|
|
Phobic
Directed by Alexandria Lief
Released: 2002
Starring: Billy Parish, Anthony Azizi, Jennifer Townsend, and Katie Bowers
Running Time: 88 minutes
Joey Waters (played by Billy Parish) is an agoraphobic and has been ever since he witnessed the murder of his sister. Unable to leave his mother's house, Joey is forced to attend his meetings with his therapist via internet and have his girlfriend bring all of his homework assignments to him from school. When the killer (Anthony Azizi) starts to terrorize him while his mother and girlfriend are away, Joey must outsmart the madman from within the confines of his home. This isn't easy since the police think they've already caught their suspect and no one believes that Joey is in any danger.
The first hour of Phobic is almost entirely devoid of action and when the ball finally gets rolling, the pace is hurt by repetitious scenes of Joey wandering around in basically every square inch of his mom's house. Granted, the main character is an agoraphobic,
so it's obvious that we're not going to get to see a whole lot of scenery but the editing just isn't tight enough for the story to be interesting. The lighting and the camera work are both adequate but don't help the lack of dramatic tension. I have to wonder what Alexandria Lief will direct next, since it will be so easy to top this one.
At no point during the film did I sympathize at all with Parish's character, Joey. He's just a spineless and unlikable wimp. I hope I don't offend any agoraphobics when I say this, but I just wanted Joey's girlfriend, Cathy, to trick him into opening his front door for a second, kick him out, and then lock the door behind him. You know, just to watch him squirm around in the front yard for a while. Anthony Azizi's portrayal of the nameless killer has to be the least menacing performance I've ever seen. He is just this clean cut guy waving a knife around who occasionally delivers lines like "Do you have any idea how much blood this knife has tasted?" or "Now I've got to be… Nasty!"
The only character I found interesting was Cathy, played by Katie Bowers. This poor girl is standing by her man in spite of it all. She brings him his homework assignments and pleads with him to overcome his fears and come outside for Christ's sake. I kept hoping she would just rattle his cage a little, maybe with a good kick in the ass or a well-timed bitch slap. Joey, take your woman to the dance before I do.
I can't recommend Phobic for most viewers. The characters aren't interesting or convincing and the story never hits its stride. To make matters worse, the film is very tame, with only a little bloodshed and no shocking moments to speak of. If you actually make it through the relatively short running time of this film, you'll be just as flabbergasted as I was at how little you've been entertained.
For more information on Phobic go to
Viva
Morem.
|
|
