There are few things that are certain in this post COVID world. One thing that is an absolute certainty is that a Tubi Original with Michael Madsen and Robert Davi in the cast will be flat out awful. With this knowledge, I gave it a shot anyway. I shouldn't have. This movie - I'm using that word very, very loosely- is horrendous. Stupefyingly horrendous. It isn't Madsen or Davi's fault. The former is barely in the movie and the latter actually is the lone bright spot. As is the norm with a failure of this magnitude, the script is the cause of said failure. A good location, game actors, and some fair cinematography cannot overcome a trash fire of a script. Give this a hard pass. You're welcome.
7 Reviews
So, um, yeah...
BandSAboutMovies22 July 2023
Warning: Spoilers
First off, this is not the H. P. Lovecraft novel or the Full Moon movie The Lurking Fear* outside of some names. Instead, it's the tale of a small town that has lured in a reality show to see the Martense, a therapy hospital that was ground zero for a tortured-filled existence for the mentally ill and criminally insane.
As the crew films Andrew Seville (Robert Davi), he reveals the past of the Martense, which was built by Dr. Oliver Martense, who had heterochromia iridum, which gave him two different colored eyes. He believed that bodily fluids and their magnetic properties could be used to heal people from their mental illnesses. Some would have called the way he treated his patients barbaric, however.
Now, as the crew enters the closed-down asylum, they're about to not only deal with how frightening the place is, but the fact that it may contain actual demons.
As the reality crew and their Hollywood big shot director sits outside, Officer Hansen (Michael Madsen) comes to kick them out. However, they have permission to be there from his boss Sheriff Nassar (Christopher Mormando), who arrives there with Officer Quade (Gianni Capaldi). The crew -- which includes Mike (Jonathan Camp), Marleene (Laticia Rolle), Molly (Skye Stracke) and Mike's fiancee Crystal (Elisabetta Fantone) -- gets trapped inside the asylum with Seville, who may not be the most trustworthy person.
Directed and written by Darren Dalton (who was in Red Dawn and The Outsiders before becoming a director; he's also written The Day That Time Forgot and The Day the Earth Stopped) and Robert Killings (who wrote the movie American Fright Fest and appears in this movie as David), The Lurking Fear sets up a lot of suspense as to what's happening that gets revealed by its closed captioning**, as it literally says "monster makes noises" which let me know that hey -- there really are monsters and people haven't lost their minds.
Some of those monsters are all little kids with different colored eyes, so that means that Dr. Oliver Martense was sleeping with his patients and has created an entire family inside this place that has lived on since the patients went insane and ate everyone. Seville is also behind all of it, orchestrating the deaths of the crew. I have to say that Davi is really having the time of his life making this movie, absolutely devouring the scenery and asking for seconds.
And then Madsen takes over for him because they were brothers! What!?! This also ends with Crystal watching babies be born and their umbilical cords get bitten as everything gets so dark that we don't know if we're watching the strange mutant kids eating afterbirth or the baby. Or the mother? Man, this went all art movie at the end and super slow motion, which doesn't match the rest of the movie, but hey, Madsen isn't even listed on the movie's IMDB, so who can say with this thing. It feels like it has something to say about money and small towns and Hollywood but eventually just ends. That's a bold choice.
*The Lovecraft story also inspired Bleeders.
**There's also a bad cut and paste in the credits so that Anthony Michael Pallino's name is in there twice. I mean, I make typos all the time, but I'm not releasing a movie on Tubi.
As the crew films Andrew Seville (Robert Davi), he reveals the past of the Martense, which was built by Dr. Oliver Martense, who had heterochromia iridum, which gave him two different colored eyes. He believed that bodily fluids and their magnetic properties could be used to heal people from their mental illnesses. Some would have called the way he treated his patients barbaric, however.
Now, as the crew enters the closed-down asylum, they're about to not only deal with how frightening the place is, but the fact that it may contain actual demons.
