Review: Phobic

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet

Phobic
Directed by Bryce Clark
Pale Moon Entertainment; StoryLab; Samuel Goldwyn Films
82 minutes, 2017 / 2020
www.facebook.com/samuelgoldwynfilms

There was a time when, generally speaking, sins were punished by humans (e.g., Se7en) and fears were inflicted by the supernatural. Phobic can arguably be considered a cross-over as the police procedural chases down a masked serial killer(s) who inflicts their death not by machete or knife, but the person’s own phobias.

Personally, I have no phobias. Sure, I used to be terrified of the dark as a kid, and I have a fear of bees (though respect them) or another Trump presidency, but nothing that would fall into the realm of scared-to-death. That is where this film starts up in the prologue when we meet the protagonist, Police Detective Riley Sanders (Jacque Gray), who suffers from, of all things, Selaphobia, a fear of flashing lights. Speaking of which, if the reader of this review is an epileptic, note that there is a lot of strobe lights, especially during the credits. Same warning about the credits for those who are also prone to motion sickness (it made me a bit queasy).

Davin Liljenquist, Jacque Gray

Anyhoo, three months after the prologue, Sanders is partnered with veteran Homicide Detective Paul Carr (Davin Liljenquist, ex-host of “The Parade of Homes Show”). Of course, as is the nature of these stories, she resents him at first. As a sidenote, they always portray the hard-bitten detectives (such as Harry Callahan) as being “imposed of” by being a partner, but rarely do they take it from the standpoint of the partner, how miserable it must be working for someone that full of themselves, even though Carr seems to have boundary issues. This has no bearing on what I feel about this film, but it should be noted. And, as always, I digress, especially since they bond before any of the real action begins anyway.

Definitely a slow burn, this almost feels like a Scandihoovian murder mystery mini-series on cable, like Wallander, but it’s actually shot in beautiful Salt Lake City, UT, as indicated by the between-scenes arial shots of the city. The action picks up after someone has died/is murdered due to an extreme phobia. What I find really interesting is that this film does not always take the easy route of common fears, such as spiders, but mostly rather odd ones, such as phobias of a particular color (chromatophobia) or mannequins (automatonophobia), to name a couple, though not all. That is quite more intriguing, in my estimation.

Overall, despite the nice body count, this is pretty benign as far as blood goes, and watchable for those who are squeamish (unless you have one of the phobias highlighted, of course). There is, however, a lot of talking – which is common in police procedurals – as the new detective team discuss the case and get chummy. This is a large part of the slow burn I mentioned earlier.

As for the killer, a sackcloth mask is worn and who only speaks in whispers to hide the big reveal later on, so there’s hints but only sparingly. That’s a good thing. There is also a strange and I’m going to say obnoxiously evil psychiatrist, Elizabeth Holden (Tiffani DiGregorio) whose specialty is phobias, and her victims are the very ones she’s looking after. You can tell there’s something suspicious about her by her constant crooked-smile smirk.

This release plays into one of my main annoyances about these kinds of stories, in that the detectives always go to investigate seemingly abandoned suspicious buildings on their own, always by flashlight. This happens numerous times with multiple players, and I just say, “Oh, come on! There’s a whole police force out there, even if it doesn’t fit into the film’s budget!” Also, the characters give out too much personal information about themselves to relative strangers. For example, one says at too early a point in meeting someone, “What’s wrong with me?”

As with most of these films, the action picks up in the third act, as some things are explained through flashbacks and the killer(s) wreak havoc on our heroes. Who will live?! Who will die?! Tune in next week for… nah, I’m not going to give it away, but there are two moments at the end where I said to myself, out loud, “Henh?” (in a high-pitched commentary), even as the final credits started to roll.

The acting is pretty solid, especially by Gray as she slips in and out of varying emotions. Liljenquist seems a bit stiff on occasion, but fares well. DiGregorio sneers her part excellently, but seems too young for the role, honestly (a compliment, I promise you). That being said, it’s nice to see a film with mature actors (I’m going to say many in their late ‘30s or early ‘40s?) for once. I can see this playing on television without any cuts.

You can also tell this was a product of Utah, due to its lack of blood, cursing, nudity, or sex (though we see some wine drinking and hints of coffee consumption). That’s not to say there is not quite a bit of tense moments, squeezed between the talking and mood shots while Riley roams about her apartment (it’s almost worth seeing the film for the kitsch décor). While Mormonism is not mentioned (and I don’t recall any tan pants), there is definitely a skew to this film, including a large distrust of psychotherapy. As Robert D. Hunt and K.H. Blacker state in the introduction to their article “Mormons and Psychiatry” in Dialog: A Journal of Mormon Thought, “Among many Mormons there exists a genuine distrust of psychiatry. Apprehensions arise partly from misconceptions about psychotherapy and partly from a stigma that many attach to anything associated with emotional disorders.” This definitely comes across in the zeitgeist of the film.

While this film could have been a lot better with more involvement with the victims (we usually do not meet them until it is an investigated murder scene), and a lot less descriptive dialogue, such as the one with Riley, Paul and Riley’s dad, Jack (Ernie Lively) sitting around a table, eating, and yakking. Sure, the information conveyed was important to the story, but it just went on too long, as did another luncheon scene between Riley and Paul.

If you like police procedurals, this is like an extended television show, so it’s a good watch – even though the visuals are on the dark side – but it could have been so much better with a bit more action and engagement with the characters for the audience. This is only the director’s second film, so let’s give him some time. There is promise here and a whiff of a possible sequel.