Labyrinth der Angst

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

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.

Paul Michael "Starsky" Glaser is Dr. Peter Ross in this routine psycho-thriller, which is treated as *just* a pay check movie for the majority of the talent assembled. Certainly nobody brings any real passion or creativity to this script. The script is really not so hot, which is too bad considering that some of the writing talent involved included Ronald Shusett ("Alien") and Hammer scribe Jimmy Sangster ("Horror of Dracula"). Overall, the film is lacking in suspense and a truly good story, although the idea of mental patients led to their doom through their own phobias *could* have been better realized.

Ross is overseeing a program in which his patients are forced to confront images capturing their anxieties (heights, snakes, etc.). Then, one of them is blown to kingdom come by an explosive device left inside Ross' own apartment, and this leads to a rash of murders as the cops on the case (John Colicos, "The Changeling", and Kenneth Welsh, "The Day After Tomorrow") cast a suspicious eye on everyone in the therapy group.

Glaser is miscast in the lead and not very good, although the presence of Colicos & Welsh, and the appealing Susan Hogan ("The Brood") as Ross' girlfriend does help matters. Colicos and Welsh play "bad cops" who go out of their way to intimidate the nebbishy Henry (David Bolt, "Videodrome"). Co-starring are Patricia Collins ("Lost and Found"), David Eisner and Lisa Langlois from "Happy Birthday to Me", Robert O'Ree (David Cronenbergs' "Rabid"), Alexandra Stewart ("Frantic"), Neil Vipond ("Kings and Desperate Men"), and Marian Waldman (Mrs. Mac in the original "Black Christmas").

All of this is adequately entertaining at best, leading to a supposed "twist" ending that isn't exactly hard to figure out. Even this finale is executed with a certain lack of zeal.

There *are* worse thrillers out there, to be sure, but people may wonder why Huston would spend (some would say waste) his time filming such a script. At least his name in the credits ensures a definite curiosity value.

Five out of 10.

1980's "Phobia" earned the dubious distinction of being the single worst film in the lauded career of screenwriter/director John Huston, a simple work for hire that he apparently had little affinity or enthusiasm for (shot in October 1979 at the same time as another "Phobia" that finally emerged as "The Nesting," starring John Carradine). Location filming in Toronto even included something of a car chase, though it barely lasted three minutes and concluded with the driver falling to his death from a high girder. With five credited authors (a total of eight!), the promising storyline showed obvious signs of too many cooks spoiling the brew, its most fatal mistake playing out as a whodunit where the culprit was painfully obvious from the start. Hammer great Jimmy Sangster ("The Curse of Frankenstein") was essentially played out in feature films, now working entirely in Hollywood television, while the team of Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, coming off the massive hit "Alien," had their version of an original draft rejected by Huston (their next film was "Dead and Buried," faring better though still no box office success). Topping the cast list is Paul Michael Glaser, one half of the TV cop duo STARSKY & HUTCH, whose smug and detached Peter Ross is a ladies man and a renowned psychiatrist, whose latest endeavor is trying to help five convicted criminals conquer their greatest phobias; Alexandra Stewart has a fear of crowds, David Bolt a fear of high places, Robert O'Ree ("Rabid") a fear of snakes, David Eisner a fear of tight spaces, and pretty Lisa Langlois a not uncommon apprehension about the opposite sex. For all the backstory about how much people admire him, Ross comes off as a real cold fish, and once his patients start to get killed off he utterly fails to show any compassion, let alone remorse. John Colicos as the thuggish police inspector proves rather ineffectual, barking up the wrong tree as he forces one suspect to turn tail and commit suicide. Light on horror and suspense, this extremely minor effort was quickly forgotten and unlamented by all, particularly its director, who went from Canadian horror to full blown Hollywood musical with his successful adaptation of "Annie!"