6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.9 |
JOHN MARTENSE (Blake Bailey) has just been released from prison after serving five years for a crime he didn't commit. John wants to stay as far away from the wrong side of the law as he can ... but family ties won't let him. John gets a message to see SPECS (Vincent Schiavelli), an old friend and undertaker with a taste for larceny. Specs gives John a map of a cemetery where a corpse stuffed with a half a million dollars has been buried. John's father stole the money with his psychotic partner BENNETT (Jon Finch) but hid the body, leaving it as a family legacy for his son to dig up. John reluctantly takes off for Leffertt's Corners, a small town with a terrible secret. For years the Corners have been torn apart - the people devoured by a race of cannibalistic genetic freaks living in the tunnels below the cemetery. Thunderstorms bring the creatures out - to feed. John finds the cemetery next to an old church. He barely sets foot in the graveyard when he's stopped by CATHRYN (Ashley Rae Lauren), a beautiful girl with a .45 automatic in her hand. Cathryn's laced the cemetery with dynamite and armed herself to destroy the creatures' nest once and for all...and tonight John's in the way. Cathryn forces John into the church where DR. HAGGIS (Jeffrey Combs), FATHER POOLE (Paul Mantee) and BETH (Luana Stoica) ready themselves for bloody battle with the monsters. As a storm approaches, and Cathryn is about to blow up the nest, Bennett arrives with his goons to take the group hostage and reclaim the buried money. Can the two groups band together and overcome "The Lurking Fear" ... or will they be the next victims?
Starring: Jon Finch, Blake Adams, Ashley Laurence, Jeffrey Combs, Allison MackieHorror | 100% |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (192 kbps)
None
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Full Moon's Lurking Fear may be based on an H.P. Lovecraft story of mostly the same name (Lovecraft's original began with the definitive article "The"), but the film feels more like Stephen King (the town name of "Lefferts Corners" sounds right out of some small middle of nowhere plot of Maine land that King enjoys using as his settings) meets From Dusk Till Dawn meets The Evil Dead. The film, directed by Trancers III's C. Courtney Joyner, follows a gaggle of disparate folks who converge on an old church, for one reason or another, only to find themselves at one another's throats and, eventually, in the long-nailed grasps of subterranean creatures. It's fairly standard stuff, but a lean runtime, a solid cast, and moody atmosphere elevate the film just enough above the crud to make for a passable, if not often enjoyable, little Horror/Chiller film.
Ah, the good old days when low-budget films were actually shot in film, not cheap-looking digital. Lurking Fear's 1080p transfer is hardly perfect, but for a low-budget Horror flick that obviously didn't undergo a full-on big-money restoration, it looks pretty darn good. Detail is strong and largely consistent. The image is crisp, close-ups are sharp and well defined, and environments -- even in the film's predominantly dark locations -- always impress. Grain fluctuates a bit, firm and fine in places but clumping and increasing in volume, and sometimes accompanied by messy noise, in others. Colors are fine (though watch for a shot of strange blue filtering at the 22:28 mark, screenshot above), particularly in some of the brighter and more vibrant scenes near the beginning where elements like green leaves and a red sports car impress with plenty of pop and vibrance. Flesh tones push mildly warm. Black levels tend to fluctuate a little, pushing towards crush in places, finding balance in others, and appearing a bit too washed out in others still. Minor print wear -- a few pops and speckles here and there -- dots the 77-minute landscape, but overall deterioration is minimal.
Lurking Fear's Dolby Digital 5.1 track runs through some trouble spots but, for the most part, presents an adequate listen. The film opens with bits of dialogue sounding hopelessly tinny, shallow, almost like it was recorded underwater. That clears up, for the most part, afterwards, but lip sync goes way off at the 54 minute mark. Both issues replicate when switching to the included Dolby Digital 2.0 track. As for the rest of the 5.1 track, it doesn't offer much intensity. Opening title music stays grounded in the front-center offering no sense of space, no real effort to capture any clarity or depth. Music does open up a little, both in terms of width, clarity, and low end support, as the movie progresses. Driving rain and thunder, the former of which in particular is a fairly regular component in the track, doesn't offer much of a widely soaking, full stage-dispersed sensation. The track certainly has its warts, but it's good enough to get listeners through the film.
Lurking Fear contains a commentary, deleted scenes, and a vintage "Videozone" feature.
It's easy to see that Lurking Fear isn't much of a movie when analyzing it bit-by-bit, but in the aggregate it holds together well enough. With a super-lean runtime (that's still home to several overextended character/dialogue scenes), a solid cast, some good practical creature effects, and an honest bit of tension and atmosphere, the film works well enough as a decent enough Horror/Chiller time killer, certainly not the finest movie in the Full Moon library but a decent enough watch. The studio's Blu-ray is capable, offering occasionally troubled and generally bland audio, solid video, and a nice little assortment of extra content. Recommended.
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