The Fear Chamber (2009)

Directed by Kevin Carraway [Other horror films: Se7en Below (2012), Way of the Wicked (2014)]

I don’t have too much to say about The Fear Chamber because I don’t really think there’s much that could be said. The movie is somewhat functional, but it feels pretty generic and aside from a decent performance or two, doesn’t strike me as memorable whatsoever.

I can say that with at least a little confidence because this is the second time I’ve seen the film, and I didn’t recall too much from my first time watching this. I can imagine it’s partially the plot – a detective searches for a serial killer, all while having visions about the victims. There’s not really much more to it than that, and that twist they throw in at the end was somewhat laughable (the twist itself wasn’t bad, it’s just that it involved a specific character, and as soon as that character was introduced an hour previously, I knew the exact twist they’d go for).

Nothing here really screams originality. The gore is more implied than anything. Only one scene really stands out, in which the killer is removing some teeth from a poor victim. It looked reasonably painful, but still wasn’t that bloody, and other than that, there’s not a lot for the film to offer.

Really, the only thing that I thought was actually good would be some of the performances. The lead Rhett Giles was okay, but of the central actors, I thought he was the weakest. I liked the killer, played by Richard Tyson – he had some strong moments, especially toward the finale. Both Steven Williams (X from The X-Files) and John Duerler were solid too, and it’s sort of odd seeing Williams in a movie with this kind of quality.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think The Fear Chamber is nearly as bad as others seem to. At the time of this writing (for posterity, that’d be October 16th, 2021), this film sports a 3.3/10 on IMDb, with 519 votes. I know that tastes differ, but I don’t think it was that bad whatsoever.

More than anything, it’s just overly generic, and doesn’t stand out well at all. It might be a reasonable way to spend an hour and a half if you’re in a pinch, but this is one of those films that I struggle to see making anyone’s “Underrated horror films” list.

5/10