A marriage falls apart after a dutiful wife becomes the breadwinner after her husband loses his job. This angers him and after reveling in her humiliation, he leaves her. Fortunately, the wife lands on her feet, but not before she obtains closure with her brutish husband.
USA
USA
Discussion of sexual and emotional abuse ahead.
The first act of Stark Fear is nearly flawless, bearing a striking resemblance to Sam Fuller's The Naked Kiss — which would not come out for two years — with its brilliant use of high contrast black and white, and its stark depiction of the physical and emotional victimization of women. It also bears an uncomfortable connection to Russ Meyer's most brutal explorations of the seedy deep south — released in the next few years — in the way it depicts the way a woman simply walking down the street in a small town is seen and treated.
The film drops us into its story through visual and aural gestures: oil wells; a…
This is a strange little movie, that I actually really liked and I'm glad Nicolas Winding Refn dug up from the deeps of lost obscurity. I was hoping for a dirty little B Noir when I clicked on it. And for the most part that is what I got. Except it really isn't what I got. This is two different movies. A melodrama of sorts of a woman with her husband abandoning her, and that's fine. And this nightmarish, descent into madness of a man trying to drive his wife insane. There is a sequence into madness where Beverly Garland is trying to find her no good husband, and is torment and attacked. It reminded me if Samuel Fuller directed…
Add a star if you’re endlessly fascinated by low-budget, mid-century curiosities, but this has some serious tonal issues. A violent noir drifts into scenes of corny romance with occasional stretches of talky pop-psychologizing, plus whatever fourth movie the weirdly jaunty Americana score was composed for.
First- and last-time director Ned Hochman is clearly in over his head. There’s so much promise in the chase scene through a “Juke Museum” filled with grand self-playing instruments; he kicks it off by cross-cutting mannered closeups that offer no spatial cues and no kinetic energy.
The romantic montages (plural) of the heroine, Ellen, and her boss throw into relief the brutality of her scenes with her paranoid husband. Unnervingly played by former child actor…
If you are like me and take great pleasure in sifting through the dross to find a raw diamond then you are in for a treat with Stark Fear. On the other hand, if you are someone who is turned off by confusing storylines, bizarre shifts in tone, a voice-over narrator who disappears, and multiple endings, well... you might want to skip this one.
I just want to say that I really loved this flick. As far as originality it's a real humdinger. Somewhere in the first few seconds of the opening you get the impression that there's something different going on. The photography of Oklahoma oil wells is just stunning and it never really lets up. Then you get…
Wow. I can't even tell if this is feminist-leaning or the exact opposite, but the main character is subjected to patriarchist abuse from every man who crosses her path to the extent that she seems like a stand-in for deSade's Justine; the set-up is really. harrowing and the resolution has two women finding their joy and comfort in the arms of two men, which seems kinda contradictory somehow.
Many thanks to Sakana1 for putting this on my radar.
In a wonderful, Fuller-like opening, Beverly Garland (in a rare leading role) is punished by her shitty husband for committing the double sin of working outside the home and usurping him as primary breadwinner. Her photograph is smashed, she’s humiliated and demeaned, and all the while she apologizes. When he disappears and may lose his job, her search takes her to his hometown and old friends that he’d never mentioned. Who is he really, where does this sadism come from, and why does she keep blaming herself for the horrors inflicted upon her?
It can be a frustrating watch, this succession of traps for her to fall into or narrowly, temporarily escape. It gets pretty ugly too, albeit powerfully shot…
Beverly Garland is mentally abused by her husband Skip Homeier. She has taken on a job under Kenneth Tobey to make ends meet, but Homeier sees it as another excuse to have a go at her. Garland doesn't know what to do to please Homeier, but her upbringing tells her she must stick with him, despite her best friend Hannah Stone telling her otherwise. When Homeier disappears, and his boss tells her he is about to lose his job because of it, she goes in search of him. She goes to the small rural town he grew up in where she is confronted with his past and even has to deal with rape.
This was the final movie I watched…
The movie's title might make you think this is a thriller or a horror movie but it isn't. That being said, the presence of fear is very much present in this tale of violence against women. The display of verbal and physical abuse is as startling today 55 years later as it must have been for audiences in 1962.
Beverley Garland dives into her role and puts on a hell of a performance as the cute and sexy victimized wife/woman (I say both because it's not just her husband that tees off on her). Sci-Fi fan favourite Kenneth Tobey plays the nice guy who always happens to show up at the right moments.
It's not a roughie but a straight…
Ned Hochman’s thriller in which an oil executive (Skip Homeier) pleasures in the psychological cruelty of his wife (Beverly Garland). Also starring Kenneth Tobey and Hannah Stone.
The story concerns a violent husband who mentally tortures his wife, while ultimately planning to kill her. Although not one person believes her, she gets assistance from a surprising source.
Skip Homeier gives an okay performance in his role as the oil executive who is not a likeable character at all, while Beverly Garland is alright as the wife who doesn’t show a great deal of determination in terms of trying to get herself out of the horrible situation she has found herself in.
Elsewhere, Kenneth Tobey as Cliff Kane and Hannah Stone…
I guest edited the noir volume of Nicolas Winding Refn’s byNWR.com, and STARK FEAR is the first film featured: www.bynwr.com/volumes/dark-brink-of-love
Made by two University of Oklahoma professors, Ned Hockman and Dwight V. Swain, STARK FEAR is a psychological horror noir set and filmed in and around Oklahoma City and Norman. It stars Beverly Garland and Skip Homeier. The first time I saw it was on a very rough public domain copy--it's been beautifully restored by Peter Conheim. It's a weird, unsettling, dangerous-feeling picture.
In "Derrick Noir: Okies Go Hollywood," Philippe Garnier introduces STARK FEAR, showing how the pieces came together on this singularly twisted curiosity. Read his intro to the film here: www.bynwr.com/articles/derrick-noir-okies-go-hollywood
There's also an essay about Dwight V. Swain from Chris Offutt and fiction, photos, and music inspired by the film from Erika T. Wurth, J. David Osborne, Gabino Iglesias, Tyler Keith, and me.
An hour and forty minutes ago, I had no idea this film existed. Now, it's a film that will stick with me for the rest of my life.
Stark Fear is a very low budget, raw and mean spirited film-noir from 1962 and all I can say is... I wish more directors were like Nicolas Winding Refn. His career outside of making films is restoring them and he always goes for the underdogs of cinema. Forgotten gems no cunt has seen or heard of before. I did in fact have to stream this as unfortunately despite the effort put into restoring the film, absolutely no label has decided to actually release it. Bastards. Thank god for NWR.
I don't want…
