Nothing Left to Fear (film)

Plot

Pastor Dan (James Tupper), his wife Wendy (Anne Heche), and their three children Rebecca (Rebekah Brandes), Mary (Jennifer Stone), and Christopher (Carter Cabassa), have just moved to the small town of Stull, Kansas, where Dan will serve as the new pastor. While traveling to the town, Rebecca sees a teenage boy killing a sheep and collecting the blood. Along the way Dan meets the farmer, Mason (Wayne Pére), and eventually the family moves into their new home, assisted by the town's old pastor, Pastor Kingsman (Clancy Brown) and parish members. Later that night, Rebecca has a nightmare.

The following day, Pastor Kingsman gives the family a cake that a parish member baked for them as a token of gratitude. Mary later decides to have a slice of the cake but is choked by a tooth baked into the snack. Meanwhile, Rebecca meets the same boy that she saw killing sheep, Noah (Ethan Peck), who takes her out to see the town. Their fun is interrupted when Mason comes to get Noah, telling him that Pastor Kingsman wants to see him. Rebecca returns home and finds that Mary is feeling ill. Meanwhile, Noah is told by Pastor Kingsman that he should do what is to be done because it is God's will. Noah begrudgingly says that since Mary has discovered the tooth in the cake, she is the chosen one. It turns out that the tooth in the cake is a form of lottery, and whoever comes across it first will be marked as selected.

The film then shifts to Wendy and her family making food for the upcoming Summer Festival, which will begin in a couple of days. The children go into town to do some sightseeing, where Rebecca ends up running into Noah. The two of them end up going on a date on the observation platform of the fire lookout tower in the forest surrounding the town and Rebecca notices a scar on Noah's hand, which he tries to hide. She then notices that a man is watching them from the bottom of the lookout tower.

The next day Rebecca and Mary meet Noah at the festival. He takes them to get some lemonade at a nearby stall, only for Mary's lemonade to end up being drugged with a poison. Mary gets violently ill and tries to go home but is kidnapped by Mason. She awakens to find herself tied to a post while Pastor Kingsman tells her that she was chosen according to God's will. He then opens the "Gateway to Hell", resulting in Mary becoming possessed by the Devil. He then takes her back to her family, telling them that she was sick. Noah unsuccessfully tries to confess to what has happened, but is accidentally interrupted by Christopher. Upon returning home, Dan is called away by Pastor Kingman, who tells him that he is needed in the church. This ends up being a ruse, as Pastor Kingsman then drugs and imprisons Dan shortly after his arrival.

Meanwhile, in the house, Mary awakens completely possessed and begins attacking the family. Wendy sends the remaining two children to find their father, who they discover to be seemingly unconscious on the church floor. With Noah's help they help him up and begin to drive home. On the way, they see that every house has a mark on their door, an X made out of blood. Frightened, Rebecca repeatedly asks Noah about the mark, only for him to refuse to answer her. The group arrives to the house where Dan and Rebecca try to go inside to get Wendy and Mary. Noah grabs ahold of Rebecca telling her to stay out there and that there's nothing she can do to help them. Dan proceeds inside to find Wendy dead and crumbling away on the couch. Dan stumbles back in fear where he sees Mary crawling towards him on the stairway. Dan runs out of the house screaming at Rebecca and Noah to start the car and drive away.

They do so and Dan stays behind to try to free Mary, who has followed Dan out to the front yard, only to meet the same fate his wife did. Rebecca makes Noah stop the car and argues with him about what is going on. Christopher sees Mary is coming up behind them as Noah tries to explain what is happening to Rebecca. Christopher, frightened, runs out of the car to a nearby house and frantically starts banging on the door asking for help. Noah then shoves Rebecca back into the car leaving Christopher behind. Christopher finds a house and manages to get inside, but not before Mary grabs his leg and infects

Noah then takes Rebecca to a gathering where they use her blood to destroy the Devil (Mary) and close the Gateway to Hell. The viewer then learns that the same thing happened to Noah and his family some years ago. Rebecca then takes Noah's place and is later seen killing a sheep, which attracts the attention of a new boy whose family is moving into the town.

Cast

Production

Plans to film Nothing Left to Fear were first announced in 2010, when Slash announced his intent to launch his production company Slasher Films with Nothing Left to Fear as its flagship film. Thomas Haden Church was initially named as one of the stars of the film, but his name was later removed from the production for unspecified reasons. Clancy Brown and Ethan Peck were added to the cast in early 2012, joining Anne Heche and James Tupper. Filming began on May 14, 2012 in Covington, Louisiana and film rights for Nothing Left to Fear were purchased by Anchor Bay. Subsequent to production the film's screenplay credits were determined in arbitration by the Writers Guild of America - it was found that the original screenplay by Jonathan W.C. Mills had been extensively re-rewritten by producer Rob Eric. While not uncommon in Hollywood, the original draft of the screenplay was quite different than the final produced version. The music was written and produced by Slash and Nicholas O'Toole. The soundtrack is mostly film scoring but includes two songs, one of which features vocals by Myles Kennedy. Prior to writing the score, Slash approached Leonardi with several musical styles and asked Leonardi to choose which style best fit the film. Of composing the soundtrack, Slash opined that he found it "nothing like if [he's] writing with a band in mind" and that writing music for a story and concept was "not constricted by songwriting" and was a "great departure for [him]".

Reception

Critical reception for Nothing Left to Fear has been overwhelmingly negative, and the film currently holds a rating of 12 on Metacritic based upon reviews by 7 critics indicating "overwhelming dislike." Ratings on Rotten Tomatoes are also negative; as of December 15, 2013, the film holds a rating of 8% "rotten" based upon 12 reviews. Critics panned the film as "dull" and criticized it for its lack of scares. Los Angeles Times remarked that "director Anthony Leonardi III and writer Jonathan Mills have let not one scary moment on screen" and that actors Heche and Tupper should write apology notes to their fans. In their review, The Hollywood Reporter joked on the film's title, saying that the "title of this perfunctory horror film proves all too prophetic." Variety also gave a negative review and commented that the film "features fewer small-town scares than a rerun of Dawson’s Creek and more wooden acting than a marionette theater".