I watched Fear Itself last night and it was an interesting piece of work which used clips from over a hundred years of horror cinema to create something new. It talks about how the scariest movies exploit our greatest – and most basic – fears.
Charlie Lyne’s film explores how filmmakers scare us – and why we let them. The monologue and story is told from the perspective of a girl haunted by traumatic events, here presented through clips of films as varied as Vertigo, Psycho and Nosferatu- a real smorgasbord of world cinema over the last 100 or so years.
This mesmerising journey through horror cinema looks at the fundamental nature of fear and there are profound truths toldincluding my favourite line “You never see fear coming ‘til it swallows you whole”. The film covers a lot of ground; school shootings, home invasions and the fear of the great unknown: all are presented with a though provoking monologue spoken with gravitas that draws you in.
This is an unusual film as it feels almost like a YouTube mash up or a think-piece from Radio 4 but the effect was unsettling. It was enhanced by the fact that I live in the countryside and my wife and child are away, my cottage is old and creepy and whilst watching this I locked my bedroom door and didn't go downstairs to pee. It's not wet yourself scary but there is definitely a higher filmic literacy required here to appreciate its full effect.
