Naked Fear

Camden, an agoraphobic man (Robert Sabin) has a pathological fear of going outside. He lives by proxy, watching the world through a telescope that is pointed at the street and everything he needs is delivered to him by employees. One day, he decides to get a roommate, and the person he chooses is Randy (Tommy Sweeney) who seems decent enough but we soon learn he isn't.

It's nice to see Sabin and Sweeney together in one film, both with lead roles. After Sabin's "Slime City" and Sweeney's "Undying Love", it was necessary to bring the two together for a low-budget extravaganza. And "Naked Fear" is just that... and then some! Director Greg Lamberson drops all the pretenses with this one. Lower quality film than before, cheesier dialog (with some lines that are hilarious, perhaps unintentionally)... and even the blood effects were not nearly as awesome as they were in "Slime City". The film was done with more takes than usual, though, some in many ways the quality has improved if you look past the budget restraints.

I watched this with a friend and a few beers... we laughed pretty hard at the subtle homosexual humor and such lines as "my old girlfriend was hot and cool". Just really bad dialog... so bad it's good! If you have the chance to pick up Alternative Cinema's Greg Lamberson collection, do it... films like this can be enjoyed again and again.

With movies going straight to DVD pretty often these days the Midnight Movie may soon be a thing of the past. Too bad because that is right where this sort of movie belongs. Brought to us by Gregory Lamberson, who also gave us SLIME CITY (qv) this one offers us Camden, an agoraphobic man (Robert Sabin, who melted real good in SLIME CITY) who has inherited his dad's law firm. Camden has a pathological fear of crowds so he runs the business in absentia from his apartment. He lives by proxy, watching the world through a telescope that is pointed at the street and everything he needs is delivered to him by employees. Finally his doctor suggests he try to work through his psychosis by getting a roommate. The person he chooses is Randy (Tommy Sweeney) who seems decent enough but we soon learn he isn't.

Randy is partners with the guy who delivers Camden's groceries. Their plot is to break in, drug him and steal everything out of the house. Just when we think the movie is going in a certain direction we take an unexpected shift. As the robbery is starting Randy kills his partner and Camden, not knowing any better, thinks his new roomy is a hero.

So has Randy reformed? Are you kidding? A little later he offers some therapy of his own when he brings Camden a hooker. Alas, when the poor guy cannot perform Randy brutally kills the woman; and then even wastes her pimp who has been eying the apartment suspiciously. By now Camden is getting nervous (wouldn't you?) but when his lawyer tries to boot Randy out of the apartment guess what happens.

Now right about now you'd think romance would be pretty far from Camden's mind, right? Well just keep repeating "It's only a movie . . . only a movie . . . only a movie . . ." because Cam is fond of calling 900 numbers (insert a joke of your own choice here) and one night night he hooks up with Julie (Peggy Crow) who is just as lonely as he is. Their long distance relationship blossoms into a face to face meeting and begins to look like True Love. Ah, but what about Camden's deadly friend? Sorry, that would be telling! You can find out the rest for yourself.

Okay so the budget is low (mostly all we see is Camden's apartment and I suspect that was the actor's for real home) and gore effects are minimal. This is more a psychological drama than a terror film. The three principal characters all have problems but Randy is by far the worst; while Camden and Julie hope to find strength from each other Randy's inner demons have manifested into compulsive serial murders.

So is NAKED FEAR good? I would call it Fair. Is it a cult classic? no way! (Sorry Gregory) Is it worth seeing? Well, give it a try. Bring some friends over and pretend you are at a midnight screening on a college campus, that will probably help you to enjoy it more.