Fear of Rain – Rear Window with Schizophrenia
Director: Castille Landon
Writer: Castille Landon (Screenplay)
Starring: Katherine Hiegl, Harry Connick Jr, Madison Iseman, Israel Broussard, Eugenie Bondurant
Plot: A girl living with schizophrenia struggles with terrifying hallucinations as she begins to suspect her neighbor has kidnapped a child. The only person who believes her is Caleb -a boy she isn’t even sure exists.
Tagline – Some voices you can’t outrun
Runtime: 1 Hour 49 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Fear of Rain starts as we get to learn how bad Rain’s (Iseman) schizophrenia is, with her parents Michelle (Heigl) and John (Connick Jr) doing everything they can to help her, pushing her into getting back into her medication to hopefully get back to a more normal life.
As Rain looks to get back to normal life with school, she finds herself as an outsider, before new guy Caleb (Broussard) offers her friendship. Rain does start to question the neighbour, believing her she has been keeping a child hostage in her home, but is this just Rain’s mind playing tricks on her again.
Thoughts on Fear of Rain
Characters & Performances – Rain is the teenager that is suffering from schizophrenia with her latest attack landing her in hospital, needing to get back on her medication. With her family’s support she is trying to get back to her life, with school, which leaves her as an outsider and the new neighbor giving her a reason to be suspicious of a new kidnapping and even her new friend Caleb potentially not being real. Rain is trying to hold everything together, not letting her support network be there for her in her time of need. Madison Iseman is great in this leading role, we have seen her take on horror before, which she handles well, with the mental illness side coming off strong throughout the film. Michelle and John are Rain’s parents that are trying to support Rain through her difficult decisions going forward with her life, they will support her, but know they are there for the difficult times. Caleb is the boy Rain meets in the high school, he is the one person that will talk to her, being new to town and offering her the friendship she needs in her life. He might become the perfect friend, but wondering whether he is real not, is the most difficult part for Rain. Israel Broussard does make for the good friend role, bringing the ray of light into the world for Rain.
Story – The story here follows a teenage girl that has been suffering from schizophrenia with her latest bout being one that leaves her in hospital, that returns home to try and have a normal life, only for her own hallucinations to lead her down the path of suspecting her neighbor of being a child abductor. This is a story that balances the superior Rear Window, with the ideas that a mental illness could leave the suspicious one believing something is happening when nobody else would believe so. We are left to see how most of the story revolves around how Rain is questioning each moment of her own life, which will keep us guessing about what is or isn’t real, away from just being the suspect abduction case. The one side of the story which feels poorly written, is how the high school students don’t try to help Rain, basically letting the bully take control of her, not welcoming her back with open arms.
Themes – Fear of Rain is a horror mystery that will give us the balance of what Rear Window or Disturbia did, with the mystery about a neighbor doing something wrong, with the schizophrenia being put into the world that could leave everything inside the head of the character.
Signature Entertainment presents Fear of Rain on Digital Platforms 26th April
Fear of Rain is a modern day spin on Rear Window, that has nice tension, but does look for more twists than needed.