In the intro we see a naked woman out in the fields while a stranger shoots at her. He's hunting her like an animal.
The lovely Diana arrives in a small New Mexico border town for a job. Little does she know it's to be a stripper. She has no money and is now indebted to the "talent agency manager". She has to share a room with a fellow stripper who's also a prostitute at night and a junkie.
Parallel to this story we meet the local law enforcement, the corrupt Sheriff and his hunting buddies, as well as the new deputy who arrived from LA. The local cops are corrupt and the new guy is not quite used to that.
Diana's salary as a stripper doesn't really amount to much. Junkie stripper tells her all the ways she can make more money- take off more clothes, interact with patrons, and offer other services. At first Diana isn't interested but she needs the money so she gives it a try. It yields her more money and the night she meets a patron and drives away with him she ends up changing her mind about offering him other services. But he won't have none of it. He ends up kidnapping her.
Next, she wakes up out in the desert nude...as prey for our hunter. He gives her a 15 minute head start. He catches up with her but he likes a challenge so he doesn't make it that easy for himself. And Diana, is also a bright girl. She tricks him and escapes from him repeatedly, bloody and bruised. Eventually she gets the upper hand and runs into a family camping, the dad and his two teenage sons, who are stunned to see a mostly naked girl who now is in shock. Dad does the right thing and leaves to get help. But the hunter isn't done yet. Nor is Diana.
Naked Fear is an excellent movie for what it is- a well-done B movie with a great story and good acting. Of course seeing the lovely Danielle De Luca run around naked for a good while doesn't hurt a bit. Her performance overall is remarkable, downright award-worthy, given what she has to go through. It obviously suffers from B-movie weaknesses- low budget, not so good acting by secondary characters, an unpolished look indoors, etc. It's a tad bit too long, certain things could have been cut out or shortened. At the same time another victim should have been added, just to make our villain more despicable.
The movie succeeds at presenting the hardships of small town life and the risks of trying to make it elsewhere pretty well. And it does so without being condescending and offensive. You do end up empathizing with the main character. The movie is never exploitative but manages to humanize our characters and give the story a lot of meaning. Naked Fear is admirable for the risks the filmmakers took and how they managed to deliver their vision perhaps without compromise.
Naked Fear
2007
Action / Horror / Thriller
Naked Fear
2007
Action / Horror / Thriller
Keywords: man hunt
Plot summary
Wayward young lass Diana Kelper arrives in a small town in New Mexico looking to start a new life for herself. Alas, the sleazy Fred forces Diana to work as an exotic dancer at a strip club. Things go from bad to worse for Diana after she's abducted by ruthless psychotic predator Colin Mandel, who dumps Diana in the remote wilderness completely nude so he can hunt her down like a wild animal. Can Diana muster up the necessary strength and cunning in order to survive this harrowing ordeal?
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Movie Reviews
Pleasantly surprising
Surprisingly Entertaining
This was better than an empty dessert. By that I mean, I went into this thinking it would just be an average, silly, exploitive film with gratuitous nudity and not much of an original plot. I got the nudity and a lot more substance. Yes this theme has been done before but there were many surprising twists and shocks that usually are taboo in films like this. This was a psychological thriller for sure . There was the cliché. The usual suspect, the well to do pillar of the community , and of course negative traits of hookers and strippers. The usual fare ,setting the plate , for an all familiar film. The tension was there, check. The twists were there, check. Fine acting, check. The ingredients were there and then some. The movie, I felt, did a fine job of establishing most of the characters and showing their true selves ... Negative and positive. The realness was there. I will not give away the ending, only to say you will not be disappointed. Enjoy .
Thought-provoking, deeper than it first seems
This is a strange movie. The title, the DVD cover, the 18 rating (in Germany) all suggest it's at least soft porn. But it comes out as very much else.
If you don't want to be spoiled, don't read this - for to give justice to "Naked Fear", one must discuss the ending ten minutes as much as the rest.
One might summarize it in a headline: "Crime statistics reversed - last year: 5 women disappeared, this year: 5 woman molesters killed". The first part takes up most of the film, in gripping intensity (and yes, no porn at all) it builds an incredible tension - and then we get a maybe oversimplified, but ultimately satisfying solution.
Is this a feminist movie? I can't really tell - but the solution appears to be much more on the female side than, say, Thelma & Louise. Those were in less thrilling troubles, and ultimately went down in bliss - Diane here takes her summary revenge, becoming a terminatress, and seems to live on quite happily (ever after?)
Even though I'm male and got attracted by the promise of frontal nudity, I now find this film strong for totally different reasons. The concept of being hunted in a wilderness (wasn't New Mexico where Steve Fossett went missing for half a year without trace?) does not depend on gender. And the woman's point of view comes over very convincingly. Very strong piece.