As a Prelude to Fear

British horror movies have usually something special, differ quite a lot from the usual horror flicks from the U. S., have some better character and atmosphere development that capture the real and gripping horror.

This is a british low budget movie from Brighton, refering to a true event and trying to adapt it on screen.

Well, it's an ambitious flick with a lot of dialogue and slow character development, but the filmmaking is not tense or suspenseful: The acting is solid/ok, but not great, intense or gripping that the story needs.

The score is a rather monotonous, annoying midi-synth-piano, that doesn't help in creating atmosphere and tension.

The dialogues are soporific and the longer the movie gets, the more talking and the harder it's to be interested in the kidnapped victim and its fate and the police investigation. I felt more and more bored. Sorry.

If you're interested in some low budget, independent horror flick based on true events and have the patience to sit it through, give it a try.

Otherwise, skip this one.

It starts off with a quote from Benjamin Franklin, "Justice will not be served until those who have been unaffected are as outraged as those that are." This film is based on true events. The English countryside as the intro credits roll is rural and isolated, which is the perfect setting for a horror movie. This film had me on the edge of my seat the whole way through.

This is an atmospheric true crime horror film with so many wonderful elements woven into it. The intricately textured plot is solid. The storyline is easy to follow, though complex. The psychological aspects are well thought out, in that there are fascinating power and mind games going on between the characters. The power play between DSC Barnbrook and Mr Corcoran is brilliant. A psychological warfare begins as we see Eve tested to her limits in the basement as he uses the women locked up with her against each other. When the sadistic freak threatens to harm one of the other girls if Eve doesn't comply with his demands, is a terrible way to torment the victims further.

Eve Taylor (played by Lara Lemon) vanishes when she is supposed to meet up with a music teacher for cello lessons. Originally, they were meant to meet at a café, however, plans abruptly change and she is directed to meet at a rundown barn. It's ironic because there is a sign on the door telling students to go straight inside for lessons. The real lesson here is that she shouldn't have gone inside. This in turn means that now her boyfriend, Jamie Harris (played by Jamie Langlands) who dropped her off at the café now has no clue where she is. The tension and suspense are building nicely.

The opening scene is visceral and disturbing - it sent shivers down my spine. We meet Mr Giles Corcoran (played by Roger Wyatt) the music teacher. Meanwhile, Eve wakes up locked in a basement. We meet The Pied Piper, who is a frightening character. DS Dobson (played by Lucy Drive) along with DCS Barnbrook (played by Francis Magee) become involved in the case.

The scenes in the basement add the effect of cold, darkness, claustrophobia, and impending doom. We learn that Eve is not alone. The situation becomes fraught when she realises she has to depend on her kidnapper for food and water, and in order to survive. If anything were to happen to him, she would be left there to die with the others. What a terrible situation to find oneself in. This is reinforced when Jamie decides to find out who The Pied Piper is, so he goes to see Robert Cox (played by Ron McMillan) who is the uncle of one of the victim's, Jo Cox. It dawns on them the dire situation, that if The Pied Piper were to be caught and arrested, Eve could starve to death. The fact that it is taking Jamie to investigate the disappearance of his girlfriend goes to show the fallibility of the police. When Jamie turns up to the cottage, I was on the edge of my seat! The twist and turns are fantastic! There is a very emotive scene, and great acting by Langlands.

I appreciated the scene where The Pied Piper asks Eve to play the cello for him, it's a good way of showing that she is a survivor, and a fighter. She plays so beautifully considering she is playing under duress. This shows us some of her personality, that she is stubborn, but will she be able to escape before her fortitude fractures?

Some good resolutions happen towards the end to either throw the viewer off or to help to put the pieces together. The superintendent may have crossed the line, is he on the right trail or going around in a cycle of delusion? Secrets are revealed in a tragic way. Finally, the police are making headway, but will they get there in time to save Eve? They are all off in different directions, one of them gets caught in a trap, will they get out alive? The massive twist at the end was totally unexpected and blew the story out of the water! I did not foresee this happening, so well done for keeping us guessing right up to the very end.

I highly recommend you watch this film; you will not be disappointed. The cast put everything into their roles, and you can tell this by how well they brought their characters to life, Well done! The atmosphere couldn't have been conceived in a better way, the dread and fear transfers over into the film. The overall tone is dramatic and frightful, maximising on the suspense and horror. This is another golden gem of indie filmmaking.

Starring: Francis Magee, Lara Lemon, and Jamie Langlands.

Reviewed by Del Gibson.

I don't quite know how to articulate just how awful this film was?

It just drags on and on, with nothing of any real interest going on except some perverse fantasy about girls being locked in a basement.

Every charactor was completely one dimentional with zero attempt at development or fleshing out in any way.

It was as if the whole thing was written and conceived by people that have never actually seen a film before let alone know the first thing about making one.

I have no complaints abouts the actors, they seemed to make the best of the terrible dialogue and the nasty almost unwatchable torture scenes.

To top it all off the monotonous sound track was headache inducing and when ever an actor was prentending to play cello along with the awful synth it just came across as cheesey and almost comical.

What a predictable twist at the end too, i saw it coming a mile away.

This is an interesting thriller that stars Francis Magee (who is great in his role as police detective Barnbrook). Although a bit slow at times it's well worth sticking with as the end twist is well worth the pay off.

The acting performances where all fairly good with some interesting characters. Most British horror/thriller films I find it hard to get into as they tend to be slow and drawn out but this 1 kept me intrigued untill the very end and although it wasn't a high end big budget Hollywood film the production values where surprisingly good and was shot quite nicely.

Very dark and moody with a lot of atmosphere so I'd say definitely worth a watch.

I enjoyed this movie a lot, the performances were mostly good and well executed with interesting set builds. Francis Magee was good as usual, I've been a fan of Francis Magee from both East Enders and Game of Thrones and he gives a very convincing Yorkshire UK accent from a broad Irishman with some passionate moments. Lara Lemon also gives a very good performance as Eve the girl beaten down by this terrible traumatic event who has to find the strength to endure while all others around her have given in to their plight. Roger Cooper is also very good as the psychotic cello playing teacher who the police know has Eve but can't prove it. The film has about three really good twists in it which I wasn't expecting, so it didn't end like the average Hollywood film. I can't be sure, but I think the film has a deeper meaning than you might first imagine. Beneath the surface I think it's a film about facing the challenge of being alone in a world where everything is being taken from you, one that looks like there is no way out and trying to find a way through it... mmmmm A bit like life at the moment. I have seen one other film from the director Steph Du Melo called CAM and I see the copyright date on that film is 2013 so that had a certain prophetic angle to it, with an underlining current in the narrative of the gullibility of people. As a prelude to Fear also highlights the amount of people that go missing in a year, which I never realised, So although I can't be sure I would expect there to be more to this story than meets the eye.

I watch a lot of independent movies and to be honest most are unwatchable, so this was a breath of fresh air to me. I notice that Steph Du Melo not only directed it but wrote the score, edited it and wrote the screenplay, so that must have been a challenge to make. If you're looking for an action packed Marvel movie this may not be for you, but if a thought provoking thriller underlying the state of the British police with some great multi twists in the end then this could be.