Haunting Fear

I really enjoyed this movie, probably because I didn't expect much at all from it. It's got good atmosphere, suspense and scary moments. And Delia Sheppard...well she's just too good! Great ending as well, really creepy. I suggest you to watch it if you can.

First off...with names like Fred Olen Ray, Brinke Stevens and Jan-Michael Vincent, plus distributors like "Rhino" and "Troma" on the video box, you know what you're getting into with this one. B movie mania! If you're actually expecting to see a thriller "based on Edgar Allan Poe," then forget it and head straight for the excellent series of Roger Corman 60s Poe films. This is pure, unadulterated sleaze (with just a pedestrian attempt at a plot similar to "The Premature Burial"), complete with lots of R-rated, ready-for-video sex and nudity. However, it's certainly entertaining and fun in a slipshod kind of way...

Brinke (who has three nude scenes in the first 30 minutes) plays rich, traumatized, insomniac housewife Victoria Monroe, whose fear of being prematurely entombed stems from her belief that the same fate befell her father (Hoke Howell). Her worthless husband Terry (Jay Richardson) has racked up some serious gambling debt (owed to a gangster played by Robert Quarry) and, with help from his kinky, blonde, European-accented sexpot secretary Lisa (Delia Sheppard) plots to do away with Brinke for her money. Name-value actress Karen Black drops in briefly wearing a blonde wig as a hypnotist (she's way too talented to be playing an insignificant role like this), 50s sci-fi/horror star Robert Clarke plays a doctor and family friend and Michael Berryman shows up for a decent nightmare sequence performing an autopsy on a still-living Vicki. Jan-Michael Vincent mostly sits outside a house in his car making goo-goo eyes as Brinke enters and exits the home.

The kill-a-spouse-for-the-inheritance plot has been done a million times before, the ending is an unintentional laugh riot (concluding with a direct rip-off of the Zuni Fetish Doll segment in TRILOGY OF TERROR) and whoever created the awful stabbed face and decapitated head FX for this release needs to sharpen up on their skills a bit. Brinke does a decent job making her character somewhat sympathetic, but the biggest surprise of all is how good former Penthouse Pet Delia Sheppard is in her role. She stole every scene she was in and easily gave the standout performance here.

Woman is haunted by nightmares. Her husband doesn't care much as he's having an affair wirh his secretary. Dumb husband needs money. They plot to kill his wife. She has something Freaky buried deep inside her. Don't wake it though.

Production values are low and match a home video quality. Dialogue is basic, acting subadequate. Storyline is basic ABC with a few moments that drew illogical questions to me. (We see two dreams, but neither are of the fear the character describes. Motivation is low for characters. Outcome feels forced with a twist just because why not?

Overall, slow moving, simple plotting, amateur acting, middle storyline, and an ending that lacks clarity make this movie boring.

The auteur Olen Ray put his heart into this telling tale. It stars All-Century Eye Candy Hall of Fame member Brinke Stevens who can uncork our cask of Amontillado anytime. Ms. Stevens plays a woman with a haunting fear of premature burial. Her evil husband is hoping to usher her fall to gain possession of her house. Pitted against this man, will Ms. Stevens conquer her terrors against her worm of a husband or will the pendulum swing against her, driving her 'raven' mad? We apologize for this descent into the maelstrom and pledge to repeat it nevermore. All that stated, the film is enjoyable even though we can not understand why anyone married to Ms. Stevens would want to be cruel to her. Also, Ms. Stevens takes a bath in the film confirming the old adage that cleanliness is next to goddess-liness.

Well, I was prepared for a total trash fest, but ended up being quite engaged in this strange, Edgar Allan Poe-inspired, somewhat soft-core porn movie. Brinke Stevens plays a woman who has a horror of being buried alive. She has nightmares constantly, and she's terrified of going to the doctor. Her husband and his secretary (the wildly gorgeous Delia Shephard) eventually plot to use her fears against her to make her truly go mad. Jan Michael Vincent, (of who I am a big fan!), makes a very brief appearance in this movie as Detective Trent. He's actually there to spy on Brinke's husband, but ends up seeing Brinke and all her craziness. He meets her briefly, just to see that she is OK. (They unfortunately don't get any love scenes!) Anyway, there are some really fun horror moments in this - one dream where Brinke appears dead, but she's alive and is taken to the morgue. There is the obligatory Delia Shephard sex scene, but overall this is a worthwhile horror flick, especially if you are a Poe fan or a Jan Michael Vincent fan!