Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet
Irrational Fear
Directed by Hunter Johnson
Slasher Studios; LAHorror.com; Terror Films
98 minutes, 2017 / 2020
Unless someone has a true
phobia (aka an irrational fear), rather than just a normal one, even if
it is only perceived rather than real, it’s hard to understand the torment that
it can play with the everyday living of a normal life. I’m afraid of bees, but
if one is on the other side of the window, I don’t freak out and can get close
(unless it’s on me or buzzing near my ear). I have a fear, but not an irrational
one. This film examines the more extreme form, where it feels like a matter of
life or death.
One of my biggest fears
is a film taking a really long time to spin its wheels before the action really
starts. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but in this case, it’s a full half hour
of exposition before the story actually gets anywhere (not counting the
mandatory prologue where a woman wearing a Freddy K-style striped sweater reacts to
her fear of being laughed at). As a side note here, the opening credits look
great.
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| Charles Chudabala and Baker Chase Powell |
Diminutive college psychology
professor Dr. Sanders (Charles Chudabala) is the big man on the project
presented, and he and his graduate student / assistant, Zach (Baker Chase
Powell, who was also great in 2019’s Dolemite is My Name) takes a group
of – phobia-ites? – to a lake house at Crivitz, Wisconsin, to do research into curing
phobias; but not a cabin in the woods, as you can see the neighboring homes in
the distance when they pull up. The group of six (not counting the Doc and
Zach) are an odd bunch, including the lovely Taylor (Leah Wiseman) who doesn’t
like being touched; child-like germaphobe Jake (Kaleb Shorey) and his anger-prone
father with a tooth fixation, Nat (Tom McCarthy); high school jock Cameron (Mathias
Blake) who is afraid of “choking” during his games; Kelly (Jennifer Nagle aka
horror hostess Malvolia, the Queen of Screams) who is self-conscious about her
self-appearance; and bad-tempered alcoholic Helen (Cati Glidewell), suffering from
a fear of water… you know the lake right outside back is going to come into being
a factor. In other words, there is a nice opportunity for a large body count,
and that’s important, am I right? Who out there has a fear of seeing a horror
film with a low kill rate?
 |
| Leah Wiseman |
It’s told right off
the bat (so I’m not giving anything away) that Taylor and Zach have a history
having grown up a few houses apart, and that this is a group that is angry and,
naturally, scared to open up. Hence, phobias. The collection of
personalities kind of reminds me of Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of
Hill House (and it’s subsequent 1963 film, The Haunting) where a
scientist gathers some people together who have had strange psychic phenomenon events
occur around them into a haunted house to see what happens.
People being tortured
by their own fears is hardly a new premise, and has been done a few times before,
but because they talk about common fears (times ten), it’s something many in
the audience can identify with; thankfully it’s not the cliché tropes like
spiders and snakes. Here, wisely, the fears are about more common things like
germs, water and being touched. So of course, these dreads are just the lynchpin
to the story for when a supernatural element is introduced, somehow reminding
me of Thir13en Ghosts (the 2001 version; the posters are even similar,
and Wiseman has a Shannon Elizabeth vibe).
There is definitely also
an element of Evil Dead (1981) as people start to disappear, one by one.
Sure, no one comes back as demons, but the way “spirits” influence what happens
around them, indicates there’s malevolence about. Sometimes we see the action, other
times it’s off camera (budget constraints is my guess), but as things fall apart,
the doctor tries mightily to keep shit together while others are freaking out. Personally,
I would be with the latter group, and in fact, would be outta there. Go to one of the houses down the block, call a cab,
order it to the local police, and “buh-bye.”
 |
| Cati Glidewell |
The film wisely plays
around with who is good and who is bad, though it’s pretty
obvious from the outset if you are familiar with these kinds of things. Still, events
and reasons are not what one expects (well, for me, anyway), and for that I’m
happy as I love when a story line catches me by surprise; even if I know who
did it, the reason why is usually where the big a-ha moments
come in.
There is no gore in
the film, but it gets a bit bloody at times, and all the SFX are practical, rather
than digital. And in the out there department of nothing to do with
nothing, though I am not sure of its significance, I found it interesting that
there is a minor theme of strings of lights that are placed around rooms, both
at the house and even in Taylor’s room at home (if the filmmakers want to say
in the comments, I’d appreciate it). But that’s neither here nor there.
Despite the slight nod
to Friday the 13th (1980), the end is manic and a bit over the top, if
not a bit predictable, but it’s hyper fun, and that is the end point for which a
film should be going. The story seems to be pulling in a couple of different
directions in a form of distraction to what is really happening, but even with
it’s slightly amateurish feel, and a couple of lags here and there that could
have been cut, it really is a diamond in the rough, and I kinda like that.
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