Phobia (2013 film)

Plot summary

Traumatized by the death of his wife Jane (Sarah Schoofs) via a car accident, Jonathan (Michael Jefferson) has developed such a severe case of agoraphobia that he cannot even leave the house to buy groceries or visit his therapist Dr. Edmondson (Peter Gregus). He's reliant on his friend Taylor (Andrew Ruth) and food delivery girl Bree (Emma Dubery) to provide him with companionship and food. Jonathan's tenuous existence is shattered one day when an invader (Jason Grimste) breaks in and strips away what little comfort he had left, prompting Jonathan to begin to experience visions of his wife and a strange Shade (Sandra Palmeri).

Cast

Reception

DVD Verdict and Bloody Disgusting both gave mostly negative reviews for Phobia, and Bloody Disgusting wrote that "Despite what seems like the potential to be a good indie horror film, Phobia fails to capitalize on it’s opportunities. Despite the premise, the film just doesn’t bring anything new to the table, and instead just presents all of these elements and hardly does anything with them." HorrorNews.net was more mixed, commenting that the film might have worked better as a short film in the vein of I Am a Ghost, but that making the film feature length negatively impacted it effectiveness. In contrast, Ain't It Cool News was more positive and wrote in their review that "Filled with genuine scares, a chilling atmospheric setting, a sympathetic lead, and a conundrum that grabs you, PHOBIA is low budget filmmaking at its best."