Naked Fear

Plot synopsis:
The story begins with a naked woman in the middle of nowhere, obviously under duress. She falls after being shot. A man walks up behind her and executes her with a pistol.
The story then shifts to Diana, a young and gorgeous dancer starting a new job in a nightclub. She's lured to a small town in New Mexico with promises by club owner Jack to pay her well for performing on stage at his club with later prospects of working in Las Vegas. Fred, Jack's agent, pays for her airfare, puts her up in a motel, takes her driver's license, charges her back for his expenses with interest, and threatens her references should she flee. Unable to make enough money dancing, she falls deeper into debt until she is forced into prostitution. Soliciting her first "client" Colin Mandel, she gets in his jeep but at the last minute she changes her mind, only for Mandel to choke her unconscious.
Diana wakes up naked in a field. She spots an airplane nearby and walks towards it. As she gets closer, she sees Mandel stowing his gear, so she hides behind a tree trunk. Hearing her approach, he tells her that he's giving her a fifteen-minute start. He fires a bolt near her as a warning and she turns and runs into the wilderness.
The boomtown population is highly transient and it's not unusual for people to go missing. However, Dwight Terry, a recently hired sheriff deputy—who had lost a previous job due to arresting a prominent person—is concerned about the disappearance of Diana (and other women from the club), and begins to question Jack. Jack denies any involvement, saying he has enough trouble getting girls to perform at his club.
Dwight begins to question the club owner's business, but is warned off by Sheriff Tom Benike. He realizes that he's on his own in solving the case. His wife is similarly unsupportive, fearing he might lose his job over "some slut." He breaks into Mandel's home, whom he suspects of being responsible for the disappearance. He is stopped by Benike, who had been alerted to a possible break-in by a neighbor.
Diana is spotted by Mandel multiple times but she manages to lose him over and over. He even shoots a poisonous snake before it can strike her, denying her the "easy way out". She climbs up a cliff. Mandel sees her and begins to climb up after her. As he reaches the top, she appears holding a large rock over her head, which she throws down on Mandel, causing him to fall.
She stumbles upon a man and his two sons who are out hiking. Diana collapses, unable to speak. The father takes her to their tent, where she falls asleep. He sees her wounds and realizes that something happened to her. After praying with his sons, he leaves to seek help.
Meanwhile, Mandel has regained consciousness and resumes his hunt, following Diana to the camp. After attempting to persuade the boys to allow him to take Diana with him (ostensibly to fly her to the hospital in his plane), Mandel kills them. Diana takes Mandel's gun, only to discover it's uncocked. He advances on her, but Diana stabs him in the leg, bites his ear off and runs off again, finding the father's corpse along the way.
Diana finds a road and is hit by two young men driving a van. Following a brief skirmish, she manages to run down and finally kill Mandel with the van. After driving back to town, she is taken to a hospital, but the experience has left her much like a dangerous animal, wary of human kindness. Dwight brings her flowers and is told that she's chewed through her restraints and escaped.
Ten months later, posing as a prostitute, Diana lures a man and kills him, stepping out of his car and walking away. A news report attributes the resulting dozens of killings of sex offenders to a Vigilante dubbed "The Southwest Slayer."

