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Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Haunting Fear (1990)

... aka: Edgar Allan Poe's Haunting Fear

Directed by:
Fred Olen Ray

I saw this one a very long time ago and thought it was awful. Upon this re-visit, I enjoyed it a bit more; probably because I knew just what I was getting myself into. Very loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe's story "Premature Burial," this has Poe's name plastered all over the VHS box, begins with a Poe quote, throws Poe's name over the title and then makes sure that we know that "Sherman Scott's" (Ray's) screenplay is based on Poe. So Poe or no Poe? Well, there is a premature burial of sorts but the similarities pretty much end right there. With this one you'll be getting lots of R-rated sex and nudity plus three different story paths that hope to blend together at the very end. The first aspect of the story is an utterly unoriginal kill-or-drive-the-wife-insane-for-her-money angle. The second, and the most interesting aspect, is a blurring or dream and reality. We're not always entirely surely (at least in the beginning) if what's happening is really happening or just in the mind of its troubled heroine. The third is the possible presence of the supernatural, which itself is divided into three separate possibilities: ghosts, possession and reincarnation. Or perhaps a blending of all three could be at play. Hey, I never said this thing wasn't muddled as fuck, did I?





Neurotic, wealthy housewife Victoria Munroe (Brinke Stevens) is suffering from horrible nightmares that won't let her sleep. Some of these involve her father (Hoke Howell), who she believes may have been buried alive, which instills the fear in her that she too may be prematurely entombed. Vicky blames family physician Dr. Richard Carlton (Robert Clarke) for her dad's death because in a last ditch effort to save him during a heart attack, Carlton gave him an injection of adrenaline. Nevertheless, a girl's gotta sleep, so she's prescribed some powerful sleeping pills. Meanwhile, Victoria's businessman hubby Terry (Jay Richardson) is having an affair with his kinky secretary / mistress Lisa (Delia Sheppard) and owes 80 thousand dollars of gambling debt to sleazy mob boss Mr. Visconti (Robert Quarry), who demands payment soon... or else. The adulterous hubby and his Girl Friday hope that Victoria's weak heart will give out just like it did her old man's, but they're not above trying to speed along the process to get their greedy hands on Victoria's estate. Watching all of the action from a car parked outside the Munroe home is James Trent (Jan-Michael Vincent); who claims to be a detective following up on neighbor complaints of screaming, but may be up something else entirely.





Victoria's nightmares continue to drive her increasingly closer to the breaking point. She imagines her father comes to life in his casket and grabs her, that she's in a bathtub slowly filling with blood and that she finds a skull which oozes yellow gunk and maggots while she's outside gardening. The best nightmare is when she dreams she dies of heart failure but remains conscious inside her own body and is hauled off to a mortuary where she awakens mid-autopsy just as Michael Berryman (in a fun cameo) starts to cut her open. Dr. Carlton eventually seeks the aid of hypnotist and paranormal researcher Dr. Julia Harcourt (Karen Black) in getting to the bottom of the troubled Victoria's irrational fears. After putting Victoria under, Dr. Harcourt is able to communicate with a dormant spirit inside Victoria; her former self. Apparently, in her past life Victoria was raped by her brother-in-law on her wedding night. The husband got revenge by burying both of them alive. Once this is uncovered, Victoria is finally freed of her fears, only to awaken and find her worst nightmare coming true...





I still don't know what in the hell happened at the end. Did Victoria simply go crazy? Did she die of a heart attack and then reemerge from her coffin possessed? If so, by whom? Her dead father? The ghost of her past self? I wish I could provide an answer but sadly I couldn't quite figure it out. I also couldn't quite figure out if it was intentionally left this way so we could make up our own minds about it or not. All I really know is that the last shot rips off the end of the killer doll segment of Trilogy of Terror (1975) by having a bloody, hunched-over Vicky slowly tapping her knife on the kitchen floor.





