down memory lane.That said, I can see why some folks would be a bit upset with the progression of events as the story's momentum becomes a bit muddled toward the end, but I actually enjoy structure like this because it offers the possibility for interpretation. The essence of the film here is not what the audience sees on the screen; instead, the entire story plays out through moving imagery to identify the inner workings of a writer's mind, narrating this paranoia with the inner vocalizations that could be the possible cause for much of our antagonist's woes.Incredibly well done. This is one of the few films that I kick myself for not seeing for so long. If you are a writer, of any capacity, this acts as the closest representation of the pressure, internalized conflict, and motivational issues we all face when completing projects. Stop reading and go watch this--immediately.

Simon Pegg's character in A FANTASTIC FEAR OF EVERYTHING suffers from the same Post Traumatic Stress that I do when I watch yet another of the seemingly endless television shows (documentaries OR dramas) that deal with serial killers or mass murderers. (This has nothing to do with the fact that I once lived just FOUR blocks from a serial killer in a city where two OTHER serial killers staged what was then the largest escape from Death Row in Virginia's history... Nor the fact that, on at least THREE occasions, serial killers have been credited with local murders here where I now live...) Pegg manages in A FANTASTIC FEAR OF EVERYTHING to convey the sense of heightened paranoia one often feels when surrounded by sinister strangers (or even ordinary, everyday basket cases who babble on to themselves while waiting in line at a convenience store or walking down the sidewalk as if they're communicating with someone on another plane of Existence). I found myself laughing out loud because Pegg's reactions in the movie weren't far removed from my own from time to time. A neat little movie that deserves a look.