He who is fearful to many must fear many. Talented director Ridley Scott in collaboration with no less talented, albeit knocked on the head artist Giger his painting “Alien” spawned a whole branch of the genre about a cunning monster that hides in the shadows and guts innocent people. No, of course, long before that there were movies with the participation of space monsters, but it was that monsters — tentacle-spiral monsters with a couple of dozen eyes and even more mouths. And creatures that had the structure of the human body, but by their very appearance caused disgust or even fear, such creatures did not exist. Not before the Xenomorphs. And our guest today is perhaps one of the earliest imitators of "aliens." So this is "Frightened to Death."
The action of the picture develops in the eighties of the twentieth century, somewhere in America. In a quiet and peaceful town, where nothing terrible happened, and therefore the brains of law enforcement officers atrophied, and all they have is to constantly chew donuts and declare that we are all right. Actually, this town just begs for the appearance of a serial killer of repulsive appearance, and the latter does not take long to wait, already in the fifth minute killing his first, but not the last victim. The police on what is happening waved his hand with the words mad maniac killer and calm down, and if not calm down, then sooner or later Mulder and Scully will come to rest the raging monster. And these guys are the people's taxes? You know, I understand the people of Texas. No, I really do. Not only do the cowboys keep guns at home, they can use them against the offender and they won’t get anything for it. I wonder why no alien landed in Texas, huh? But I got distracted. So the only one who is ready to challenge the monster is a former police officer, and now a writer who, together with a girl scientist, will climb into the dark catacombs under the city and score the beast with a flashlight. Or they will try to do it.
Unfortunately, all this sounds much better than it looks, for the simple reason that the viewer does not see a parody film mocking stupid people faced with no less stupid monster, but a serious horror story, and therefore all that is happening, the viewer must take at face value. And that's the problem, because I personally can't stand to watch the monster kidnap and sometimes kill people, and the police, instead of imposing a curfew and starting to scour the city, announce that the killer is caught and nothing to worry about. I also can’t stand to see the monster with the proud nickname Singenor. I can't look at him because I can't see him. And yes, I can understand more than a modest budget and a nondescript monster costume, but according to the law of the genre closer to the end of the picture, the monster should appear before the viewer in all its glory, and here this does not happen and as the whole film was in the dark and the final battle with the monster takes place in impenetrable darkness. Just call Riddick to explain what's going on here? But the biggest problem of the film is not even the lighting, but that the creepy monster created by mad scientists for military purposes moves at the speed of a turtle. You know, I've seen some of the weirdest monsters. I saw a monster that looked like a cross between a frog and a turtle and moved accordingly. I saw white biomass that people ate first, and then this thing started eating people. I've seen all sorts of things, but the terrible monster that even a man without two legs and one hand could escape has never been seen before. Obviously, William Malone, when he came up with this “glorious” monster, used something tantalizing.
As for the people involved in the project, I usually limit myself to the phrase “like the movie, like the actors”, but this is a special case. The fact is that the actors play at an average level, their dialogues do not resemble the delusions of the insane, and they demonstrate emotions from time to time. And for this kind of film, it is already something incredible.
As for the atmosphere, then the situation is also quite ambiguous because for the escalation of the situation are responsible musical compositions and the fact that most of the film takes place in the dark, but not the monster or the behavior of this or that hero. In principle, this could be added to the plus of the picture if not for one “but” and it is that the creators of the picture stuffed into the film sounds from the films “for adults”, which should emphasize that the characters of the picture are not jokingly scared. And you know, it is difficult for me to take the film seriously when a monster appears on the screen, and the girl, looking at the latter with bulging eyes, makes moans indicating the receipt of unearthly pleasure, but not about the all-consuming horror.
Summing up, I want to say that before the viewer there is a film that could turn out even good if the creators were shooting a comedy horror film, and not a serious film. And so it turned out a picture that I do not want to scold and praise that there is not much for it. In principle, if you are an avid horror film, which is not biased to the films that came out in the last century and whose budget hardly exceeded a thousand dollars, then you can watch this film at your leisure. Who knows, you might even like “Frightened to Death.” I would strongly advise everyone to pass by.
5 out of 10