Haunting Fear is pretty talky and depends a lot on its stars; many of whom had a good deal of dialogue to spit out during the 6-day shoot. Thankfully, there are some decent actors in this one and they make the frequent character interactions at least somewhat entertaining. Stevens looks lovely, has three nude scenes in the first half-hour and attempts (with varying degrees of success) to make her character a sympathetic focal point. Vincent looks - gasp! - clean-cut and sober, which is about the best you could hope for from him by this point in his career. Black (dolled out in a short blonde wig) seems like she'd rather be somewhere else and appears annoyed by something in both of her scenes. Perhaps she read the script just a few minutes before filming? Still, always nice seeing her, as well as veteran horror stars Clarke (The Hideous Sun Demon), Quarry (Count Yorga, Vampire) and Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes). Strangely enough though, it is Sheppard (a former Penthouse Pet from Denmark) who walks away with this one... and not just because she looks great naked and has two lengthy sex scenes. She's simply fun to watch as the evil bitch secretary who likes to burn her breasts with lit cigarettes, smack her lover around in bed and call our demure and sweet little heroine things like "sniveling little whore."





Things get off to an extremely slow start and the action doesn't really pick up until the last 20 minutes, which features some truly laughable gore fx (including a terrible dummy head). Shot in 1989 on a budget of 115,000 dollars, it at least looks and sounds like a proper movie thanks to Gary Graver's professional photography and Chuck Cirino's elegant music score. Rhino and Troma were the VHS distributors but I'm not aware of an American DVD release.

★★

10 comments:

spookyx3 said...

out on blu-ray now, this is a must-have for me. glad i didn't re-watch it on tape, although i read that it's been slightly re-edited so i'll be keeping the VHS.

The Bloody Pit of Horror said...

Been thinking about picking this up recently just so I can finally see it in good condition after having only watched VHS copies. I heard the Blu looks great.

spookyx3 said...

my copy's still sealed. might get to it this weekend.

spookyx3 said...

surpassed my expectations. i may have audibly gasped at you-know-who's first close-up. it's a truly stunning visual upgrade.

don't know what all the new edits were -- fred talks about eliminating small mistakes, and gives one example, where they had originally left in someone obviously waiting to be cued. i did notice something off with chuck cirino's score. lots of teeny pops & clicks throughout. i didn't check to see if these were baked in. they only seemed to be affecting the music track. not a big deal.

extras-wise there's a silent reel narrated by fred, scraps that he shot with brinke between 1994-5 for a project called THE COVEN. mostly exterior shots; going in and out of buildings, walking around a cemetery... some of it ended up on the TV in latshaw's JACK-O. decent director's commentary track on the main feature (with a rooster crowing continually through the second half), and about a minute of bloopers: robert clarke forgets his line, karen black keeps cracking up. comes with a trading card inside the box. brinke also signed the case art; not sure whether these are limited-time perks.

i hadn't seen this for 20+ years, easy. in combination with the new transfer, it was like watching a totally different movie. when it was over, all i wanted was for TEENAGE EXORCIST to get the same HD treatment. (didn't know that's been on disc for a couple of weeks already!!) in the HF commentary, fred says they've done a new scan of WITCH ACADEMY, and that rights issues are holding up a SPIRITS blu. maybe i should just get that one over with.

The Bloody Pit of Horror said...

Sounds great. I do remember that footage showing up in Jack-O! Is there a commentary track from Stevens?

I need to give Witch Academy another chance.

spookyx3 said...

> footage showing up in Jack-O!

it seems fred had been trying to get THE COVEN made for a while: ATTACK OF THE B-MOVIE MAKERS (1991) jumped the gun, listing it as a $35,000 brett mccormick film that incorporated more unused footage of john carradine, heh.

> Is there a commentary track from Stevens?

nope. should've been, considering this is (still?) her favorite role.

[elsewhere, she's on the SORORITY BABES track & sits with jay richardson for TE (not ported over to the blu).]

The Bloody Pit of Horror said...

Well that was a major oversight. Surprised Fred didn't insist upon that considering that was always her favorite role and she's done commentary tracks for lesser films in the past.

spookyx3 said...

> fred says they've done a new scan of WITCH ACADEMY

out now on blu w/ (probably new) director's commentary.

The Bloody Pit of Horror said...

Definitely need to check that out. I didn't love Witch the first time I saw it but probably should give it another watch.

spookyx3 said...

least of the five films he made that year but i can't wait to see it again!

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