Movie Review: Phobias (2021)
Phobias is a horror anthology written by Camilla Belle, Broderick Engelhard, Maritte Lee Go, Joe Sill, Jess Varley, and Chris von Hoffmann. It is about five different peoples’ experiences who are all connected through one overarching story, and all stories involve a different type of phobia.
The first story, titled Robophobia (The fear of robots, drones, robot-like mechanics, or artificial intelligence), stars Leonardo Nam. It’s about a guy who is living with and taking care of his father, who has fallen ill. We loved the special effects in this. Reminded us of ’90s horror and really kicked things off nicely.
The second story, titled Vehophobia (The fear of driving) stars Hana Mae Lee. It’s about a woman who commits a crime with her boyfriend, who after an argument leaves her to drive alone, which is more than she can handle by herself. This one was our favorite and had a Creepshow kind of vibe to it.
The third story, titled Ephebiphobia (The fear of youth) stars Lauren Miller Rogen. It’s about a middle-school teacher who is home alone one evening when she gets an unexpected visit from some of her students. We were expecting a Children Of The Corn thing here, but it ended up being something unexpected and was a nice surprise.
The fourth story, titled Hoplophobia (The fear of weapons, more specifically firearms.) stars Martina García. It’s about a woman who has PTSD from an incident that happened during a raid when she was a police officer. This one was very realistic, and sometimes the horror stories that are possible are the most frightening. Great writing in this.
The fifth and final story, titled Atelophobia (defined as the fear of not doing something right or the fear of not being good enough) stars Macy Gray. It’s about a businesswoman who is put in a tough spot when some measurements were not correct for a project her team was working on. This one had us puzzled the whole time, and when we found out what was actually happening, it was a pleasant surprise.
All of these stories are great in their own ways. The tension and atmosphere are prevalent throughout the five stories, and that carries over into the overarching story that brings them all together. We can’t go into detail on that part of the film without spoiling it, so we will just say that everything tied together nicely, and the lighting, score, and cinematography were excellent throughout the entire film. There were also some great practical effects thrown in, which is always nice. The acting was fantastic in this as well. Everyone did a stellar job here and had a lot of experience. And when the writing and acting are both tight, it’s always a winning combination.
Overall, this is an excellent anthology. We loved every minute of it, and it was the best one we have seen in some time. We felt like it did a great job of following in the footsteps of famous anthologies that may have inspired it like Trick ‘r Treat or Creepshow and pulled it off beautifully. We would highly recommend this film to all horror fans, and especially anthology fans. You won’t be disappointed.
Check out the trailer below, and be sure to see this when it releases tomorrow, March 19th!
