PopHorror Let's Get Scared
In life, there are many things people fear. From heights to spiders, to enclosed spaces, and perhaps sometimes just good old-fashioned death. Or maybe it’s even among the lines of something supernatural. Some may say these fears are “Irrational” but what if they were actually what caused our demise and this whole time we had every right to fear them? I don’t know about you, but that sounds like an excellent concept for a horror film!
Lucky for me, I was able to screen Hunter Johnson’s latest film that is exactly about irrational fears. I’ve been a fan of Johnson’s since I watched his debut film 2Jennifer. Did Irrational Fear leave me just as impressed? Let’s discuss!
Official Synopsis of Irrational Fear:
Six therapy patients are brought together at a secluded cabin to confront their strangest fears. But these fears won’t just hurt them…they will kill them.
What Works:
As I stated before I really enjoyed Hunter Johnson’s first feature so I was really excited to check out what he and Kevin Sommerfield had come up with for the storyline to Irrational Fear. Fear is something that plagues us all. It was really interesting and exciting to see which fears would be brought to life in this script. The fears certainly don’t disappoint, as they are all scary and easy to relate to. The concept is really fucking cool. If there was such a way to actually cure our silly little fears that sometimes paralyze us, would we actually do whatever it took to help subside them?
Irrational Fear takes it up a notch it not only does it bring the fears out, they do it in the middle of the fucking woods! It’s a great homage to classic backwoods slashers along with making you wonder what the fuck is actually going on. Is this a slasher? Or is this something more psychological? You’ll have to watch to find that one out! I also really loved the small nod to Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers – “Camp Rolling Hills!”
Irrational Fear had me guessing what was going on the entire time and I had a lot of fun with that. Besides a fun script it had some amazing casting such as Jenn Nangle whom you might recognize from Malvolia: The Queen of Screams, Charles Chudabala (Anomaly), Baker Chase Powell (Little Dead Rotting Hood), and Leah Wiseman (Dismembering Christmas). All of whom are hot on the indie horror scene, so be sure to look out for them as they are all ones to watch! All performances are a lot of fun but I don’t want to go into too much detail because I feel as if that would give the awesomeness away and this is a fun one to enjoy knowing as little as possible going in.
I will say that Leah Wiseman is a standout and I expect to see her go far in this industry. The kill scenes are very inventive and at times damn straight cringe-worthy. Squirming in my seat right now as I’m thinking about one certain scene!
What Doesn’t Work:
I had a lot of fun trying to figure out what was actually going on in the film but the ending was a bit predictable to guess early on (however, I did second guess myself). Marks of amazing direction from Hunter Johnson. There was just so much shock value for me in 2Jennifer, I had anticipated that the ending to this would be just as jaw-dropping. Regardless Irrational Fear is still a clever film.
Final Thoughts:
Irrational Fear takes a classic concept of fear and turns it on its head. Johnson really shows true marks of incredible directing as he can easily mislead his audience to believe one thing while it’s something else entirely. Don’t be afraid of watching Irrational Fear after reading this review. It’s a fun watch!
