Labyrinth der Angst

A phobia is an irrational fear of something that drives a person to avoid it at all costs. Dr. Peter Rose (Paul Michael Glaser) had five patients with phobias: heights, public places, snakes, men, and an unknown. Some of these things can and should be feared in the right situation, but it is the extreme fear that makes it a phobia, such as seeing a snake on T.V. and having a panic attack.

Dr. Rose is practicing a new and totally unproven form of therapy he called "Implosion Therapy." The idea is that he would force his patients to face their phobias head on to break them of their phobia. I think it's more of immersion than implosion. Implosion connotes that something burst inward or collapse upon itself. That's not what was going on. He was immersing the patients in an environment with that which they feared. Like putting a claustrophobic in a closet.

Problems started when his first patient was killed. To make matters worse a second, then third patient was killed. Who was the killer was the question. Was it another patient, was it his coworker and ex-lover, or was it the doctor himself? Surely, any surviving patients were going to have death phobia at the rate Dr. Rose's patients were being bumped off.

I liked this movie, the pacing and the dialogue. It was a murder mystery with plausible deaths, meaning that how they died was plausible. Throughout all of the events Dr. Peter stayed cool and detached even. It seemed like the best and most effective way to handle the deaths so that he could be of use to his other patients, but maybe there was something deeper to it.

Fear of something is called a "phobia". This movie takes it to a whole new level. Paul Michael Glaser, fresh off "Starsky & Hutch" plays a psychiatrist, who uses a new method to treat his patients with certain fears. When they get the treatment, they would try to conquer their fears, one step at a time. However, they would end up dead. They would have their own fears used against them. The victims aren't innocent. They are criminals. John Huston is known for his work. This movie may not have been a big hit, but I respect the fact that he is a very good man behind the stuff he does. There's no need for putting down the movie. It could be a cult classic one day. I can guarantee you that! It could have added more intrigue though. 2 out of 5 stars

I think this movie is slightly underrated. In no way is it a great film, but for a low budget thriller it's okay. It's interesting to see the different kinds of phobias and the film does leave you guessing as to what's really going on. The storyline is a little slow and can drag on at times, but there's also enough in there to keep you interested. The filming is of a poorer quality; I was watching the blue ray version and it's still very fuzzy; my black and white films have better quality then this one. If your a big fan of lower budget horror films then why not give this one a try! If your looking for something scary and extremely entertaining, I wouldn't recommend this film.

A psychiatrist's (Paul Michael Glaser) patients are being killed using their own phobias. Who's doing it...and why? Well...the tag line of the movie gives away the entire plot! I caught this mess back in 1981 on cable TV LATE at night. I watched it because I was bored and love horror movies. Well...it WAS horrible! For one thing Glaser (who can be good) walks through his role like he's on Valium. The murders aren't even well-done and the identity of the killer is very obvious from the very beginning.

You really got to wonder why John Huston picked this to direct. He's good at dramas--not psychological horror films. Whenever he tried to direct something different it was always a disaster. Remember--he directed "Annie" which is considered one of the worst musicals put on film. In this one he seems unsure of how to shot a suspenseful scene or pace the film. This is dragged out and very very dull.

This is basically a forgotten film--let's hope it stays that way! Even Glaser said this was terrible. A 1 all the way.

The late, great John Huston apparently went on a bender and woke up in Canada where they plopped him in the director's chair to helm a tax-shelter "psychological" horror flick remarkably similar to "Schizoid", a slightly better Klaus Kinski vehicle released the same year. An unorthodox psychiatrist finds that his patients are being murdered, ironically in ways that play to their greatest phobias. So who could be the killer? Well, I won't spoil it, but all you have to do is looking at the frickin' tag line.

Besides being generic and dull, the main problem here is the male lead. Canadians do tend to have an inferiority complex sometimes, but I find it hard to believe that they couldn't have found a greater thespian talent in that entire country than "Hutch" (or was it "Starsky"--I get confused?). Paul Michael Glaser gives a central performance that is every bit as compelling as paint drying. As for Huston, this fortunately wasn't his swan-song--he ended his life with an impressive troika of films, "Under the Volcano", "Prizzi's Honor", and "The Dead". This was merely an unfortunate misstep for him.

The only good thing I can say about this (and I'm really clutching for straws here), is that, also like "Schizoid", it does have a surprising and uncharacteristic nude scene by a young lovely of the Canadian tax shelter era. With "Schizoid" it was Donna Wilkes; here it is Lisa Langlois, who was in Claude Chabrol's "Blood Relatives" and any number of Canadian films better than this (maybe THAT was the whole reason I watched this years back--who knows?). Other than that small favor though its eminently forgettable