The Fear: Resurrection (1999) User Reviews (23)

Disappointing and Pointless Slash Movie

[claudio_carvalho · 4/10 · 24 October 2007]

Twenty years ago, the five years old boy Michael Hawthorne witnessed his father killing his mother with an axe in an empty road and committing suicide later. On the present days, Michael (Gordon Currie) invites his girlfriend Peg (Stacy Grant) and his best friends Chris (Myc Agnew), Jennifer (Emmanuelle Vaugier), Lisa Ann (Kelly Benson), Ned (Brendon Beiser), Mitch Maldive (Phillip Rhys) and Trish (Rachel Hayward) to spend the Halloween in the country with his grandparents in their farm. He asks his friends to wear costumes that would represent their greatest innermost fear, and together with his Indian friend Crow (Byron Chief Moon), they would perform an ancient Indian celebration using the carved wooden dummy Morty (Jon Fedele) that would eliminate their fears forever. The greatest fear of Michael is to become a serial killer like his father, but something goes wrong and Morty turns into his father, killing his friends.

"The Fear: Resurrection" is a disappointing and pointless slash movie that uses the interesting concept of eliminating the greatest innermost fear of each friend before it grows, but in a messy screenplay full of clichés. There are some exaggerated performances, like for example Ms. Betsy Palmer; others very weak, but in general the acting is good. Unfortunately there is no explanation why the dummy is brought to live; further, in spite of being surrounded by close friends, the group does not feel pain or sorrow when each one of them dies. The low-pace along more than fifty minutes could have been used to built a better dramatic situation. In the very end, Michael shows a charm that his father was interested that I have not noticed along the story. I do not know whether the previous reference was edited in the DVD released in Brazil with 87 minutes running time. The special effects are very reasonable for a B-movie. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Fear 2: Uma Noite de Halloween" ("Fear 2: One Night of Halloween")

A Movie with Too Many Thorns in Its Side

[Zanatos · 4/10 · 13 October 1999]

Those of you who, like me, were disappointed with the original 1995 horror yarn, "The Fear" will find more to be disappointed with in this silly little sequel. It sort of follows a similar plot, but it is impossible to connect to the original, with the exception of the presence of Morty, the mannequin monster made of wood. Here is a brief overview.

Twenty years after Mike Hawthorne (Gordon Currie, in a decent performance) witnesses his father brutally murder his mother and then take his own life, Mike is still suffering from the fear of that day. In hopes of ridding his fear, Mike takes his girlfriend and a bunch of friends up to his grandparents' home. His plan is for everyone to dress up in costumes that represent their fears, and then present the fears to the mannequin Morty. According to an Indian friend, this process is supposed to magically take away one's fear. What Mike doesn't know is that Morty is possessed with his father's spirit, and begins killing off the friends...or is it really Mike himself doing the killings? Who cares?

A have a few troubles with this film. The first lies with Morty. I thought the original made Morty look rather convincing. This time, it is painfully obvious Morty is a man (actor Jon Fedele) in a fake looking suit. This can especially be seen in early scenes, where Morty is still supposed to be inanimate, but if you watch closely you can see him blinking. Another trouble is that most of the characters don't try hard enough. Some of them do, namely Betsy Palmer, of Friday the 13th fame, who was excellent in this film. But most of them don't make the effort or weren't given the chance. Finally, there are the killings. The opening scenes involving ax murders were very convincing. Actually, when I saw them I thought I was in for a good movie. When the second half of the movie arrives, and the killings really start, everything falls to pieces. Deaths are either uncreative, unseen, or foreseen (glimpses of the next scene as Currie has a blackout). One character dies in the end and no one, including the viewer, even notices. While more characterization was needed in the beginning half, it wasn't too bad. The second half was. I think new director Chris Angel got to this point and really didn't know how to shoot the violent scenes, so they turned out real sloppy and pedestrian. A silly ending doesn't help either. Thus, unless you really loved the original and enjoy plucking splinters out from under your skin, you should probably skip "The Fear 2: Halloween Night." Zanatos' score: 4 out of 10.

