Fang: Written Review

October 9, 2018

Fang

Written Review

Hi everyone, and welcome to MyIndie Review Vlog, The show that gives you spoiler-free reviews of indie films. My Name is Asaf Angel from MyIndie Productions, and today’s review is of 2018’s horror feature, Fang, directed by MyIndie featured artist, U.S. indie filmmaker Adam Steigert and co-written by Adam and Kristin Steigert.

Thank you Adam, for sharing your film with us.

Chloe Romero and Joe Spencer, portrayed by Melodie Roehrig and Theo Kemp, are drug addicts. They spend most of their time trying to find the next fix. Things take a tragic turn for the worse in a robbery gone wrong where they actually kill somebody. As an escape plan they take off in order to hide at Chloe’s distant relatives’ house until things cool down. On their way to the family home, they come across a couple stranded by the side of the road, Shelly and Chris, played by Jennie Russo and Jason John Beebe. Chloe and Joe offer to help the couple, and the four continue on to Chloe’s relatives’ home town.

They get to Aunt Doris and Uncle Roy’s house, played by Melantha Blackthorne and Patrick Mallette in an isolated section of the countryside. There they meet peculiar, and rather creepy, house-keeper Harold, played by MyIndie featured artist, Gregory Blair. Realizing that Doris and Roy are not yet back from a trip, the four are reluctantly convinced by Harold to stick around until their return. When Doris and Harold do arrive, the group sit down at the dinner table for supper. That’s when things get terribly weird and the group realize that it might be in their best interest to get the hell out of that house as soon as possible.

From the first act, we as viewers may feel Chloe and Joe’s predicament, as they run from the law. We soon understand that what they were running towards, might turn out to be a lot worse than facing the music over what they have done.

Once we enter the family home, Steigert applies a subtle but distinct shift in tone. The atmosphere turns more and more eerie with every sentence that comes out of Harold’s mouth. We get to experience that along with our characters.

Steigert slowly dishes this sinister vibe, keeping us unsure what kind of danger threatens our protagonists, but at the same time, be very sure that there is one.

Thinking about Fang may bring up other films to mind, such as M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit and Jordan Peele’s Get Out. Both of which have the ‘unsettling vibe’ motif of presumably harmless situations. The protagonists arrive at a new place and soon after sense that something is wrong but can’t quite put their finger on it. At first they tell themselves that what they feel is all in their heads. Only later, when they can no longer deny their suspicions, does the tone shift. Stiegert gave Fang a more gory spin, that progresses to a somewhat comedic third act. It feels the film steers away a bit from the horror element to give room for a sense of adventure as our protagonists must take action.

Leora Owens, who plays a character named Carol, who helps Chloe in her troubles, unfortunately passed away recently. We at MyIndie Productions were sorry to hear that and extend our condolences to the family.

To sum up, this is a fun horror film to watch, and even though there were choices in it I didn’t completely agree with, as an independent film with above average production value, it is very apparent that a lot of effort went into it. There are multiple characters, costumes, great deal of props, multiple locations, practical effects and a lot more. It holds up well in its 70-plus minutes run-time and gives the viewer quite an entertaining experience.

Fang gets a 7/10 on the Look At Me, I’m A Film Critic scale!

The film is still on its successful festival run, so keep an eye out for its release.