Haunting Fear (4½ Stars)

I consider myself a fan of Fred Olen Ray and his films, but this is a film I'd never heard of until recently. It was only brought to my attention when Fred said he was going to bring it out on Blu-ray. That's not so surprising. It doesn't seem to have been available on DVD until now, or I would already have bought it. According to IMDB, Fred has directed 156 films, of which I only own about 50 on disc. I've also seen a few films that are (currently) only available on streaming. It's difficult to keep up with someone as prolific as him, even if everything were still available.

The film isn't yet available from Amazon. I bought it from Makeflix, a small online store in the USA. I've ordered a few items from them, and so far I'm satisfied. My only complaint is that the shipping is more expensive than Amazon, but I assume that's because they have to pay more because they ship in smaller quantities. In their favour, they ship articles with a pro forma customs declaration. Whatever I pay, they write a customs value of $10 on the customs declaration. That's good, because I would have to pay (excessive) customs duty on any package worth more than 15 Euros ($18). Many (though not all) American companies use pro forma customs declarations when exporting to Europe. That's something British companies haven't yet learnt how to do.

Brinke Stevens plays the lead role as Victoria Munroe, a woman whose father has recently died. She blames the family doctor for her father's death, even suspecting him of murdering him, but this subplot isn't developed any further. There's just a general mistrust of the doctor in her dealings with him. Since her father's death she has repeated nightmares about being buried alive. Her husband Terry, played by the magnificent Jay Richardson, insists that she should go to the doctor. He prescribes strong sleeping pills, but they're not enough to stop the dreams.

Terry is having an affair with his secretary. Silly man. If my wife looked anything like Brinke Stevens I wouldn't dream of having an affair. It's not that she's lacking in sexual drive. She invites her husband to bed, but he says that he has too much work to do. That's a lame excuse. The real reason is that he's still tired after having sex in his office.

Maybe it's guilt that's keeping him away from his wife's loving arms. He has gambling debts of $80,000. He hasn't told his wife about them. Their house belongs to his wife, so theoretically she could take out a mortgage on the house to pay the debts, but he doesn't expect her to agree. Gambling is an addiction. Any man with $80,000 debts will get himself even deeper in debt in the future. So what's the solution? Terry is weak, easily influenced. His secretary encourages him to kill his wife.

That's all I'll say about the plot. I hope that many of my friends will buy this film. It's a masterpiece. The pacing is perfect, beginning slowly but escalating into the totally unexpected conclusion. In the past I've only seen Brinke Stevens in small roles, but she proves herself to be a very good actress. I don't need to say anything about Jay Richardson, because everyone knows he's brilliant.

I almost forgot to mention that Michael Berryman appears in a small role. People who have worked with him are unanimous that he's a beautiful person, but his unique appearance makes him ideal for appearances in horror films. He has a face that would make little children scream.

Last Saturday there was a live film launch party online. It can still be found online here. The vlogger Heath Holland interviewed Fred Olen Ray and Brinke Stevens about the film and their work in general. The audience could address questions to the guests. Most of the questions were directed at Brinke, but Fred still managed to get a word in edgeways.

The launch party was very informative and entertaining, even though Brinke's camera was fuzzy and Fred's microphone occasionally cut out. If you're a fan of Fred or Brinke, I can recommend watching this video.

So when is Fred going to release his next Blu-ray? I'm still waiting for the next 30 Medina films.