Not any better than the original

[breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com · 4/10 · 3 October 2018]

It's a strange phenomenon when obscure films are released and somehow they end up getting sequels. How dothese kinds of events happen in the time of the 1990s? When The Fear (1995) came out, it wasn't a smash hit nor did it even gain marginally favorable reviews. It was a horror film that had a unique concept but lacked any kind of vision to help make it feel largely different from that of others in the same genre. The one aspect to the film that still remains a highlight was the antagonist named Morty; the wooden mannequin. Somehow, somewhere, someone found this movie to be groundbreaking and demanded a sequel be made. Not sure how this was accomplished with the absence of social media and internet reviews. But whatever. It's not like it was worth it. This followup is by no means any improvement to the original.

As like the original, the plot is very similar. A group of adults venture into a house for a weekend getaway during the Halloween season. The leader of the group, Mike (Gordon Currie) is seeking to rid himself of post traumatic stress. When he was young, he witnessed his mother's death after his father (Garvin Cross) axed her and kidnapped him. Now he's taking his soon to be wife Peg (Stacy Grant), her brother Chris (MYC Agnew), Mitch (Phillip Rhys), Jennifer (Emmanuelle Vaugier), LisaAnne (Kelly Benson), Ned (Brendan Beiser) and Trish (Rachel Hayward) all to his grandma Mams (Betsy Palmer). There, they plan on all facing their fears with the help of Crow (Byron Chief-Moon) and his friend Morty (John Paul Fedele). Written by Kevin Richards, the script doesn't try anything new with this plot.

There is barely a drive in this plot. The execution by Chris Angel as director has the same setup to that of the first film. All the characters come together for a ceremony to embrace their fears only to have Morty let loose on them. The fears the group have don't even vary from that of its predecessor. What is the point in rehashing the same material? Richard's script doesn't make sense from the beginning either. Mike's father kills his mother and yet when it's displayed on screen, it looks as though Mike's mother stumbled across a stranger who killed her. What was Mike's father doing out in the wilderness? How did Mike escape his rampaging father? None of that is explored or explained. Not even an exposition dump as some people say. What's even worse is how oblivious some characters are.

An example of this is when Crow explicitly says that a certain mystical item needs to be around Morty for it to keep the evil inside it at bay. However when the object is removed without him knowing, he doesn't realize until much later. Really? We can't be this neglectful. Yet even with these problems, there are a couple of noteworthy things. For 1999 and from what the film looked like it had budget wise, the physical and special effects don't look too bad. The Morty prop and suit worn by Fedele is about the same in visual texture as was the old suit from the first film. Although it's a tad redder in color. Sometimes it even looks like when the prop is still, someone is actually sitting in makeup. The special effects for this film are used more for Morty's physical transformations. Whether that be morphing his hands or entire body.

The cinematography to this picture though was rather unimpressive. Taking place in a similar setting to that of the original, nothing feels different about it. Shot by Brian Pearson, the camerawork is okay but just isn't enough to truly make the experience engaging. Mike, the protagonist also suffers from dizzy spells, where the screen will become wavy but that's about the only added feature. Pearson also worked on projects like Final Destination 5 (2011) and Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015). Then there's Robert O. Ragland who composed the score to this franchise (I can't believe I typed that) once more. And it's alright for what it's worth. It's has some deep thumping bass notes at points and can add some suspense to certain scenes. After all he did work on the original movie and Grizzly (1976).

Music and visual effects are really the only highlights. Why not see Morty do cool things right? However, the actors, the characters they play, the script itself and the camerawork are bland and more or less copies of what the original film had already done. It's just an updated rehash of the original.

Silly horror film

[preppy-3 · 1/10 · 9 October 2001]

A young boy sees his mother getting killed and his father hanging himself. 20 years later he gets a bunch of friends together to perform an exorcism on himself so he won't turn out like his father. All the stock characters are in place: the nice couple; the "funny" guy; the tough (but sensitive) hood; the smart girl (she wears glasses--that's how we know); the nerd and two no-personality blondes. It all involves some stupid wooden statue that comes to life (don't ask) and kills people. I knew I was in trouble when, after a great opening scene, we jump to 20 years later--ALL bad horror movies do that!

The dialogue is atrocious, the acting is bad (except for Betsy Palmer--why Betsy?) and the killings are stupid and/or unimaginative. My favorite scene is when two people are supposedly having sex and the statue knocks the guy off the bed to show he's fully dressed! A real bad, stupid incoherent horror film. Avoid at all costs.

