Film Review: Know Fear (2021)

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SYNOPSIS:

After the possession of his wife, Donald Capel and his family activate a dangerous ritual in a book used to identify and banish demons, a ritual forcing each member of the family to communicate with the demon in their own unique way: to see it, hear it, or speak to it.

REVIEW:

There is a constant in the film world that, if a movie-maker exhibits enough florish in either style or substance with their work, they stand out. The reverse of showing florish, which is sparcity at its bare minimum, similarly helps the director to shine above others. Of course, the latter can simply happen by default due to budget constraints and not really tell the story of one’s talent. It does take a person creative enough, skilled enough, to grab the minimal cash obstacle and twist it to their advantage. Director Jamison M. LoCascio ,must’ve been given a bag full of minimalist skill tools to play with as a youth. A 10-time award winner on the ceremonies and festivals circuits, including the 2021 Alternative Film Festival Winter Award (Quarantine category: The Brothers), LoCascio continues to impress with his 2021 chiller Know Fear.

The story centers on the Capel family, who move into a new house that, unknowingly to them, houses a typically feisty and quite angry demon. The entity takes possession of the wife and forces the group to communicate with it in a unique way for each member (sight, sound, voice). The Capels discover a book containing a ritual which may vanquish the being and desperately try to do so to survive.

Even with the most microcosmic of funding, many lesser filmmakers will still lean on finding some level of computer graphic imaging to enhance their project, usually a vain attempt to gloss over its shortcomings elsewhere such as makeup and script. Even cheap, dodgy cgi can still distract the mind from the silly dialogue. LoCascio eschews the digital effect for the most part, in favor of simple billowing curtains, recorded audio effects and the physical lights going out kind of thing. It’s impressive because it asks of thee viewer to use their own imagination as to what presence is around the corner or in the closet. The helmer should also be praised for seeming to embrace fully the practical gore effect, well-used in some truly unnerving kill scenes. Suitably, his setups and staging leading up to the shock payoff have a nice, deliberate pace to them.

The cast acquits itself nicely, especially Jack DeFalco as the young nephew Charlie, who is put through an audio hell of nerve-shattering sounds at several points but manages a bit of tough guy steel-eyed grit through it all. Amy Carlson underplays nicely her slowly developing trauma as the possessed spouse. David Alan Basche shows a bit of rock solid heroism as the husband trying to keep everyone sane and alive.

My only issue with the feature is that the screenplay,  co-written by LoCascio and Adam Ambrosio, has moments of lacking in more backstory and exposition. Some of the motivations for character actions seem unexplained, leaving some question. There is a mention of the kids’ actual father not being in the picture and that the father figure in this piece, Donald, is the dad’s brother and wife Wendy is the aunt. Additionally, there is little explanation as to where the demon came from and why is it locked into that house.

As is often the case with haunted house horrors, the abode used here fits the mood and atmosphere well. It has a certain eerie feel to it, of something not quite right. This is a home with many rooms and somewhat spacious areas. When the lighting is muted or out in several moments, the place gives off a distinct air of dread that can only help with the essential dreary atmosphere that a horror film needs to succeed.

If you are game for something the opposite of $400 million James Cameron level of colorful visuals and awe, something stripped down just so your imagination can let itself loose, try Know Fear, as intense, gory and well-crafted of a terror film that a credit card with a hard limit could buy.