Fear Itself

An exclusive-to-BBC-iPlayer (sort-of)-documentary, which is (sort of) about how and why horror movies scare us, 'Fear Itself' is a peculiar, esoteric, wonderful little treat of a film.

In a manner reminiscent of Mark Cousin's epic and fantastic documentary series 'The Story of Film: An Odyssey', combined with Mark Gatiss' delightful documentary strand 'A History of Horror', director Charlie Lyne - with 'Fear Itself' - does away with conventional documentary structure (i.e. linear narrative, talking head interviews, objective in-depth analysis), and instead presents us with a stream-of-consciousness ramble from a fictional, unseen Narrator (played/voiced by the lyrically dulcet Scottish tones of Amy E. Watson), who hushedly guides us through a smorgasbord of clips from over 100 years of horror film-making.

Over an eclectic tapestry of fearful scenes from films you'd expect (such as 'Ringu', 'Don't Look Now', 'Suspiria', and a Lynchian double-bill with 'Lost Highway' (via the Mystery Man) and 'Mulholland Drive' (via...NOT the creature behind Winkies Diner, weirdly)) and other films you wouldn't expect in the slightest (such as 'Gravity', 'Brazil', and 'Hollow Man'), the Narrator weaves a thesis on the nature of fear in cinema, and fear itself (naturally), via a fictional narrative of her character that just so happens to tie in with the films turning up on-screen while she speaks (like with 'Martyrs' and 'The Strangers').

Watson's mesmerising voice, alongside the words she speaks, as well as the barrage of clips from films familiar and obscure, coupled with the extraordinary music and unnerving sound design, help make 'Fear Itself' an exceptionally hypnotic viewing experience, which transfixes you from beginning to end.

Plus, it makes you appreciate the craft of not just horror film- making, but the sheer visceral power of the moving image itself, and the ways in which the best movies can effect you just through the way they look and sound.

Even better, it introduces you to a whole host of old and new foreign films that you'll never have heard of before, but which you will definitely want to seek out once you see the images from them that 'Fear Itself' shares with you.

A perfect film to watch in the run-up to Halloween.

We've all seen these TV programs about cinema in which they review some recent movie and then go over the filmography of its director or its main actor by showing a few clips from previous movies.

Well, "Fear Itself" is 90 minutes of just that: a selection of clips from horror movies of different sub-genres, with a narrator speaking about things like what fear is and what things we are afraid of. It doesn't sound too bad, does it? The thing is: quite frankly, she doesn't say anything interesting, the script is trite and her dull and monotonous way of speaking doesn't make things better. It feels like someone had the idea but then couldn't come up with a good text.

The clips themselves are short and generally not from the climatic parts of the movies. There's nothing frightening there, and even less when all the scenes are shown completely out of context. In many cases you can't even guess what the movies are really about. But some look good and might make you want to watch the movie. Don't expect any jump scares or cliffhangers, the documentary doesn't spoil the scenes themselves, but it DOES show the ending of a couple of movies ("Brazil", "Gravity").

In the end I got curious about a few of the movies and now I would like to watch them, so if I have to say something positive about this documentary, it is that. But don't expect anything else.

This "film" is boring.

Short clips of various movies are shown along with a monotonous Scottish-accented voice-over that is presumably intended to convey us into the psyche of the film-maker - or possibly into some kind of archetypal fear zone that exists in all of us...

However, an interminable and almost arbitrary sequence of extracts from horror or thriller movies does not a frightening experience make! On the contrary the effect is rather the complete opposite. The narrator's insistence on fear and tension seems to rob each clip of every vestige of fear and tension! Perhaps that's the "sly" subtext of this movie, I don't know...

This film is hard to categorise; it doesn't have a plot as such and is entirely made up or clips from horror films or films which contain elements of the genre. As we are shown the clips a narrator tells of how, following an accident, she has thought about the nature of fear and how it is used in film.

I'm not sure what I think of this... it was just so different. I had no knowledge of it before watching and when I saw it recommended on the BBC iPlayer I assumed it was a standard documentary about horror films. If you want to be scared you are likely to be disappointed as most of the clips aren't that frightening and the fairly emotionless narration of Amy Watson is calming rather than frightening; something I'm sure was deliberate. The selection of films was interesting; many will be familiar to most horror viewers but there were also plenty I'd not heard of before. They are taken from the earliest horror films right up to ones made recently. Overall I'd say this won't be for everybody but I'm glad I watched it... I'd recommend it as even if you don't enjoy it you might get some ideas for films to watch in future from the clips.

I gave up after five minutes. The narrator sounds like a high school drama student. Absolutely painful to listen to. Not soothing enough to be relaxing, just pure wood.