Fear PHarm

This is not a bad little movie. Usually these types of movies come out and are just plain awful. I mean, who the heck even watches those crappy b and c films. However, "Fear Pharm" stands a bit above the others as not only does it have a legit looking movie box, but its actually a decent film. The critic quote on the box says something like " Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibe with a kind of Rob Zombie feel". It's like they were a little nervous to take out the words "vibe", Kind of", and "feel" when, to me, it actually was more reminiscent than i thought of both of those references. The chainsaw wielding maniac is pretty creepy with his barbed wire mask and his stand still stance. It gives you the creeps as one of our protagonists approach the villain in the corn maze after turning a corner and suddenly seeing him standing there, chainsaw idling in hand. Also, the ice cream truck part was pretty creepy and did have a "sort of rob zombieish feel". There was some comedic moments between the villains that I thought was clever and the acting wasn't all that bad. Except for maybe the kid "Rustin". There is also a nice and creepy ending to go with it. It all feels quite halloweenish and the production values are quite good. You can clearly tell this is a talented director and you can expect more from him.

The beauty of the slasher subgenre is that they don't always have to be good movies to be great movies. Performances can be hokey, FX can be cheap and silly, the plot can be ridiculous, and it all still adds up to a great viewing experience. Well-executed slashers and the ones that wildly miss the mark can be just as entertaining as the other.

With an "intense" Texas Chainsaw style poster, where does Fear Pharm land? The poster is and isn't a mislead. The movie IS about a strange family that is hunting and abducting teens for their own twisted reason. The movie isn't nearly as intense as the best Texas Chainsaw movies, and it does try to be a bit lighter and intentionally add some comic elements. Nowhere near the pitch-black comedy of Tobe Hooper's original or the OTT style of its sequel though. For me the humour didn't land. This is mostly since it makes the cardinal slasher sin of all the main group of teens being obnoxious. They also make several "meta" horror movies references in their early interactions ("Are we done with the expositional dialogue?") which makes sense in a Scream movie or Cabin In The Woods because it's part of the larger story. Here it is because one of the teens is an actor for some reason. A role that serves no further function in the plot. It's difficult to have fun with characters when they are so unlikable.

There's a similar problem when it comes to the villainous family. With the Sawyers from Texas Chainsaw or the Firefly clan from House of 1000 Corpses, the audience could delight in how wonderfully depraved these people are. Apart from their costumes there is nothing particularly interesting about the Fear Pharm family, and at times I found myself wishing I was having as much fun watching as the actors clearly were playing their roles.

Fear Pharm does get down to business quickly, opening with the traditional slasher tropes of gore and nudity and there's a fun but very brief sequence (the only highlight for me) involving a cheerleader being chased through a corn field by two clowns in an ice-cream truck with a harpoon gun! I wish the rest of the movie was as insane as the end of that sentence. And that's the problem. Fear Pharm is not an extremely well-executed slasher, nor is it bonkers and wild enough to still be a really good time. Sadly, my worst fear was realised with this one. That I'm watching a movie from my most beloved sub-genre that I can't recommend.

• DREW

@WatchItWombat.

This is about as good as random Amazon prime video horror movies will get. I give it a 3. Lemme explain:

It's an ensemble slasher movie you haven't seen and you crave them because you're a little psycho. +1 star

It's got a cast of stupid ppl you won't care much or at all about so you can watch them ALL die in peace. +1 star

It's got a giant corn maze and some spooky scarecrows, an underutilized combo in horror--sadly. +1 star

It's got some humor that lands and alot that doesn't but it's not bad enough where you would stop watching and rant about it online. +0.5 stars

The acting is Oblivion npc level but that's one of the highest tiers you can get on an Amazon prime random horror movie. +0 stars - Acceptable.

The cast might remind you of a similar "gang" from Philadelphia and that might make it a little more watchable so you could continue to watch them die. +0 stars

They don't die fast and enough and it's slow. -0.5 stars

There's a sequel for no reason, because who asked? Nobody is gonna watch that one. +0 stars.

Not gonna lie, this movie has literally nothing new to offer to the horror genre. Bad acting, sort of an interesting concept that was pretty much wasted, gore is okay. To be honest, it was just boring. I didn't like the characters or the writing. Call it B-movie Horror if you want, I just call it uninspired.

FEAR PHARM (2020) is ostensibly just another Texas-chainsaw-massacre-themed slasher with a dash of jokes on top of a helping of gore.

Four friends are selected for a VIP corn maze and offered a cash prize if they can traverse it in under two hours. Naturally, they discover along the way that the horror characters they encounter are not "just" trying to scare them.

It turns out that the villains actually have a motivation beyond pure bloodlust which brings the movie's title full circle, and it is always a delight to see that at least some thought went into formulating a movie's concept. The ending scene is a wonderful exercise in black humor.

Though the film is decently shot, some directorial choices bring it down, unfortunately. Chief among these, in my opinion, is the prologue. It is not only unnecessary but actually counterproductive. It shows that the villains really are murderous, and thereby destroys any plausible deniability that could have been sustained in the first act of the film by its light-hearted tone and especially the funny "business meeting" introduction of the family. Had we found out that these guys really mean business only once they started hurting our group, it would have been that much more shocking.

Other unwise choices in my opinion were the repetitive panning shots over the corn maze that cheapened the movie's feel, the curious cut-aways during actual gore scenes (was this because of the MPAA?) and some implausible sequences, such as a character whose arm was just amputated reviewing his acting as if nothing was literally amiss.

Also, while there is a colorful band of villains, only some of them are really fleshed out. I had trouble distinguishing between a couple of them.

I think with a few different choices, a better fleshed-out characterization of each member of this family and a tad more creative gore scenes, this could have been a good horror movie. It just missed the mark.