Excellent but underrated film

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Hunted like an animal. Naked prey. Let me assure you, that is the good part of the movie, which was initially off to a precarious start, but Danielle De Luca came in and instantly turned it around whenever she was on the screen. Cute and with spark. The rest of the cast, well, early on I liked the Sheriff, but, okay, the lot couldn't carry a ten minute commercial.What a total letdown. At one stage, Our Heroine was doing applause-worthy well fighting back. Then, as she flees through the woods, she bumped into a hunter, and from that point onward, the movie became total total total junk. There was no point in having this victim rescued by an outside group. Perceived as just like the dumb, hapless animals as "worthless", she, naïve and vulnerable, had to conquer her foe alone, she had to overcome her fear and stand up for herself. THIS WAS DONE, but then, it really looks AS IF THE PROJECT WAS TAKEN OVER BY A SECOND TEAM and movie becomes a dumb gore-fest (badly done, I mean, gore fans wouldn't sit up - from their coffins - and notice).The stretch of the movie that is the NAKED FEAR is quite well filmed. It is exactly as the other reviewers here say it is, I would just add that the juxtapositioning of the beauty of New Mexico makes it hell in paradise.This particular movie, that last two reels of film really needs to be thrown away, and remade from there. Danielle gave a stellar performance, but it's really all for naught with this shambles of a letdown.That knife. The older boy goes into the pup tent with the knife. Why? And why would he leave it lying next to Diana? Besides facilitating the corny set-up, I mean.A near success, snatched from the jaws of victory.For how it should be done (albeit with less explicit nudity): Australian movie FAIR GAME, with Cassandra Delaney, one of The Raven's favorites.My score for the movie takes into account that Danielle De Luca is a must-see. Wow. All natural, long limbs, no tattoos, and suntan-free. Double wow.

Admittedly, this low budget, regional (it was filmed entirely in New Mexico) variation on "The Most Dangerous Game" is rough going for its first 40 something minutes, as it takes too much time to play out and establish all of its details. The story sees a naive young woman, Diana (Danielle De Luca) arrive in NM from Texas; she's just gotten work as an exotic dancer. Meanwhile, a young man named Dwight (Arron Shiver) has recently become a deputy in town, and he's a guy who has his own (cliched) history. As one might expect from a film of this nature, the acting isn't particularly great (the film's one big name, Joe Mantegna, is basically phoning this one in), and the characters are pretty stereotypical. Things pick up after the dragging first act, when the story proper kicks into gear. Inspired by the real-life exploits of serial killer Robert Hansen, it shows how Diana is victimized after accepting a ride from seemingly genial local Colin (J.D. Garfield). Colin, you see, is a creep who likes to abduct women who supposedly "won't be missed" - prostitutes and the like - and set them loose in the wilderness after he's stripped them naked. After this the story becomes quite compelling as the unfortunate Diana struggles to survive and stay one step ahead of Colin. The appealing De Luca is a very brave young woman to tackle this role, as indeed she is obliged to run around in little more than her birthday suit and be at the mercy of not just the psycho but the environment. The nakedness, however, never comes off as exploitative but merely stresses this girl's vulnerability. The story is also developed in interesting and not entirely predictable ways, as Diana finds help - or so it seems at first - sooner than one would think. And when Colin decides to eliminate something in his way, one will applaud the filmmakers' brevity in going to that place. An offbeat credit for director Thom Eberhardt, best known for "Night of the Comet", this features some gorgeous scenery and a very good music score by Jeremy Scott Reinbolt, and is at its best when it's just Diana and Colin on their own in the country. It gets pretty visceral without ever getting very gory. It does lead to a resolution that is unexpected, ending this thing on a rather interesting final note. B movie lovers should find all of this to be agreeable enough. Seven out of 10.

Naked Fear is one that sat on my Netflix Instant Queue for almost two months. Which I was shocked because when I first heard of it, I wanted to see it immediately, but couldn't find time. The only thing that drew attention to me was it read "Available until September 22, 2010" in big red letters. So I knew I had to watch it sooner rather than later. The thing I was fond of was for much of the second half of the movie it turns almost to a perspective Horror film. One I mentioned when reviewing Devil is hard thing to do. Films like Open Water utilize the perspective Horror feel to the fullest of capabilities. Without imaging yourself as the victim(s) in the movie the effect is small and you won't respond well to it most likely. Put yourself in the shoes (in this case our lead wears none) of the victim in this movie. How would you feel? That is the question.While having some impressive shots of landscape and open wood areas, the crew did one huge no-no when making this movie. Why in the holy hell did they use CGI for some of the scenery shots and airplane shot? It looks incredibly fake and just ruins the overall feel. I loved watching our victim run around helplessly in the very atmospheric, radiant, and breathtaking scenery we have in this film, but why did the creators choose CGI for somethings? I've spoke many times on CGI and say the same quote; "Excessive CGI is excessive. Well done excessive CGI is fluent and adds to the film." In this case the CGI isn't excessive (Thank God), but it's extremely unnecessary and embarrassing. They were in an open area. Where was the extreme full shot of the scenery? Why couldn't we get a unique aerial view of the landscape? Maybe because the plane was too CGI? The plot of the movie involves a stripper in a sleepy New Mexico town where various strippers are disappearing without a trace. The police department is perplexed and leads come at a molasses pace. New-coming stripper and protagonist Diana (Danielle De Luca) finally gets her turn at the deadly cat and mouse game after being kidnapped and stranded out in the middle of nowhere, naked, and desperate. She finds a man who she believes will help her, but he's the cat in this twisted game. A cat with a sniper who's goal is to kill Diana in the deserted area.It's a humble film. No big name stars or to my knowledge even had a mainstream release. So this movie is definitely an underrated gem. Plot wise it's amazing. I love the overall feel and the perspective Horror genre is utilized extremely well here. The only downside which I marked the movie off a full star rating was the God awful use of CGI. I've always hated to keep bringing up something I've said before, but it's just so unnecessary and almost docks the film halfway from four stars. While a majority of the film is made up by great acting and suspenseful scenes (which have some intense synth music by the way), some scenes can be picked out that I would call mediocre. Some scenes capture intensity better than others as well.Naked Fear combines a good plot with very well done acting and some amazing scenery when it's real. The portion of the film, unlike the film I reviewed recently Devil, takes place in an open field rather than half out of the setting, half back in town. Unlike Devil, the film takes place in most of the setting where the predator and prey are. In Devil we go in and out of the elevator frequently. All in all, Naked Fear is an interesting and very up and down movie as it is. Some parts made the movie and others just screwed the movie, but hey, I've gone into the CGI enough.Starring: Danielle De Luca and J.D. Garfield. Directed by: Thom Eberhardt.

Although character development is pretty spotty, and Joe Mantegna is mostly wasted, "Naked Fear" is the type of DVD gold you can occasionally stumble upon in the sea of bad exploitation movies. Danielle De Luca does a good job as the hunted, and the story never loses momentum, once the outdoor pursuit commences. Though her choices are not always logical, the great scenery and a few tense moments overcome any story weaknesses. Make no mistake this is not your typical hunted in the woods plot, but rather an exploitation film that pushes into some new territory. Concerning the controversial ending, just think of "Naked Fear" as a rural version of "Ms.45". - MERK