A Fantastic Fear of Everything

I bought tickets to this movie for its premier at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival based on the trailer alone and went in with some trepidation after checking its IMDb rating and reading some critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

Having seen the movie tonight, I can honestly say I feel like I'm from another planet then those reviewers. I absolutely loved this film! It was hilarious, creepy, intelligent, and unique. I was roaring through the whole thing, and it wasn't just me! The entire theater was rolling in their seats! The directer, Chrispian Mills was there and I stayed afterwords to shake his hand and tell him I am now a fan. There was a line of people wanting do the same thing.

I made an IMDb account specifically to tell you to pay no attention to the negative critic ratings. If you've seen the trailer and you think it looks like something you'd enjoy, then for God sakes go see it!

It's really great seeing Simon Pegg playing it as straight as possible, because it enhances the horror part of the movie. There still is comedy bits in there (the whole idea is kind of crazy to begin with), but it gets mixed well with those really great shocking moments throughout the movie.

An important character gets introduced very late in the movie, which can be viewed as a mistake or something bad, but even that sort of works for the movie. And it works because it is mainly a one man show. Heavy lifting that Mr. Pegg is able to do. The audio commentary on the disc of course showcases his sense of humor again. Not only for his fans, but for everyone who likes quirky and weird movies.

I went to see A Fantastic Fear of Everything with no expectations as I hadn't read any reviews and had been underwhelmed by a couple of Simon Pegg's recent efforts. To use a crude rating system i'd say that this was marginally better than Paul and a lot better than Burke & Hare.

I liked the originality of the story and the journey the character took through the movie. It was frequently amusing without ever getting to real laugh-out-loud comedy levels. Silly humour mixed in with quite clever stuff. I'm not sure how it'll go down outside of the U.K. and indeed I felt that it was more suited to a television rather than big- screen format. It's the sort of film I think you could really appreciate if you put it on after coming home completely inebriated from the pub, although you'd probably have to shave 10-15 minutes off the running time in order to stay awake till the end.

For any fans of Simon Pegg or independent cinema who may potentially be discouraged from viewing this film due to the low ratings, don't be fooled! "A Fantastic Fear of Everything" is an incredibly well-done film from start to finish. Pegg delivers a brilliant performance as an agoraphobic writer attempting to delve into the world of Victorian killers for a new book project. His paranoia forces him into a number of hilariously unfortunate and unexpected situations. This is not your typical middle school toilet humor nor does the film set up jokes you can see coming a mile away.

Overall, the film is humorous, entertaining, and incorporates a number of dark, unorthodox story-telling features (including bits of animation). Therefore, if you primarily enjoy big-budget blockbusters or expect that every film featuring Simon Pegg to be "Shaun of the Dead" that sadly, you will probably not enjoy this film. However, if you appreciate story-telling, exemplar acting, and something a little different than the norm, I would highly recommend this film.

I admit I like Simon Pegg, a lot, so I watched this movie just because of him. The first time I tried to watch the movie I turned it off just like after 15 minutes, today I tried again and I was very tempted to stop it at least a couple of times during the first half an hour, but in the end I sticked with it and I'm very happy of my decision. Yes, everybody knows this movies is not hilarious but that's not its goal, it's a movie about how Simon Pegg's character tries to overcome his fears. I found it funny from time to time but mostly I loved Pegg's acting and most of all I loved the direction. The animated part at the end of the movie is awesome, that alone makes the movie worth watching