This is a shorter review I have written for IMDb; my full review is linked in the external reviews. The reason I am posting a review on IMDb as well is because there are none posted as of yet, and Fear Town, USA is a very funny movie I feel a lot of people may be missing out on because of a lack of reviews. Hopefully it will be seen more and more reviews will be posted soon.
It is St. Blevins Day and a big party is being thrown by a descendant of the person for whom the holiday is named. Among the many guests showing up for the party, whether they were invited or not, are a group of roleplayers suffering from the same malady affecting roleplayers the world over, they've never been laid, three college girls with one of them harboring a dark secret that could endanger them all, a teenager looking for love in all the wrong places, and a group of party-wannabes so unpopular with the party goers they were sent a special invitation stressing they are not invited.
But these guests are not the only ones showing up at the party as the night before the party news was broadcast of an escaped mental patient on the loose. Now there is a stranger in a welding mask stalking the party goers, but that's not all, not by a long shot as there is also a ghost, guys in black robes, and even the devil himself! Any movie you start to watch, as a reviewer, has a mystery to it as you just don't know what to expect. This can be especially true of an indie film. I have been lucky so far in the indie films i have reviewed as I have seen 3 very good films in a row, including this one.
Fear Town, USA starts off with a bang (seriously, no pun intended) and ends with a...a....an ending so bizarre and controversial it will have you thinking by comparison that the ending of Sleepaway Camp is as tame as a newborn pup.
What takes place between the beginning and end is not a roller coaster ride, as a roller coaster ride has it ups and downs and gives you a chance to catch your breath, but don't get so complacent with the thought the comedy is going to let up enough to allow you to catch your breath between laughs, because it will not.
Fear Town, USA spoofs horror movies from the 70s and 80s, but it's not just a parody, as a parody usually requires a familiarity with the subject it parodies. Fear Town, USA will hit those sensitive laugh chords whether you are familiar with some of the movies it spoofs or not. The comedy writing in this movie is so well done and so rapid-fire in successfully hitting its target.
It's not just the writing that works well in this movie as the acting is above what one would expect from a low budget movie. These people know what they are doing and it shows. There is one scene, of course among many, that involves the geeks and a cult, and, without spoiling it, the body language of the actors combined with the writing just hits it out of the park in a comic homerun. Each of the three college girls alone would be an asset to any movie, but they are all three in this one movie and play off of each other well.
The three college girls, the geeks, the teenager, the outcast stoners, the mind reader, the feuding couple, the devil himself, among others (excuse me while I catch my breath) could all carry their own without the need for anybody else, and yet they are all here in the same movie doing their own thing and working off of each other, and the end result is simply hilarious and in my opinion well above any of those horror parody movies, you know the ones I'm talking about, and other parody movies in the past few years that have big name stars and millions of dollars behind them.
Don't get me wrong, this is a low budget movie not made on expensive Hollywood sets or on expensive film equipment. Fear Town, USA was made on a budget of $10,000 by film school students and improv comics and the end result just knocks one comedy homerun after another out of the park and is simply amazing what they have achieved with such a budget that is well beyond any expectations.
Do be aware, as I did mention earlier, that the ending of this movie is truly something unto itself that just simply makes Sleepaway Camp lukewarm by comparison. You have been warned! Presently this movie is available to watch online for free. You can find it on YouTube and Vimeo.