Save your money!!

[H-Volke · 29 October 2002]

I don't know why I saw this movie, but I think the cover looked cool. And that's all the audience can expect when watching this nonsense. It simply tries to copy films like "Scream" etc., but it fails!!!! And how!!! More than 90 minutes no gore, nothing, and I expect that this was the r-rated version with all violence cut out. That this crap has been rated 18 in Germany shows that in this country censorship and ignorance rules by the FSK (comparable to MPAA or BBFC). Admittedly, gore and violence do no make a good horror movie, but even the dialogues are so dull and senseless that I had to pull the forward button as often as I could. My advice: save you money!!!!

And I thought the first film was terrible...

[capkronos · 1/10 · 9 July 2003]

Five-year-old Michael sees his mother getting axed to death by his serial killer father "The Highwayman," who later commits suicide. "20 years later" grown Mike (Gordon Currie, from PUPPET MASTER 4 and 5) invites seven of his friends to his secluded grandparents home to "master their own fears" at a Halloween night costume party. Morty, a life-size wooden doll kept in the attic by the Indian handyman, becomes possessed by the dead father's spirit and kills them off using their phobias. Characters are thrown out a window, drowned in a toilet, eaten by rats, blown up, etc. Morty morphs into the dad and a tree, walks around and makes stupid wisecracks. After finding a girl chopped up and stuffed in a cardboard box, the characters remain in the house, act cheerful, crack jokes and have sex.

The Morty design is good and Betsy Palmer (Mrs. Voorhees from the original Friday THE 13TH) is surprisingly delightful as the grandmother, but this thing is even more senseless and confusing than the original and is full of false scares, bad acting, brain-dead characters, repeat flashback footage and annoying distorted camera-work. Plus the only two minority characters (the Indian and a half-black girl) are the first to die. BLAH!

Can this sequel be worse than the original? You Bet!

[BlackMonk · 2/10 · 9 September 2000]

This movie was crap with a capital "C." The opening scene showed promise. But that "promise" was broken shortly after the viewer learns where the plot is going.

And the wooden statue, Morty, who was rather creepy in the original film, looks plain goofy in this one. It was so obviously just a guy in a cheap plastic costume. (And by the way, who else thinks "Morty" is one of the most un-scary names on planet earth? It ranks right up there with "Jimmy" or "Fred" when it comes to horror value. Or why not just name the wooden statute Henry-freakin'-Kissinger. "Run, it's Dr. Kissinger!" That'd be about as scary as "Morty.)

And then there's a scene where the "hero" hits his father's tombstone with---"a sledgehammer?" you might guess--"a two-by-four?" someone might venture. No, he angrily beats his father's tombstone with a twig---a freakin' twig. But worse than that, once the characters walk away, the tombstone actually, and inexplicably, bleeds. Oh brother!

There's also a Native American guy who lives with the main character's grandparents, but apparently, does nothing except Morty-maintenance. He perpetuates creepy Morty-legends, warns those who scoff, and even fixes Morty's arm when it becomes damaged during a childish prank. But for all his respect for and tenderness toward Morty, does Morty give a rat's hairy behind? No.

The movie drags on, and eventually several people die in ways that correspond to their worst fears (sort of). This film is a real yawner. Don't rent it.

Same old

[mvario · 5/10 · 21 May 2005]

They took the facade of the original movie and slapped it on a pretty typical teen hack and slash. The first one at least tried to be a little original, this one is pure formula. They bulked up Morty and changed his back story, so this film really has nothing to do with the first one.

This time around the cast is all young 20-something stereotypes (as opposed to the more mixed generations in the first film. This one also appears to be shot with even less of a budget than the first one. They've added a little more gore to this but dispensed with any nudity.

While the first one was't that good it did keep me interested. This was just too derivative, hardly distinguishable from a thousand other hack and slash films.

Useless sequel. Only for die hard fans of slasher movies.

[insomniac_rod · 5/10 · 25 August 2004]

Late 90's slasher condemned to the trash can. The premise is interesting: a group of teenagers drop a Halloween party. Their costumes must reflect their worst fear in order to defeat them. The worst thing is that a wooden figure of a man (yes you have to watch it to believe it) comes to life and kills these teens using against them their own fears.

