Haunting Fear (1990)

The greatest movie ever made..!

Just so...so bad

Good concept, poorly executed.

Fantastic!

A by-the-numbers thriller from director Fred Olen Ray, renowned for making exploitation films on an extremely low budget. This passes the time but offers up little in the way of story or intrigue, as is the case with lots of these films, not much happens for three quarters of the film until the action of the finale. To pass the time there are a number of gratuitous nude and sex scenes. Brinke Stevens is forever taking her clothes off to have a bath, while Delia Sheppard is constantly writhing about while naked. These scenes get boring quickly and are obviously tailor-made for the dirty mac brigade. The story is loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe's theme of being buried alive, but director Ray just doesn't have the budget to do justice to the story, his tale lacks the lavish costumes and sets of Roger Corman's Poe series of the 1960s.Along with the central story (woman is cheated on, buried alive by husband, then comes back from the dead) are a number of sub=plots to lengthen the running time. The most obvious of these is the story involving the husband's embroilment with a debt collector, whose assistant sits around in a car for the whole film before finally taking action at the end. The husband's affair also gets tiring quickly, although to be fair Ray does intertwine the plot threads quite well.The cast is probably the most interesting thing about the film; Ray has once again gathered together a group of talented exploitation has-beens, past-its, and nobodies. Jan-Michael Vincent is probably the biggest name but doesn't have much of a role, while Jay Richardson manages to put a fine balance between a cold-blooded murderer and a human being who cares about his wife. Brinke Stevens has never been much of an actress but carries the pivotal role fairly well. Robert Clarke is believable as a doctor while Robert Quarry and Karen Black fill out minor roles and are welcome faces in the cast. Added to this is Michael Berryman in a cameo appearance as a creepy morgue assistant.The special effects are kept to a minimum until the finale, where Ray murders off just about every major character in the cast. Things are quite bloody here with a number of brutal stabbings, but we've waited a long time for the action so it is quite disappointing. The various 'supernatural' aspects are handled amateurishly and are therefore embarrassing, take the disappearance of Stevens at the end for example, a cliché or what? HAUNTING FEAR comes across as very empty and lacking, but for undemanding fans it will pass the time.

Fred Olen Ray is a lousy director, even as far as B movie directors go, but 'Haunting Fear' is probably one of his better films. Yes, it does butcher the great Poe story 'Premature Burial' and yes, it is badly paced and uneven throughout, but it is also pretty entertaining. Scream Queen Brinke Stevens is better than usual as a pretty, fragile housewife whose worthless husband (Jay Richardson) is plotting to do away with her because he needs money to pay off a gangster (played by Robert Quarry). Delia Sheppard, a veteran of many early 90s soft-core movies, actually gives the best performance in the film as a slutty mistress. You will also enjoy small roles played by Karen Black as a psychic, Robert Clarke as a doctor and Michael Berryman in a nice cameo in one of the better scenes. The ending didn't make much sense!

The auteur Olen Ray put his heart into this telling tale. It stars All-Century Eye Candy Hall of Fame member Brinke Stevens who can uncork our cask of Amontillado anytime. Ms. Stevens plays a woman with a haunting fear of premature burial. Her evil husband is hoping to usher her fall to gain possession of her house. Pitted against this man, will Ms. Stevens conquer her terrors against her worm of a husband or will the pendulum swing against her, driving her 'raven' mad? We apologize for this descent into the maelstrom and pledge to repeat it nevermore. All that stated, the film is enjoyable even though we can not understand why anyone married to Ms. Stevens would want to be cruel to her. Also, Ms. Stevens takes a bath in the film confirming the old adage that cleanliness is next to goddess-liness.

Looking at the box in the video store you will see names such as Fred Olen Ray, Brinke Stevens, Karen Black, and Jan-Michael Vincent. The kicker, of course, is "A Troma Team Release." These are not arguments for quality, and indeed there is no mistaking this film for anything other than a B-movie. However, it can be surprisingly effective, mostly due to the amount of heart Brinke Stevens puts into her portrayal of the lead character, the neurotic Victoria. If you want B-movie cheesiness and excess you'll uncover a fair helping of it here, but don't be surprised if you find yourself a bit more involved in the storyline than you originally expected.