As the reality crew and their Hollywood big shot director sits outside, Officer Hansen (Michael Madsen) comes to kick them out. However, they have permission to be there from his boss Sheriff Nassar (Christopher Mormando), who arrives there with Officer Quade (Gianni Capaldi). The crew -- which includes Mike (Jonathan Camp), Marleene (Laticia Rolle), Molly (Skye Stracke) and Mike's fiancee Crystal (Elisabetta Fantone) -- gets trapped inside the asylum with Seville, who may not be the most trustworthy person.
Directed and written by Darren Dalton (who was in Red Dawn and The Outsiders before becoming a director; he's also written The Day That Time Forgot and The Day the Earth Stopped) and Robert Killings (who wrote the movie American Fright Fest and appears in this movie as David), The Lurking Fear sets up a lot of suspense as to what's happening that gets revealed by its closed captioning**, as it literally says "monster makes noises" which let me know that hey -- there really are monsters and people haven't lost their minds.
Some of those monsters are all little kids with different colored eyes, so that means that Dr. Oliver Martense was sleeping with his patients and has created an entire family inside this place that has lived on since the patients went insane and ate everyone. Seville is also behind all of it, orchestrating the deaths of the crew. I have to say that Davi is really having the time of his life making this movie, absolutely devouring the scenery and asking for seconds.
And then Madsen takes over for him because they were brothers! What!?! This also ends with Crystal watching babies be born and their umbilical cords get bitten as everything gets so dark that we don't know if we're watching the strange mutant kids eating afterbirth or the baby. Or the mother? Man, this went all art movie at the end and super slow motion, which doesn't match the rest of the movie, but hey, Madsen isn't even listed on the movie's IMDB, so who can say with this thing. It feels like it has something to say about money and small towns and Hollywood but eventually just ends. That's a bold choice.
*The Lovecraft story also inspired Bleeders.
**There's also a bad cut and paste in the credits so that Anthony Michael Pallino's name is in there twice. I mean, I make typos all the time, but I'm not releasing a movie on Tubi.
Not single redeeming feature of this movie
trancejeremy31 July 2023
I watched this mostly because I am a HP Lovecraft fan and this is loosely based on his story, The Lurking Fear. His name isn't in the credits, but it's clearly inspired by him, by the use of the name Martense and there unique eye coloring.
Essentially in the story, mysterious deaths happen around an old decayed mansion, and the narrator slowly discovers the horrible cause.
Here, there's no subtlety, a crew goes into an abandoned asylum. Only you don't really see that much. It jumps around and it basically turns into a sadistic torture porn story with the two lead characters, one being Robert Davi looking ridiculous with emo hair and a silly hat.
And while it's somewhat sadistic, it's not particularly gory. There are no scares, either, like i said, sadism seems the goal. But it's lame, as there is no character development except maybe for the bald sheriff.
Essentially in the story, mysterious deaths happen around an old decayed mansion, and the narrator slowly discovers the horrible cause.
Here, there's no subtlety, a crew goes into an abandoned asylum. Only you don't really see that much. It jumps around and it basically turns into a sadistic torture porn story with the two lead characters, one being Robert Davi looking ridiculous with emo hair and a silly hat.
And while it's somewhat sadistic, it's not particularly gory. There are no scares, either, like i said, sadism seems the goal. But it's lame, as there is no character development except maybe for the bald sheriff.
Absolute trash made by trash producers
laura-blair-261-45647015 August 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This filmed in Jacksonville, FL and the Producers left without paying the local cast and crew for the final weeks of filming. They still owe money to cast, crew, and vendors. There are a few of the Jacksonville talent in the film who never signed image releases due to never being paid. It is clear they edited out a good deal of the footage they filmed with the Jacksonville talent. It would have been a much better film had they been able to use that content to tell the story. The Lurker sets, costumes, and SFX were pretty darn awesome and you don't even get to see them. We worked very hard to accommodate a lot with little and in a very dangerous location.
The original screenplay by Director Darren Dalton was really good for a Lovecraft adaptation. He had this story WAY better (my opinion), and he was much better at directing the talent. But the influences of Robert Davi and the Producer/DP had us re-writing the script daily. We couldn't even keep up with the theme of the film and that shows here 100%.
