Konterr
Brilliant and touching
Micah Lloyd
Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.
Payno
I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Bob
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Scott LeBrun
Admittedly, this low budget, regional (it was filmed entirely in New Mexico) variation on "The Most Dangerous Game" is rough going for its first 40 something minutes, as it takes too much time to play out and establish all of its details. The story sees a naive young woman, Diana (Danielle De Luca) arrive in NM from Texas; she's just gotten work as an exotic dancer. Meanwhile, a young man named Dwight (Arron Shiver) has recently become a deputy in town, and he's a guy who has his own (cliched) history. As one might expect from a film of this nature, the acting isn't particularly great (the film's one big name, Joe Mantegna, is basically phoning this one in), and the characters are pretty stereotypical. Things pick up after the dragging first act, when the story proper kicks into gear. Inspired by the real-life exploits of serial killer Robert Hansen, it shows how Diana is victimized after accepting a ride from seemingly genial local Colin (J.D. Garfield). Colin, you see, is a creep who likes to abduct women who supposedly "won't be missed" - prostitutes and the like - and set them loose in the wilderness after he's stripped them naked. After this the story becomes quite compelling as the unfortunate Diana struggles to survive and stay one step ahead of Colin. The appealing De Luca is a very brave young woman to tackle this role, as indeed she is obliged to run around in little more than her birthday suit and be at the mercy of not just the psycho but the environment. The nakedness, however, never comes off as exploitative but merely stresses this girl's vulnerability. The story is also developed in interesting and not entirely predictable ways, as Diana finds help - or so it seems at first - sooner than one would think. And when Colin decides to eliminate something in his way, one will applaud the filmmakers' brevity in going to that place. An offbeat credit for director Thom Eberhardt, best known for "Night of the Comet", this features some gorgeous scenery and a very good music score by Jeremy Scott Reinbolt, and is at its best when it's just Diana and Colin on their own in the country. It gets pretty visceral without ever getting very gory. It does lead to a resolution that is unexpected, ending this thing on a rather interesting final note. B movie lovers should find all of this to be agreeable enough. Seven out of 10.
Steve Pulaski
Naked Fear is one that sat on my Netflix Instant Queue for almost two months. Which I was shocked because when I first heard of it, I wanted to see it immediately, but couldn't find time. The only thing that drew attention to me was it read "Available until September 22, 2010" in big red letters. So I knew I had to watch it sooner rather than later. The thing I was fond of was for much of the second half of the movie it turns almost to a perspective Horror film. One I mentioned when reviewing Devil is hard thing to do. Films like Open Water utilize the perspective Horror feel to the fullest of capabilities. Without imaging yourself as the victim(s) in the movie the effect is small and you won't respond well to it most likely. Put yourself in the shoes (in this case our lead wears none) of the victim in this movie. How would you feel? That is the question.While having some impressive shots of landscape and open wood areas, the crew did one huge no-no when making this movie. Why in the holy hell did they use CGI for some of the scenery shots and airplane shot? It looks incredibly fake and just ruins the overall feel. I loved watching our victim run around helplessly in the very atmospheric, radiant, and breathtaking scenery we have in this film, but why did the creators choose CGI for somethings? I've spoke many times on CGI and say the same quote; "Excessive CGI is excessive. Well done excessive CGI is fluent and adds to the film." In this case the CGI isn't excessive (Thank God), but it's extremely unnecessary and embarrassing. They were in an open area. Where was the extreme full shot of the scenery? Why couldn't we get a unique aerial view of the landscape? Maybe because the plane was too CGI? The plot of the movie involves a stripper in a sleepy New Mexico town where various strippers are disappearing without a trace. The police department is perplexed and leads come at a molasses pace. New-coming stripper and protagonist Diana (Danielle De Luca) finally gets her turn at the deadly cat and mouse game after being kidnapped and stranded out in the middle of nowhere, naked, and desperate. She finds a man who she believes will help her, but he's the cat in this twisted game. A cat with a sniper who's goal is to kill Diana in the deserted area.It's a humble film. No big name stars or to my knowledge even had a mainstream release. So this movie is definitely an underrated gem. Plot wise it's amazing. I love the overall feel and the perspective Horror genre is utilized extremely well here. The only downside which I marked the movie off a full star rating was the God awful use of CGI. I've always hated to keep bringing up something I've said before, but it's just so unnecessary and almost docks the film halfway from four stars. While a majority of the film is made up by great acting and suspenseful scenes (which have some intense synth music by the way), some scenes can be picked out that I would call mediocre. Some scenes capture intensity better than others as well.Naked Fear combines a good plot with very well done acting and some amazing scenery when it's real. The portion of the film, unlike the film I reviewed recently Devil, takes place in an open field rather than half out of the setting, half back in town. Unlike Devil, the film takes place in most of the setting where the predator and prey are. In Devil we go in and out of the elevator frequently. All in all, Naked Fear is an interesting and very up and down movie as it is. Some parts made the movie and others just screwed the movie, but hey, I've gone into the CGI enough.Starring: Danielle De Luca and J.D. Garfield. Directed by: Thom Eberhardt.
Corpus_Vile
Diana is a down on her luck stripper, unwittingly duped into her job in the first place, and desperately trying to raise cash so she can get home, away from the small town she's trapped in. However, her already bleak situation suddenly becomes a whole lot worse, when she's captured by a homicidal serial killer, and rendered unconscious, only to awaken nude, in the wilderness. There she's given a 15 minute head start. Run... or die. Her hunter is bored with animals, and now likes hunting the most resourceful prey of all. So begins a murderous and relentlessly grim game of cat and mouse, as Diana must stay one step ahead, in order to prevent herself becoming just another trophy...Naked Fear belies its rather crappy title, and emerges as a starkly atmospheric and tense survivalist shocker. Very probably loosely inspired as much by serial killing Alaskan baker Robert Hansen, as well as of course, The Most Dangerous Game, it's far better than I expected it to be.With a fearless performance from Danielle De Luca as the likable protagonist, and a cracking pace, as well as a welcome cameo by Joe Mantegna as an uncompromising but apathetic sheriff, it's one of the most surprisingly good horrors I've seen in quite a while.It's also a film, that despite having an undeniably hot protagonist who's naked for most of the film, doesn't have this issue distract from its overall tension, as Diana exudes vulnerability via her nakedness, and any measure of clothing she manages to scavenge is seen as a victory for her. (That having said... she's pretty hot.)Although it has one or two plot clichés, and nigh on unforgivable ones at that...- Cliché #1-Diana has a chance to off her tormentor but doesn't, and #2-Two helpful hunters who attempt to assist Diana can't get cellphone coverage. (yes, it's in the wilderness, and you probably actually wouldn't get coverage, but it's been done so many times now, that it just doesn't wash any more, even if valid.)- ...Naked Fear is overall a satisfying and surprisingly good survivalist shocker and is certainly worth a look from any self respecting horror fan.7/10 Check it out, you could do far worse.
Dan
Along with the mindset of the Dangerous Game it also reminded me of an old movie called Naked Prey. The naked runner scenes didn't hurt to keep attention-span while the plot developed, they were done well and didn't make it a back room movie. There are a few spots of twist and it wasn't totally predictable. Aside from just her looks, Danielle De Luca did a really good job and the landscape scenery was nice. Don't know why they put Joe Mantegna in a bit part though.The ending seemed a bit out of place but I guess they wanted to try to change her role as not defenseless.All in all, worth a watch.