"The Fear 2" is an useless sequel to a mid 90's disaster flick that everybody confused with 1996's teen thriller "Fear". In "The Fear 2" we have terrible acting, boring and standard direction, lame make-up and f/x, and the events happen very, very slow. The lead male character doesn't knows how to show emotions, even the wooden character shows more feelings!

The best thing about this movie is Betsy Palmer. She looks the same as in Friday the 13th! but this time she's a tender old woman (mother of the lead character).

Watch it at your own risk, it's not THAT bad but it's not even a good slasher flick. ONLY FOR DIE HARD FANS.

5/10.

How far will you go to help a friend?

[michaelRokeefe · 3/10 · 6 May 2006]

Mike Hawthorne(Gordon Currie)is witness to the brutal murder of his mother and suicide of his father Morty(Jon Fedele). Twenty years later, Mike gathers a group of his friends to his family's cabin in the woods for a Halloween party. While playing a game where the guests confess and confront their worst fears...Mike tries to summon the spirit of his late father. It is soon discovered that Morty's spirit inhabits a wooden Indian in the cabin. The statue comes to life and the blood bath begins.

Most of the F/X are not very convincing and the movie takes on a cheap teen slasher theme. Stale story pitifully acted. Cast members of note are: Kelly Benson, Phillip Rhys, Emmanuelle Vaugier, Byron Chief-Moon and veteran actress Betsy Palmer.

Weird wooden man thing kills people for some reason.

[BigSquirrel · 1/10 · 5 November 2005]

I have not seen the first film and if it anything like this have no great desire to.

Having just watched it a few hours ago I am struggling to remember a thing about it.

From what I remember it's main plot seems to be a group of very annoying people stay at a house with that dodgy old woman from Friday the 13th and are stalked by plank of wood man.

Some people die, the film ends, I am starting a law suit against the person who sold me this film as I want compensation for the missing time in my life.

I will pay u £1 to take this film off my hands......oh wait I already gave it away to a "friend".

Better than I expected

[mmc123 · 8/10 · 29 January 2000]

I suggested renting this movie to my friend and he obliged since he had already seen the film and he said it was okay. I thought the title was a bit campy since the version at our store was called "The Fear:Halloween Night". I expected this movie to be somewhat of a Halloween rip off with a killer wooden guy. But it opened with a good scene and the killer murdered two victims immediately and flashed forward twenty years later where his son who had witnessed him kill the two people(including his mother) and he even witnessed his fathers suicide is going to a secluded cabin in the woods with his friends and his girlfriend where he attempts to face his fears until a wooden statue comes to life with his fathers spirit. Pretty good for a sequel and I never even seen the first.

Clichéd slasher with slow build-up

[slayrrr666 · 6/10 · 12 December 2006]

"The Fear: Resurrection" isn't all that bad of a film, and is certainly full of love-it and hate-it moments.

**SPOILERS**

Going away for Halloween weekend, Mike Hawthorne, (Gordon Currie) and his friends Peg, (Stacy Grant) Chris, (Myc Agnew) Jennifer, (Emmanuelle Vaugier) Lisa Ann, (Kelly Benson) and Ned, (Brendon Beiser) arrive at his grandmother Mams, (Betsy Palmer) farm. When Mitch Maldive, (Phillip Rhys) and Trish, (Rachel Hayward) show up afterwards, he reveals to his friends that he wants them to participate in a ceremony that will eliminate their fears. This makes them all skeptical, and the doll used in the ceremony, Morty, is too much for Mike to deal with. When they start the game, they start to die mysteriously, and upon discovering the culprit, are forced to deal with their deepest fears to make it out alive.

The Good News: There isn't a whole lot of good things here, and the few good moments there are here belong mostly to the dummy, Morty. He still looks downright creepy, as the wooden body looks harder with a more menacing tone to it. From the first time we see it, there's an uncanny look to him, where we know that it's going to wreck some considerable damage when it comes to life simply by it's appearance. A lot of suspense is wrung out of him, and is undoubtedly the best feature of the movie. The other part that was pretty nice to see was the final confrontation, as it's finally revealed who's been doing the killing and it's an all-out war to stop him. That allows for some brilliant set-pieces, such as the one person afraid of making a decision ending up being tied to a burning car with an ax and forced to escape before the car escapes. It's a marvelously ironic scene and it's handled in the most appropriate way. The chases are pretty fun to see, and it manages to play out the traditional slasher film style, enabling some really fun scenes. With a fiery climax that really sends it out on a high, these are the few good parts of the movie.

