Director: Vincent Masciale

Writer: Luke Barnett (Screenplay)

Starring: Lucas Neff, Caitlin Stasey, Chris Marquette, Stephanie Drake, Mark Moses, Abigail Breslin

Plot: A horror junkie and his friends sign up with a company that brings their customer’s greatest fears to life.

Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Terrible Horror

Story: Fear, Inc starts as we meet our stoner slacker Joe (Neff) who lives with his hard-working girlfriend Lindsey (Stasey) (I have no idea how they are a couple), while trying to find a haunted house event to create scares Joe receives a card from a mysterious man claiming to give him the best experience in fear.

Joined by friends Ben (Marquette) and Ashleigh (Drake) for a Halloween get together with drinks and drugs, Joe unleashes a call, which brings their biggest fears to life.

Thoughts on Fear, Inc.

Characters – Joe is a stoner that has been promising to find a new job while living off his girlfriend, he loves horror movies and is looking for real fear from a horror event, which leads him to make the mistake to call Fear, Inc, this is easily one of the most unlikeable characters I have ever seen in the leading role in horror. Lindsey is his girlfriend, she seems to have a successful job which we never learn and has been putting up with Joe’s problems, the two have no chemistry and seem like complete opposites. Ben is the best friend that gives the warning to Joe about what will happen if they get involved with the game.

Performances – Lucas Neff in the leading role gives us one of the most annoying characters I have seen in horror. Caitlin Stasey is usually a good actress to watch, but in this film, it just doesn’t connect with what we are meant to see from them. Chris Martquette is solid enough in this role without doing anything truly memorable.

Story – The story here follows one man that wants to experience fear in this life and decides to get involved with a shady company promising to give him an experience unlike anything he has had before, how far will they go to get the scare? This is the question asked in this movie which doesn’t reach the potential it could as the led is the most unlikeable character you will see in horror, he makes everything out to be a joke never making us believe anything that is going on, even with the film having a great twist which should save it.

Comedy/Horror – The film tries to give us moments of comedy to mix with the horror, but the horror doesn’t hit the peril feeling moments you need from what could be going on.

Settings – The film tries to keep us around the house which clearly looks out priced for the couple involved, once we escape the house the film does become more interesting.

Special Effects – The effects in the film are good for what is created and could easily be the only highlight of the film.

Scene of the Movie – The final 30 minutes are the most interesting.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Joe is annoying throughout.

Final Thoughts – This is a horror comedy that fails to deliver on the levels it needs to, making us not care about the characters in this situation.

Overall: Terrible and boring.

Rating

Director: Allen Kellogg

Writer: Allen Kellogg, Spencer Jay Kim (Screenplay)

Starring: Allen Kellogg, Meredith Kochan, Spencer Jay Kim, Ashly Bossard, Sean Manos, Larry Nehring, Brooke Morrison

Plot: Cynthia O’Neil enters a haunted asylum known as the Madison Seminary in search of her father who went missing in the asylum while shooting a reality television show.

Runtime: 1 Hour 36 Minutes

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Dull Horror

Story: Out of the Shadows starts as we follow a paranormal investigation team looking to recruit the only known survivor Carter (Kellogg) to join them as they search the answers about what happened on his famous activity tape.

With the team in place the teams sets up the cameras around the asylum with team member Cynthia (Morrison) getting the first does of activity in a communication from her father, whom went missing in asylum with Carter’s team. Using her as bait the team record her time inside the asylum as they look to explain the unexplainable.

Thoughts on Out of the Shadows

Characters – Carter is the lone survivor from a previous encounter inside the asylum, he goes back but could have his own motivation for this. Cynthia is searching for her father who went missing but the rest of the characters are just another mix of the crew you would expect on a paranormal investigation team.

Performances – The performances across the board are not the best, the crew does feel like it could be a real documentary crew at times but then other times its just a group of actors trying to overreact to everything going on.

Story – The story does have a good twist, which is the only interesting part of the story, it is nearly 90 minutes investigating the shadows with too many characters to follow, it gets difficult to follow the characters in the dark for the most part and as for the reasoning behind everything well, it doesn’t seem to have one.

Horror – The horror is a lot of jumping at the camera or activity happening behind the camera, it isn’t scary but will give you a forced jump.

Settings – The film could easily have only had one setting, the asylum but going back to the motel makes it feel like the evil could escape which does try to make it stand out from just a haunted asylum movie.

Special Effects – The effects are what you would expect for a found footage film, they work without being ground breaking.

Scene of the Movie – Welcome to the Devil’s Toy Box.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The scares were too random.

Final Thoughts –This is a disappointing and mostly dull horror movie, the jumps are too random, the characters don’t make smart decisions and found footage only works in places.

Overall: Horror film to skip by the end.

Rating