Tags: murder

Review:
With a friend like this guy who needs enemies?. With movies going straight to DVD pretty often these days the Midnight Movie may soon be a thing of the past. Too bad because that is right where this sort of movie belongs. Brought to us by Gregory Lamberson, who also gave us SLIME CITY (qv) this one offers us Camden, an agoraphobic man (Robert Sabin, who melted real good in SLIME CITY) who has inherited his dad's law firm. Camden has a pathological fear of crowds so he runs the business in absentia from his apartment. He lives by proxy, watching the world through a telescope that is pointed at the street and everything he needs is delivered to him by employees. Finally his doctor suggests he try to work through his psychosis by getting a roommate. The person he chooses is Randy (Tommy Sweeney) who seems decent enough but we soon learn he isn't.Randy is partners with the guy who delivers Camden's groceries. Their plot is to break in, drug him and steal everything out of the house. Just when we think the movie is going in a certain direction we take an unexpected shift. As the robbery is starting Randy kills his partner and Camden, not knowing any better, thinks his new roomy is a hero.So has Randy reformed? Are you kidding? A little later he offers some therapy of his own when he brings Camden a hooker. Alas, when the poor guy cannot perform Randy brutally kills the woman; and then even wastes her pimp who has been eying the apartment suspiciously. By now Camden is getting nervous (wouldn't you?) but when his lawyer tries to boot Randy out of the apartment guess what happens.Now right about now you'd think romance would be pretty far from Camden's mind, right? Well just keep repeating "It's only a movie . . . only a movie . . . only a movie . . ." because Cam is fond of calling 900 numbers (insert a joke of your own choice here) and one night night he hooks up with Julie (Peggy Crow) who is just as lonely as he is. Their long distance relationship blossoms into a face to face meeting and begins to look like True Love. Ah, but what about Camden's deadly friend? Sorry, that would be telling! You can find out the rest for yourself.Okay so the budget is low (mostly all we see is Camden's apartment and I suspect that was the actor's for real home) and gore effects are minimal. This is more a psychological drama than a terror film. The three principal characters all have problems but Randy is by far the worst; while Camden and Julie hope to find strength from each other Randy's inner demons have manifested into compulsive serial murders.So is NAKED FEAR good? I would call it Fair. Is it a cult classic? no way! (Sorry Gregory) Is it worth seeing? Well, give it a try. Bring some friends over and pretend you are at a midnight screening on a college campus, that will probably help you to enjoy it more.. Lamberson's Lowest Budget, But Still a Decent Film. Camden, an agoraphobic man (Robert Sabin) has a pathological fear of going outside. He lives by proxy, watching the world through a telescope that is pointed at the street and everything he needs is delivered to him by employees. One day, he decides to get a roommate, and the person he chooses is Randy (Tommy Sweeney) who seems decent enough but we soon learn he isn't.It's nice to see Sabin and Sweeney together in one film, both with lead roles. After Sabin's "Slime City" and Sweeney's "Undying Love", it was necessary to bring the two together for a low-budget extravaganza. And "Naked Fear" is just that... and then some! Director Greg Lamberson drops all the pretenses with this one. Lower quality film than before, cheesier dialog (with some lines that are hilarious, perhaps unintentionally)... and even the blood effects were not nearly as awesome as they were in "Slime City". The film was done with more takes than usual, though, some in many ways the quality has improved if you look past the budget restraints.I watched this with a friend and a few beers... we laughed pretty hard at the subtle homosexual humor and such lines as "my old girlfriend was hot and cool". Just really bad dialog... so bad it's good! If you have the chance to pick up Alternative Cinema's Greg Lamberson collection, do it... films like this can be enjoyed again and again.. A nifty indie psychological thriller. Lonely and paranoid agoraphobe Camden (a likable performance by Robert C. Sabin) takes in the seemingly friendly Randy (a creepily intense portrayal by Tommy Sweeney) as a boarder in his apartment. Unfortunately, Randy turns out to be a claustrophobic psychotic and Camden finds himself a frightened prisoner in his own home. Writer/director Gregory Lamberson, who also gave us the good'n'gory low-budget horror splatter hoot "Slime City," ably crafts an absorbing and interesting psychological thriller that benefits substantially from well-drawn characters, a neatly moody score by Steve Brown, Stephen Buckley and Nelson Wakefield, an appropriately gritty New York City atmosphere, a funky wailin' trash rock soundtrack, snazzy no-frills cinematography by Gene Davis, and an increasingly edgy and unsettling tone that becomes especially nerve-wracking in the harrowing last third. Sabin and Sweeney are both excellent in the juicy leads. The rest of the solid no-name cast are likewise fine: Peggy Crown as Camden's sweet newfound artist girlfriend Julie, Terry Spivey as Camden's friendly lawyer, Nelson Wakefield as sleazy hoodlum Jimmy, Amanda Fraser as a hot hooker, Christopher Caver as a mean pimp, and Denise Rusczyk as ditsy cokehead Sweet Thing. A real sleeper.. better than Slime City. After witnessing the aftermath of his parents being shot and killed by a random mugger right outside their apartment door, Randy (Lamberson film regular, Robert Sabin), now suffering from severe agoraphobia finds a roommate in Randy, not a good friend to say the least. This entire film can be found on the DVD of "Slime City" and while this movie's extremely minimal (most of the film takes place in one location), I found this better acted and more interesting then Greg's earlier film. Not really a good film, but an enjoyable one. Perhaps this should have came out on DVD with Slime city as the extra lol.My Grade: C Eye Candy: Amanda Fraser gets topless