When the Jax crew walked off on the last day of filming for non-payment, rather than pay the outstanding labor for cast and crew and continue filming, the Producers pulled in another "director/writer" and filmed additional scenes with Michael Madsen in Mexico (I guess). In my opinion, the script re-write and directing by Gillings made this film absolute trash. Those scenes look terrible, make no sense, and why is there a corn field in Jacksonville, FL??? Tubi should have never put their name on this and I sure hope the Producers didn't make any money as the film exploited dozens of great Florida talent.
The original screenplay by Director Darren Dalton was really good for a Lovecraft adaptation. He had this story WAY better (my opinion), and he was much better at directing the talent. But the influences of Robert Davi and the Producer/DP had us re-writing the script daily. We couldn't even keep up with the theme of the film and that shows here 100%.
When the Jax crew walked off on the last day of filming for non-payment, rather than pay the outstanding labor for cast and crew and continue filming, the Producers pulled in another "director/writer" and filmed additional scenes with Michael Madsen in Mexico (I guess). In my opinion, the script re-write and directing by Gillings made this film absolute trash. Those scenes look terrible, make no sense, and why is there a corn field in Jacksonville, FL??? Tubi should have never put their name on this and I sure hope the Producers didn't make any money as the film exploited dozens of great Florida talent.
What a piece of trash
Omne26 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Unbelievable. Plot holes you could literally drive a semi through. Suspension of disbelief doesn't even begin to cover this feeble attempt at a movie.
An unexplained large population of feral cannibals in an abandoned asylum building next to a major freeway interchange in a large city. Supposedly they had been there for a hundred years or so, without being noticed.
Throw in the heroine after a dozen or two people get killed off from a reality show, again without anyone noticing. Have her escape and get recaptured, not once, not twice but three times. By the third time you pretty much wish they'd just kill her and get it over with.
Of course there are a couple of accomplices that you figure out within a few seconds so no surprises there. Madsen does a horrible job acting, not that he's capable of much anyway, and he's still probably the best one. The two accomplices are allegedly Native Americans who like eating people. AIM should go after the people that came up with that particularly offensive plot twist.
The entire plot has so many holes it becomes painful to watch. There's no rational explanation for anything that happens. At the end she just wanders out a door and it cuts to the credits. No explanation of why they decide to let her meander out but who cares, at least it ended the suffering of watching this. So does she escape? Does she get recaptured? Does anyone even care by then?
Truly a movie that really has no reason to exist except as a bad example of film making. If this was a $50,000 indie film I could be more forgiving but it obviously had a larger budget that was completely wasted on a drunk screenwriter and laughable special effects.
An unexplained large population of feral cannibals in an abandoned asylum building next to a major freeway interchange in a large city. Supposedly they had been there for a hundred years or so, without being noticed.
Throw in the heroine after a dozen or two people get killed off from a reality show, again without anyone noticing. Have her escape and get recaptured, not once, not twice but three times. By the third time you pretty much wish they'd just kill her and get it over with.
Of course there are a couple of accomplices that you figure out within a few seconds so no surprises there. Madsen does a horrible job acting, not that he's capable of much anyway, and he's still probably the best one. The two accomplices are allegedly Native Americans who like eating people. AIM should go after the people that came up with that particularly offensive plot twist.
The entire plot has so many holes it becomes painful to watch. There's no rational explanation for anything that happens. At the end she just wanders out a door and it cuts to the credits. No explanation of why they decide to let her meander out but who cares, at least it ended the suffering of watching this. So does she escape? Does she get recaptured? Does anyone even care by then?
Truly a movie that really has no reason to exist except as a bad example of film making. If this was a $50,000 indie film I could be more forgiving but it obviously had a larger budget that was completely wasted on a drunk screenwriter and laughable special effects.
