Review: Cycle of Fear: There Is No End (2008)

[Dr Nancy's Sweetie]

Capsule summary: don't bother.


Sometimes, when I see a movie, I notice simple things which could be
fixed to make the movie make more sense.  On occasion, I've thought to
myself "This could have been much better if they'd made a few tweaks."

In the case of "Cycle of Fear", that wouldn't have been enough.  This
movie has nothing about it to recommend; it's not bad enough to be
funny -- it's just a waste.  It fails utterly as a horror movie:
there's nothing here to make anyone afraid, except possibly the idea
that someone thought this movie was worth putting on DVDs.

Some of what's on screen is clearly because of a really low budget.
The mental institution looks like it's in a house.  The "Doctor" in
charge of psychiatry at the institution barely looks old enough to go
to college, let alone have completed graduate studies and be the senior
physician anywhere.  But the old "Twilight Zone" had a really low
budget, and made great stories because there were characters we cared
about and plots that made sense.

This movie has neither.  The characters are cardboard and do things
that make no sense.  The plot is ridiculous.  In the movie, some people
are upset about tortured souls being converted into a zombie army
because they can't get to Heaven, or something, and they need a magic
key to get a special book to open some sort of door or something, so
they go to see a priest.  But wouldn't a priest just shrive the
deceased, give them Absolution, and send their souls to Eternity?  That
*is* his job.  Per the teachings of his religion, he doesn't need any
magic keys or any of that other rot.  It appears that the makers of
this movie know nothing about Christian teaching on the afterlife.

The ending is confused.  Did they achieve their goal?  Did they fail?
Did they do what they set out to do and it didn't work?  I have no
idea.  I also don't care.  I can't imagine anyone else caring.


I don't usually give numeric scores to movies, but for "Cycle of Fear:
There Is No End" I'll make an exception: zero.  Out of 100.