The Bad News: With such few good things about it, there's some things really wrong with this one. One of the biggest is that it just simply goes nowhere for the first forty-five minutes, which is way too long a time to simply stand around and talk. That's what's mostly in the first half of the movie, simply nothing but talking. It's an incredibly excruciating time when nothing happens, and there's the constant threat of something happening but it's all for naught. That most of the time it's spent with people blathering on about their personal lives and not about what's important to the plot, there is indeed a large amount of time simply looking around waiting for the characters to do something interesting. The fact that Morty has been changed into a wise-cracking killer isn't all that good of a move, leaving him to be simply laughed at. He's physically imposing, but that the aura of mystery is removed, he's left a clichéd killer. That he doesn't really do all that much in the way of damage to the characters is also strange, as just about every kill is off-screen. That really lowers the film there, losing blood and gore from the film that's already slow and boring. It's a terrible offense and really doesn't bode well for the film. There's a couple other little factors at work against the film, but these here are the most damaging.

The Final Verdict: While not at all a really bad film, it just suffers from being too slow before it gets going. It's still a half-way decent, but it's nowhere near the top, or even the middle ground of these kinds of movies, and is really only recommended to slasher purists or fans of the first one.

Rated R: Graphic Language and some Violence

This is a BAD BAD movie ~ avoid !

[FountainPen · 1/10 · 3 March 2018]

What a failure ! This is a BAD horror film, lousy, a flop in all respects. I had to FF many times to get through it. You can bet there will NOT be a #3.

I don't think they'll be making The Fear 3.

[wellthatswhatithinkanyway · 29 October 1999]

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable.****Very Good.***Okay.**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead.*Avoid At All Costs.

I really should have learned my lesson by now. Horror sequels,no matter how interesting they may sound or how good their intentions may be,never work.

And this heap big pile of babababooshka meant one of the worst halloween night movies I'd had the displeasure of having out in ages. I should have got The Faculty out instead.

I only saw it because I remembered seeing the original ages ago,and was interested in seeing what wonders a sequel could toss up. Well,in some parts,dull,predictable,seen-it-all-before cliches were thrown up like anything. I mean,quarter of the way into it,I was left unimpressively baffled. Wow. He attacks his nutty father's tombstone with an axe,and,when he and his lover walk away,wow,it starts to bleed. How scary.(Bram Stoker's Dracula,anyone?)

And that scene with the snake in the forest was pathetically stupid. A snake could'nt survive in those temperatures. Pah.

On the charecter front,I was most amused by those 2 sexy blonde chicks.

But then,onto good old Morty.

In the original,he was a tortured,sympathetic horror creation who you grew to like towards the end. In this shambles of a sequel,a complete waste of time and money for everyone,he's a metamorphosising,crass,cack handed man like beast ,who quotes tired one liners on his hapless victims. I actually thought he looked like Dolph Lundgren a bit in the cupboard.

Sequels to excellent,sucessful horror films have stank (Candyman 2,An American Werewolf In Paris),but sequels to unknown,unappreciated horror flicks like The Fear are just torture to sit through. I just absolutely could not wait for this to be over.

Utterly unscary,paceless and boring,I would deter you from renting this movie as your halloween treat.*

The Fear: Halloween Night

[Toronto85 · 6/10 · 26 August 2012]

The film begins with our main character Michael at five years old witnessing his father killing his mother on Halloween and then committing suicide. Flash forward to present day (1999), and we see Michael and a group of his friends heading out a spooky house his grandmother owns to celebrate the holiday. Now if you've seen the original film "The Fear", you'd remember that the wooden life-sized dummy Morty used people's fears against them to kill. Well Morty is back and up to his old tricks. He takes the fears of the group and uses those fears to kill them off in "creative" ways.

