A Taste of Phobia (2018)- 14 International Directors Push Fear to the Limit-Fitz of Horror Review
Written by Bryan Fitzgerald (Fitz of Horror) March 28, 2018
pho·bi·a
noun
noun: phobia; plural noun: phobias
an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.
Synopsis-This unnerving horror anthology is crafted by 14 innovative directors who aren’t afraid to explore mankind’s most bizarre and frightening phobias. Can you imagine being so freaked out by body hair that you would do absolutely anything to remove it? You may have caetophobia. Did you ever look up at the stars and realize how small and insignificant that you really are and start to question your own existence? You might have Astrophobia. How about standing in the voting booth and making a decision on the next political election when an insurmountable amount of panic takes you over. You probably have Politicophobia. Each deranged segment magnifies a specific phobia and proves that people can be afraid of just about anything including dreaming, bacteria, cooking, darkness, blood, medication even young virgins.
Phobia isn’t your run of the mill anthology horror movie. It plays more like The ABCs of Death as opposed to Creepshow, meaning it features more than 4 or 5 segments (14 to be exact) and each director picks a different fear to showcase instead of a few interconnecting stories with a defined wraparound.
This is a highly polished movie with great depth to nearly all of the short segments and featuring directors from around the globe, the Italians definitely stole the show when it came to solid segments, my favorite being Poison Rouge’s (American Guinea Pig: Sacrifice) “Fear of Germs” segment. The movie starts strong only to be somewhat underachieving with the next few segments but at least 8 of the last 10 segments I really enjoyed.
Being released by the Artsploitation Films label, you know you are in for something mind bending but Phobia will no doubt make people squirm and in some cases feel downright uncomfortable.
Since there are so many segments crammed into a quick 1 hour and 30 minute run time, each segment only runs about 7 minutes on average which is a good thing if you have an attention span like me, so I will skip my usually anthology segment breakdown and just give you the Phobia playlist (in order) and I will let your imagination take over based on the fear.
EPISODE ORDER:
Caetophobia (Fear of Hairs) Lorenzo Zanoni, Alessandro Sisti (Italy)
Pharmacophobia (Fear of Medication) Chris Milewski (USA)
Partenophobia (Fear of Virgins) Alessandro Redaelli (Italy)
Coprophobia (Fear of Feces); Jason Impey (UK)
Mysophobia (Fear of Germs) Poison Rouge (Italy)
Mazeophobia (Fear of Mazes); Dustin Ferguson (USA)
Astrophobia (Fear of Stars) Alessandro Giordani (Italy)
Mageirocophobia (Fear of Cooking) Domiziano Cristopharo (Italy)
Gerascophobia (Fear of Ageing) Rob Ulitski (UK)
Politicophobia (Fear of Politics) Jackson Batchelor (UK)
Somniphobia (Fear of Sleep) Sophia Cacciola, Michael J. Epstein (USA)
Oneirophobia (Fear of Dreams) Sam Mason Bell (UK)
Nyctophobia (Fear of the Night) Sunny King (Nigeria)
Hemophobia (Fear of Blood) Davide Pesca (Italy)
Follow them on Facebook at Taste of Phobia– Film due for wide release in May 2018
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Bryan Fitzgerald
I am a huge fan and supporter of independent horror and the dedicated people involved. I grew up watching all of the great slasher films of the 80s and also have a love for creature features and anthology horror. As horror fans the best way to help indie horror is to talk about it and to spread the word.