The film’s tagline is, “There is No End,” and if ever there was truth in advertising, this is it. There is no end to the recycling of fearful clichés in the horror genre – storytelling becomes affliction, thanks to a low budget. Beginning with the basic premise of a witch unjustly burned at the stake taking revenge on innocent people one hundred years later, “Cycle of Fear” hasn’t even gotten past zippy, swoosh-y credits before instilling the fear of a derivative piece of work. Suddenly, it’s possible to appreciate “The Blair Witch Project” a little more – not because it has any substance, but because, at least, it starts from an intriguing premise and presents it with a clever cinematic gimmick.
Director Manuel Da Silva has enough panache to misdirect, in the magician’s sense of the word, audiences away from the film’s limitations. But Shane Clark’s script is demanding, and even Da Silva’s earnest, even heroic, efforts can’t keep the production from collapsing into a home movie. Fights are clumsily staged, locations like a psychiatric hospital come across as dorm rooms (an impression not helped by a too-young cast), performances are various shades of painful. Yet these are problems that can be cured with an influx of money; the same can’t be said of Clark’s script, which could probably benefit from one of the witch’s zombie-resurrection spells. Or some kind of magic.
Now Starring: Undercooked Pasta
As another cloned entry in the horror genre, “Cycle of Fear” comes stuffed with all the predictable plot twists and character types that have been parodied, or at least expanded on, by more imaginative films with better dialogue and more finely structured narratives. Teens getting it on? Oh, yes, they’ll die. Whiny characters with as much brain power as single-celled organisms? You bet. The story consists of an amnesic teenager recovering in an asylum a year after 14 other teens disappeared. Locked in her memory is a secret that not just one, but two villains with murky motivations are killing to get at. The rest is just undercooked pasta thrown at the wall to see what sticks.
Had there been even a glimmer of something other than the usual monster chase, it might have been worthwhile to complain about how “Cycle of Fear” indulges the horror genre’s most theologically suspect cliché, what I like to think of as the Excluded God Principle. But as it stands, the film’s conceit of a book capable of deciding for God whether souls go to heaven, hell, or get stuck in limbo is too silly to bother wondering how there can be a mention of heaven without bringing God into the picture. And the predictable ending – wags who hate Hollywood happy endings can take comfort in the horror genre’s enduring glee for evil triumphant – can’t be sensibly labeled illogical since, true to genre, “Cycle of Fear” has no identifiable internal logic. Things happen, ostensibly to scare or spook, highlighting a desire to manipulate audiences rather than let the chills come from a story well told.
While on the topic of endings, the inevitable set-up is dutifully present. Horror villains never die. They just beckon with the promise of sequels. Now that’s scary.
Entertainment Value: no stars
Technical Quality: no stars
Echelon Studios presents a film written by Shane Clark. Directed by Manuel H. Da Silva. Starring Valerie Morrisey, Rachael Ancheril, Sean Kaufmann and Diane DaSilva-Bowles. 92 minutes. Not rated, but contains violence and language. Visit www.echelonstudios.us for distribution information.
Frédérik invites you to discuss "Cycle of Fear" and more at his blog.