So so so so ao so very bad......
amymay-6991612 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This movie INSTANTLY started out not making any sense.......girlfriend hasn't heard from her boyfriend for 24 whole hours,drives 15+ hours to florida to find out what has happened to him. From the looks of it, theres a.....*checks clipboard* abandoned mental institution near a *flips page* MAJOR FUGGING HIGHWAY,yet somehow feral inbred folk are just running amok in the halls. Insane continuity errors,such as staunching a wound with the deputy's shirt (it was actually really stressed that pressure be applied to wound) yet NEXT SCENE has him wearing said uniform shirt,unsoiled. And that ENDING!?!? What even HAPPENED?!? Tied down,yet 1 minute later,wandering around,just LITERALLY WALKING OUT THE FRONT DOOR like no one else existed in the building. That ending was absolute confusing trash,because how escape was possible/achieved,i will never know. And to just stroll away as if the bad guy hadn't just said how useful the final person was to the continuation of the institution. It was MADDENING!! This movie sucked harder than the most expensive vaccuum cleaner ever made.
A likable enough genre effort but not much more than that
kannibalcorpsegrinder11 December 2023
After going missing during a film shoot, a team looking into the history of a local insane asylum is joined by a woman trying to find what happened to them, and as they explore the facility learn the devious nature of what's happening in the asylum forcing them to get out alive.
On the whole, this was a serviceable at best genre effort. Among the brighter spots here is a workable concept involving a slight twist to the reality-show-shoot feature. Although it starts with the exploits of the crew on the shoot and them going through their routine, it soon turns into a slightly different kind of effort where the group has now gone missing and the girlfriend of one of them heads off to the location to look for them and gets caught up in their same fate. That makes the first half somewhat more intriguing than expected with the search for the team and what they reveal about the backstory of the location setting this up with a decent enough starting point. After getting caught in the facility, this becomes quite fun with the reveal about the team still being alive and stuck in a demonic loop that showcases the genuinely chilling and creepy location. The confusing, never-ending layout, is believable as a location where what was thought to be demonic beings hideout in the shadows launching attacks on the team in several fine confrontations that take place inside the facility. This becomes what drives the final half here where the series of gruesome scenarios involves the reveal of the real purpose for bringing everyone together and what's at the facility which has some fine gore involved as well to give the film some positives. There are some issues here that hold it back. One of the biggest issues with it is the inherent confusion of what's happening to the team the longer they're inside. It's impossible to know if they're trapped in the real world or a supernatural realm, if the creatures are inbred human offspring or demonic entities summoned to the location, or even how the team got lost inside which is just a fraction of the questions this one raises. The other issue with this one is the twist reveal for the final half sending this into a bizarre series of reveals that are stupid in trying to piece together how these events come together and it's just difficult to care about this section which lowers this one overall.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and Brief Nudity.
On the whole, this was a serviceable at best genre effort. Among the brighter spots here is a workable concept involving a slight twist to the reality-show-shoot feature. Although it starts with the exploits of the crew on the shoot and them going through their routine, it soon turns into a slightly different kind of effort where the group has now gone missing and the girlfriend of one of them heads off to the location to look for them and gets caught up in their same fate. That makes the first half somewhat more intriguing than expected with the search for the team and what they reveal about the backstory of the location setting this up with a decent enough starting point. After getting caught in the facility, this becomes quite fun with the reveal about the team still being alive and stuck in a demonic loop that showcases the genuinely chilling and creepy location. The confusing, never-ending layout, is believable as a location where what was thought to be demonic beings hideout in the shadows launching attacks on the team in several fine confrontations that take place inside the facility. This becomes what drives the final half here where the series of gruesome scenarios involves the reveal of the real purpose for bringing everyone together and what's at the facility which has some fine gore involved as well to give the film some positives. There are some issues here that hold it back. One of the biggest issues with it is the inherent confusion of what's happening to the team the longer they're inside. It's impossible to know if they're trapped in the real world or a supernatural realm, if the creatures are inbred human offspring or demonic entities summoned to the location, or even how the team got lost inside which is just a fraction of the questions this one raises. The other issue with this one is the twist reveal for the final half sending this into a bizarre series of reveals that are stupid in trying to piece together how these events come together and it's just difficult to care about this section which lowers this one overall.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and Brief Nudity.
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