Fear PHarm

Fear Pharm (2020) is a movie that I recently watched on Amazon Prime. The storyline follows a group of teenagers who are coaxed into attending a local Fear Farm in town. It is a unique haunted attraction to make it feel more realistic. It ends up being more real than the teenagers could have imagined.

This movie is directed by Dante Yore (616 Wilford Lane) and stars Tiana Tuttle (Still), John Littlefield (Hulk), Aimee Stolte (Megalodon) and Emily Sweet (Castle Freak).

This has a lot of scenes I thought were well done, enough to recommend seeing it once. The movie is definitely uneven. It felt like the villains were better cast than the victims. The dialogue is a bit inconsistent with some good comedy mixed in. There's time you can't tell if it's bad acting or poorly written dialogue. The horror elements are well done and contain solid gore. There's a skinning scene I thought was well executed and a sequence that had a good use of arrows. Some very entertaining stuff.

Overall, this movie has it flaws but enough worthwhile horror elements that make it a must see for fans of the genre. I would score this a 6/10 and strongly recommend it.

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.

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.

Good movie to watch for especially it is perfect for Halloween but acting is bad it is indie type horror movie the second half of movie is totally wasted.