Fear Pharm (2020)

Fear Pharm: Directed by Dante Yore. With John Littlefield, Tiana Tuttle, Aimee Stolte, Emily Sweet. Four people enter a corn maze for Halloween and are picked off one by one by the twisted family who own the scare attraction.

“Cheerio from my local.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf youu0026#39;re the sort of horror fan who loves tropes, clichés and zero originality, preferring the comforts of the tried and true, then you might find some joy here. Some. To be fair, if youu0026#39;re a true fan of horror and the zillion sub-genreu0026#39;s, then you have to accept a reasonable amount of recurring themes. Having a Final Girl in a slasher shouldnu0026#39;t cause anybody to have a coronary – itu0026#39;s a classic…however, to studiously print out a slasher trope punch list and ensure that each box is checked in your film isnu0026#39;t going to earn you high praise. It doesnu0026#39;t have to be Eden Lake or Martyrs…just try a little bit. Horror fans are the most forgiving fans ever…itu0026#39;s the MCU types who lose their minds. Not us, weu0026#39;ll watch most any new flick.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOkay…nOpening Scene: Half-dressed girl frantically running from crazed killers. Cut to sunny skies and a middle-class suburban house – upbeat music and intro the next group that will die in Act 3 (and ID The Final Girl – always a fun game). Cut to Road Trip and more inane banter…and finally, the destination where, in this case, they meet Central Casting killers. Cookie cutter.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSure, sure…I hear you…itu0026#39;s supposed to be comedy horror celebrating the tropes, which in itself, is a trope (thereu0026#39;s a lot, but 2015u0026#39;s The Final Girl is a lot of fun).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo, some positives: Aimee Stolte (as Gemma) is an entertaining psychopath and the scene where sheu0026#39;s peeling the skin off Hershel and the ensuing dialog about the tough lesbian is great. Since Fear PHarm 2 is in production (I think) more of her and that witty dialog would be big boost.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTiana Tuttle (as Melanie the Tough Lesbian and Janeane Garofalo look-a-like) is easily the best performer in this. I could see her as a genre regular like Jocelin Donahue or Scout Taylor-Compton.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe motivation for the terror is actually original and the ending is fun. Despite my harsh words, I think a 5 is more than fair for this effort.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCheers.”