As a Prelude to Fear

A good solid independent feature film starring Francis Magee and Lara Lemon.

Slow in parts with a lot of dialogue scenes but overall I thought it was pretty good.

The basement scenes where by far the best adding lots of mystery and very atmospheric.

Most indie films really suffer because of the low budget but this one managed to hold up quite well considering the low budget.

Performances where all fairly good although maybe a bit over the top in parts but it added to the intensity of the situations.

I would recommend this film for anyone who is a fan of Francis Magee and for anyone who likes British thriller/horror films.

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.

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.

Mildly entertaining with a good twist that keeps you guessing. It starts well then lags a bit in the middle but then gets good again towards the end which seems to be the way with most films. I'll be kind and give it a star rating of 7 just because of the low budget. It's worth a watch for any fans of low budget film making just to see what can be done with. It's got some interesting characters and a good musical score and better than most indie films. The kidnapped girl I really felt for and thought she did an excellent job. Like I say it's good for a low budget independent film so if you like indie thrillers then worth a watch.

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.