Fear (2014)
| Title: | Fear |
| Director: | Steve Kahn |
| Writer(s): | Steve Kahn |
| Cast: | Jessie Rabideau |
| Genre(s): | Psychological/Horror |
| Release Date: | 2014 |
Steve Kahn, the writer and director of short film Fear contacted the team here at EHC through email. Checking out the trailer along with the stills on offer at his site I was intregued and decided to experience his short film and express my findings here.
Fear is Steve’s third short film.
A woman seemingly going through her daily ritual of having a bath, washing her and shaving her legs starts to experience little changes in the moment that build on each other to a crescendo.
Fear is a short film of 14 minutes duration set for the most part in the woman’s bathroom. It is prestine and white at first glance but there are little changes that keep building up as is the promise given to us by Steve. Some perceptible while others I had to question is that happening or is it me. I swear I noticed even changes in the colour of her eyes, but then thought maybe that is me….interesting! Even the before mentioned prestine conditions are not quite as they seem, underneath the surface everything isn’t quite perfect.
Films where you question what is happening and contemplate the meaning of it all are always great to me and Fear succeeds. Is the woman a suicide victim where she is in a limbo remembering aspects of what happened while not realising she is in this ghostly state or is something else? A clue is the phone ringing and for her to answer and nobody on the other side along with other stuff. Along with this is the ending, is it an aspect of moving on or something else. But then reading the information on the Facebook page Fear could be about small things building up in the mind that lead to paranoia and anxiety. Either way this truly intrigues this viewer! I feel filmmaker Steve Kahn could have been keeping this open for the interpretation for the viewer.
Fear is an experience that allows the viewer to contemplate what they have just seen. It is beautifully shot and Jessie Rabideau is well chosen as the woman. Jessie shows a lot of physical changes with her experiences as we travel through this short film; from normalcy, confusion and the obvious, fear! If what I mention with open interpretation and contemplation is what Steve intended Fear succeeded in this viewer!
