{"id":26242,"date":"2014-10-06T12:55:25","date_gmt":"2014-10-06T16:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=26242"},"modified":"2017-09-05T12:59:31","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T16:59:31","slug":"phobia-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/06\/phobia-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Phobia (2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s interesting that director Rory Abel\u2019s horror drama \u201cPhobia\u201d works on various levels. As a movie about a man dealing with the trauma of a horrible accident that left him an agoraphobe, \u201cPhobia\u201d works. I found much of the material involving agoraphobia to be very compelling, and often very suffocating. Director Abel is able to convey a shockingly accurate depiction of agoraphobia, with actor Michael Jefferson giving a remarkable turn as a man confined to his two story brown stone. It\u2019s when the movie transforms in to a more supernatural thriller is where it falters.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cPhobia\u201d centers on a man named Jonathan whose horrific car crash that took the life of his beloved wife traumatized him forever. He\u2019s now an extreme agoraphobe confined to his house who suffers panic attacks by merely opening his front door. Despite being given orders by his visiting psychiatrist that he engage in some desensitization therapy, Jonathan is a victim to his own mental illness. Things begin to change though when a very attractive new grocery delivery woman named Bree appears, and Jonathan decides to change his life. But he begins being tormented by terrifying visions, he begins to wonder if he\u2019s really agoraphobic, or if wants to keep him inside. Pretty much all of \u201cPhobia\u201d is set within the confines of his Brownstone, as Jonathan views the house as a prison, despite its charms.<\/p>\n

Director Abel transforms the house in to a character all its own with every room becoming a potential den for menace or some kind of revelation. Much of \u201cPhobia\u201d feels very similar to \u201cRepulsion\u201d where Jonathan is more a victim to his environment when he begins suffering horrific visions of ghosts and demons. Director Abel confronts the character\u2019s mental stability, jumping back and forth toying with the audience, asking us to consider if Jonathan is going insane, or if he\u2019s really being haunted. Most of the demonic imagery is successfully effective, with the ghost of Jonathan\u2019s wife appearing as a corpse. There\u2019s even a creepy confrontation in his attic with a ghost donning spider-like legs. Where \u201cPhobia\u201d falters though is the eventual realization that the ghosts aren\u2019t really harming Jonathan per se.<\/p>\n

If they were inflicting considerable physical harm, or at least the threat of such, there\u2019d be a new level of terror present. But the hauntings and visions become repetitive, and once there\u2019s that nagging notion the ghosts aren\u2019t doing anything except giving Jonathan bad nightmares, the movie\u2019s momentum is lost mid-way. That doesn\u2019t detract from what is a strong horror drama, though. \u201cPhobia\u201d definitely sucked me in, and succeeded in portraying the more human elements of the narrative as horrific. The performances by the entire cast are impressive, especially by MacKinlay and Dubrey, as they help keep \u201cPhobia\u201d on a strong pace to a spooky finale. \u201cPhobia\u201d is an entertaining, cerebral horror drama, and one that deserves a watch for fans that love slow boil genre entries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s interesting that director Rory Abel\u2019s horror drama \u201cPhobia\u201d works on various levels. As a movie about a man dealing with the trauma of a horrible accident that left him an agoraphobe, \u201cPhobia\u201d works. I found much of the material involving agoraphobia to be very compelling, and often very suffocating. Director Abel is able to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,12],"tags":[302,477,501,703,1008,1087],"class_list":["post-26242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-halloween-horror-month","category-movie-reviews","tag-drama","tag-horror","tag-indie-film","tag-mystery","tag-supernatural","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26242"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26244,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26242\/revisions\/26244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}