With "Lurking Fear", I hope to god I have arrived at the bottom floor of Full Moon Picture's out-put. This is one of those horror movies where it feels like nothing happens in the movie. It's an unnecessarily complicated set-up, then nothing, then a long overdue pay-off.
You know you're in trouble in a monster movie when Vincent Schiavelli is the most interesting thing on screen. The creatures, when they FINALLY appear, can't hold a candle to that great man.
Which brings me to another point: "Lurking Fear" has a surprisingly strong cast. Aside from Schiavelli, there's Mr Shakespeare, Jon Finch, and Mr Lovecraft, Jeffrey Combs. They don't do anything, or add anything to the movie at all.
The plot: An improbably handsome man is released from prison for a crime he didn't commit. He has a map to find buried treasure in a cemetery, but there's a bunch of other people who are also after the treasure, including some criminals. They have a stand-off in a church where apparently creatures live under the ground.
About 90% of the movie is all the above named characters hanging around the church pointing guns at each other. None of the characters make any impression and it is hard to tell them apart. Presumably some are good guys and some are bad guys but the movie doesn't make this point strongly enough... or at all.
The creatures are not unimpressive, but the movie never gives you a good look at them, and there are some scant moments of gore that could have been impressive.
I think what we have here are all the ingredients to make a passable or even better than passable movie, and a writer-director with no clue how to use any of them. It's a waste of time for everyone concerned.
You know you're in trouble in a monster movie when Vincent Schiavelli is the most interesting thing on screen. The creatures, when they FINALLY appear, can't hold a candle to that great man.
Which brings me to another point: "Lurking Fear" has a surprisingly strong cast. Aside from Schiavelli, there's Mr Shakespeare, Jon Finch, and Mr Lovecraft, Jeffrey Combs. They don't do anything, or add anything to the movie at all.
The plot: An improbably handsome man is released from prison for a crime he didn't commit. He has a map to find buried treasure in a cemetery, but there's a bunch of other people who are also after the treasure, including some criminals. They have a stand-off in a church where apparently creatures live under the ground.
About 90% of the movie is all the above named characters hanging around the church pointing guns at each other. None of the characters make any impression and it is hard to tell them apart. Presumably some are good guys and some are bad guys but the movie doesn't make this point strongly enough... or at all.
The creatures are not unimpressive, but the movie never gives you a good look at them, and there are some scant moments of gore that could have been impressive.
I think what we have here are all the ingredients to make a passable or even better than passable movie, and a writer-director with no clue how to use any of them. It's a waste of time for everyone concerned.