Popcorn for One: Fear (20232)

 Caught Fear (2023) in the theater today. A few jump scares and a slow build-up to the crazy last act.

A group of old friends meets at a rustic lodge for a belated birthday and the hoped-for marriage proposal of one couple. One of them, an author working on his next book, is aware of some of the history of the area and the lodge but doesn't tell the others. Some of them begin to see things and they also learn of an airborne virus rapidly spreading.

This works on the paranoia many folks felt during the pandemic and hints are dropped that this is taking place in the early days of Covid, but that virus is never mentioned by name.

Decent film but more of a character study of people caught in a situation where they begin to distrust each other, while the entity works on the fears and phobias that each of the has.

Some gore with decent practical effects but the entity when we finally see it is CGI and nothing we haven't seen before. No spoiler, but I half expected Venom to appear, if you know what I mean.

Can't give it more than a 6 out of 10. If you care enough by the end of the film, there is a mid-credit scene. Again, about what you'd expect from this kind of movie.

By the way, I walked in on the last 10 minutes of Infinity Pool (2023) and was so disturbed that I'm not sure I want to see the entire film. It is by Brandon Cronenberg and, like his father, his work is made to shock and disturb.