Novel concepts in horror movies often seem hard to come by. Fear, Inc., the feature debut of seasoned short film director Vincent Masciale, comes close to doing something relatively unique in what initially seems a fairly fresh and funny fashion, but it winds up hitting pretty wide of the bullseye. I’ll do my utmost to avoid spoilers here, but honestly the film shows its hand pretty early on with a single direct reference which, to any reasonably erudite cinephile (i.e. anyone who’s seen a few movies), pretty much tells you all you need to know straight away. Blending heavy-handed film geek and stoner humour with home invasion horror and elements of the slasher and torture subgenres, the film proceeds to throw in so many twists and turns that even M Night Shyamalan might find it a bit much; and, as Shyamalan learned the hard way, there comes a point when the audience just won’t accept that bullshit anymore, and would much prefer some coherent storytelling that actually holds up to scrutiny.
Opening Scream-style with Abigail Breslin as the big name cameo who doesn’t make it out alive (I hardly think that qualifies as a spoiler), we are then introduced to Joe (Lucas Neff) and Lindsey (Caitlin Stasey), a well-to-do couple who would seem to be living the California dream. However, whilst Lindsey goes out to a presumably well-paying career, Joe enjoys the life of a kept man, goofing off at their plush house and ignoring his better half’s requests to start looking for a job. As a big-time horror fan, Joe takes Lindsey out to a local haunted house attraction on date night, but winds up frustrated by its lack of real scares. Whilst bemoaning this in the bar, a mysterious stranger approaches Joe with a card for a company called Fear, Inc., who specialise in ‘custom scares.’ Later, when their friends Ben and Ashleigh (Chris Marquette and Stephanie Drake) come to visit for a weekend of drink, drugs and movie trivia by the pool, the topic of Fear, Inc. comes up, and Ben warns of the company’s highly sinister, even criminal reputation. In his intoxicated state, the already impulsive Joe decides to go ahead and call the number on the card – and it isn’t long before shit goes south. But the question is, are the four friends in very real danger, or is it all just a rather extreme form of performance art?
Problem is, the whole ‘is it or isn’t it for real’ question is pretty much the only thing Fear, Inc. has going for it that we haven’t seen in just about every other horror comedy. Loveable loser male lead, check; long-suffering but inherently sensible female love interest with whom our hero seems to be really punching above his weight, check; sketchily-drawn supporting couple, comedy stereotype next door neighbour, excess of scenes in which characters sit around getting drunk because they just wanna PAR-TAYYY… check, check and check. All of which might have been fine if the characters were anywhere near as funny and endearing as they’re clearly intended to be. Lucas Neff is a fairly charismatic comedy lead, and Chris Marquette brings a bit of the same average Joe charm he brought to Freddy Vs Jason and Fanboys, but as is so often the case Fear, Inc. doesn’t really know what to do with its women, who for the most part are just there; Caitlin Stasey in particular just seems bored for the most part (a shame, as her turn in All Cheerleaders Die seemed to suggest a bright future).
And as far as all the twists go; Fear, Inc. attempts to take things in a darker direction around the midway point, but it never really pulls off the shift from light-hearted to genuinely horrific. As the lead, a lot of this lands on Neff’s shoulders, but while he’s confident enough with the comedy sequences, attempts to bring some real gravitas and a sense of danger fall flat. As such, while the film may try to keep us on our toes as to whether or not the whole thing is for real, this just proves to be an annoyance, particularly once we reach the very final twist which just feels tacked on and simply too implausible.
When we first got wind of this film, I got the impression it was trying to be the new Scream. This may have been what Fear, Inc. was aiming for, but I’d say it’s the new Urban Legend at best; watchable enough, but ultimately not a very rewarding experience, and nowhere near as smart or surprising as it would like to be.
Fear Inc. is available now in the US on VOD, via Electric Entertainment.