I like this sequel much more than the original because it isn't as dark and depressing and we actually see more of Morty stalking the group. I like the plot line of Michael's father being inside of the Morty dummy as well. And this movie takes the Halloween tagline and milks it for all it's worth. For example, the group decides to dress up in costumes that represent their fears. One of them is afraid of sharks, so he dresses up as a shark. Another is scared of blood, so she dresses in all red. Oh and Morty looks way creepier in this film then the first one. And he can talk!

Overall, The Fear: Halloween Night is not a masterpiece but it is a better watch then the first film. It definitely has its slow parts through the fast half, but I like the Halloween theme to it and it is creative at times with regards to the character's deaths.

6/10

not your typical slasher film but...

[Insomniac_moviefan · 13 July 2002]

...it deserves to be watched for the only reason that you can see what a bad horror movie is. The plot was good, the acting wasn't that sucky, and this movie had a great beginning. Don't get me wrong, this movie had a good potential, and it had Betsy Palmer and hot girls, but turned out to be a mess in the end. Low budget, a lame score, off-screen deaths, and a killer that is to laugh for, make "FEAR : THE RESURRECTION" a bad horror film. What is a slasher film without on-screen deaths?

Anyways, check it out and think : more budget, and more wishes to make a good movie would make this a good one.

Kind of a let down...

[horrormb · 6/10 · 11 January 2000]

Well, I was somewhat entertained but this one, while trying to match the formula of the original, it fell short by mere miles. Somehow, I would think a blinking wooden puppet (maybe you've seen it) would make someone wary anyways and some things, such as the talisman, could have been used more effectively in the end. Too many things were unrealistic (stupidity statement) such as the grill and the pool. It had more of a Hollywood ending than I've seen in a while and the main highlight was seeing Betsy Palmer (Mrs. Voorhees) come back. It was too convoluted and senseless but it still entertained so I give it a 6 out of 10.

Didn't Make Sense

[ToyDollz · 25 March 2001]

I agree with the other person who reviewed this film. In addition, a lot of things didn't make sense or add up. I didn't expect this film to be good, but I also didn't expect this film to be so terrible. It's as if no one put a lot of thought into making this movie. (And yes, me and my friends saw the wood guy blinking, too.)

Cool movie, but nothing new

[lordzedd-2 · 30 August 2003]

Well, although it does stand on it's merit as a good slasher movie, all the elements are there. However, there really isn't much different then the first movie. Teens looking to overcome fear. A out of the way cabin, finding the wooden man, his name is the same as the first movie. When it's clearly a different character. I GIVE IT (7 STARS) ******* ON THE POSITIVE SIDE (+ HITS)

+ MORTY (The Morty monster was just as good as the first)

+ STORY (Explaining who Morty is and how he came to be works)

ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE (- MISSES)

• NOTHING NEW (It was practicle the same as the first movie)

= WEAK ENDING (Without giving anything away, the ending was tired and predictable)

Stupid sequel to a great film.

[Kektokio · 11 January 2000]

You know what!? They really screwed us over this time. How's that you ask? Well, they've given us an absolutely pathetic sequel to an excellent film. What I'm saying is that this film really really really sucks! It's not scary, it's not funny, it's not interesting, all it is is stupid. And you want to know something else that makes this film stupid? Morty (the dummy) talks! I thought when Morty moved around in the first movie it looked stupid, but now they have taken it to the next step (completely pathetic) and given him the ability to talk. The quality of the filming was bad. So don't see this film, it sucks. Oh yeah, and one more thing.. don't get this confused with the thriller 'Fear' which stars Reese Witherspoon. That was a good movie, and to keep it good, they didn't make a sequel. I give this film NO STARS!

Not a Bad Sequel

[obe-one · 4 December 2000]

Pretty good psychological thriller if you ask me.Not as good as the first, [for one you can see Morty's eyes blink in one scene] and the name "Morty" has got to be the dumbest name for a "monster".A decent ending also sold me on this movie. If you liked the first one, you should like this one.

Better Than Original

[Mike-842 · 24 November 1999]

Direct-to-video sequel to 1995 original finds a group of friends visiting a cabin on Halloween Night (as indicated by the title) and getting stalked by a 20's puppet. Characters are awfully boring for the most part, but it gets better as it goes along, thanks to Betsy Palmer's and John Fedele's (as Morty the puppet) campy performances.

**1/2