Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Scott LeBrun Admittedly, this low budget, regional (it was filmed entirely in New Mexico) variation on "The Most Dangerous Game" is rough going for its first 40 something minutes, as it takes too much time to play out and establish all of its details. The story sees a naive young woman, Diana (Danielle De Luca) arrive in NM from Texas; she's just gotten work as an exotic dancer. Meanwhile, a young man named Dwight (Arron Shiver) has recently become a deputy in town, and he's a guy who has his own (cliched) history. As one might expect from a film of this nature, the acting isn't particularly great (the film's one big name, Joe Mantegna, is basically phoning this one in), and the characters are pretty stereotypical. Things pick up after the dragging first act, when the story proper kicks into gear. Inspired by the real-life exploits of serial killer Robert Hansen, it shows how Diana is victimized after accepting a ride from seemingly genial local Colin (J.D. Garfield). Colin, you see, is a creep who likes to abduct women who supposedly "won't be missed" - prostitutes and the like - and set them loose in the wilderness after he's stripped them naked. After this the story becomes quite compelling as the unfortunate Diana struggles to survive and stay one step ahead of Colin. The appealing De Luca is a very brave young woman to tackle this role, as indeed she is obliged to run around in little more than her birthday suit and be at the mercy of not just the psycho but the environment. The nakedness, however, never comes off as exploitative but merely stresses this girl's vulnerability. The story is also developed in interesting and not entirely predictable ways, as Diana finds help - or so it seems at first - sooner than one would think. And when Colin decides to eliminate something in his way, one will applaud the filmmakers' brevity in going to that place. An offbeat credit for director Thom Eberhardt, best known for "Night of the Comet", this features some gorgeous scenery and a very good music score by Jeremy Scott Reinbolt, and is at its best when it's just Diana and Colin on their own in the country. It gets pretty visceral without ever getting very gory. It does lead to a resolution that is unexpected, ending this thing on a rather interesting final note. B movie lovers should find all of this to be agreeable enough. Seven out of 10.

MBunge Have you ever read or heard about the story "The World's Most Dangerous Game"? Well, Naked Fear could have been titled "The World's Most Dangerous Naked Game". And when it focuses on the nudity, it's trashy, vulgar fun. When the clothes go on, however, it's an amateurish disaster.The main story involves a pretty redhead named Diana Kelper (Danielle De Luca) who winds up stuck as a stripper in a New Mexico town, the victim of a half assed white slavery scam. Diana eventually winds up kidnapped by a psycho who drops her, buck naked, in the middle of the New Mexico wilderness so he can hunt her like she's a deer with boobs. While that's going on, there's also this other story about a new sheriff's deputy named Dwight Terry (Arron Shiver) who never really does anything important in the movie. There's something about him butting heads with the local sheriff (Joe Mantegna) and something about Dwight losing his job in California because he tried to arrest the local mayor for drunk driving and something about Dwight looking for redemption, but…again, he never really does anything important in the movie. It's like some producer told screenwriter Christine Vasquez that her script needed a male lead, so she wrote one it without bothering to give him anything to do.When Danielle De Luca is totally nude and being chased by the psycho for about a half hour in the middle of this film, Naked Fear does generate some cheap, prurient interest. The combination of De Luca's beautiful body and the utter vulnerability of her character has an almost irresistible appeal. As soon as Diana finds an old shirt in the woods and puts it on, that appeal disappears. What's left behind is a ponderous and ugly glop of bad plotting, terrible dialog, awful acting and bizarrely horrible editing.The evidence that director Thom Eberhardt has no idea what he's doing is all over this movie. Exhibit A would be the casting of swarthy Italian-American Joe Mantegna as a good ol' boy sheriff. Mantegna is a very good actor, but he's probably given better performances on the toilet while having a particularly difficult bowel movement than he gives in Naked Fear. If you didn't know better, you'd think Mantegna got the role because he's a bookie one of the producers owed money to. He's so out of place, Nathan Lane would be more believable playing a dirt farming redneck from rural Alabama.Exhibit B in Eberhardt's incompetence would be the way shots of New Mexico scenery and stuffed animal heads mounted on a wall just pop up as the film goes along. It's not even like the images serve as some sort of segue in the story. They simply show up and then are gone, like a form of visual Tourette's Syndrome.Naked Fear is a completely crappy movie that manages, by going right at the lowest common denominators of fear and lust, to actually hold your attention for a bit. The second it tries to be anything more than crude and exploitative, the barrage of pathetic acting, imbecilic writing and just plain odd direction makes it impossible to sit through. If you want to see a lot of female nudity but have a moral objection to pornography, this film was made for you. It doesn't have near enough to offer to the rest of us.

ichocolat Well, let me begin by saying that sex sells. In this case, nudity of the main cast. She is the reason most of the men (and ladies, presumably) to watch this. Forget about the plot, I'll just ogle her throughout the film.Not that this is a bad thing, though. Not unless you are a religious freaks who thinks that nudity will bring you straight to Hell.This film is loosely based from a film of a similar title, called Naked Prey. I am not too sure whether this is based on true accounts, though, but the Trivia seems to suggest that.All is Okay about the film, except for the ending. It seems like it is not thought carefully before production, thus the rather poor ending.Well, I would not recommend this film, but I am not suggesting you not too watch it either, especially if you are into films that contain nudity sans the sleazy acts.

merklekranz Although character development is pretty spotty, and Joe Mantegna is mostly wasted, "Naked Fear" is the type of DVD gold you can occasionally stumble upon in the sea of bad exploitation movies. Danielle De Luca does a good job as the hunted, and the story never loses momentum, once the outdoor pursuit commences. Though her choices are not always logical, the great scenery and a few tense moments overcome any story weaknesses. Make no mistake this is not your typical hunted in the woods plot, but rather an exploitation film that pushes into some new territory. Concerning the controversial ending, just think of "Naked Fear" as a rural version of "Ms.45". - MERK