loomis78-815-989034 Review of Lurking Fear

Lurking Fear (1994)

Could have been much better than it ends up being

[5/10 · 15 March 2013]

Loosely based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, this Full Moon picture film has John Martenese (Bailey) following a corpse buried in a graveyard. Buried with the corpse is a Gangster's (Finch) money that his now deceased Dad had stolen. Upon arrival, John comes across a band of people who is holed up in the graveyards church. They're after a group of monster creatures that live under ground in tunnels that run through the graveyard. John finds out that the creatures, who have been killing off people for years in the town, are actually descendants of his family. The Gangster and his henchmen show up after the money as well as the creatures begin to stir. The filmmakers unfortunately really messed up a nice premise. The elements of a great creature/monster horror film are there. Underground creatures, that are very scary and creepy looking roaming around on a dark storm infested night around a graveyard. The creeping monsters are the best thing going here and supply the few chills the movie has. Great horror actors like Jeffrey Combs, (as a nervous Doctor) and Ashley Laurence are wasted here as most of the screen time is spent with the gangsters holding the group hostage as they seek the money. The characters are written as obnoxious, stupid or annoying and are played that way by a cast trying hard with nothing to work with. Good production values, set up of story and cast goes down the drain as the movie mostly plays like a two bit crime drama instead of the thrilling horror show it could have been. It is watchable, but utterly forgettable.