The Last Horror Film (Fanatic) (Fanatical Extreme) (1982)

54% of users liked it
(209 ratings)

In this slice-n-dicer, a cabbie becomes obsessed with a lovely movie scream queen and decides to follow her to the Cannes Film Festival. Though she is a cult favorite, few take the horror-movie actress seriously. The taxi driver does and is sure that with a little of his expert direction she could… More In this slice-n-dicer, a cabbie becomes obsessed with a lovely movie scream queen and decides to follow her to the Cannes Film Festival. Though she is a cult favorite, few take the horror-movie actress seriously. The taxi driver does and is sure that with a little of his expert direction she could become an excellent dramatic actress. Unfortunately, before he can help her, he must first get her attention. He first approaches her while she is taking a shower in her suite. Naturally she attempts to throw him out. A scuffle ensues and he ends up threatening to slit her throat. She escapes and dressed only in a towel runs through a crowd. The taxi driver is right behind her and the other festival-goers, thinking it all a clever promotional gimmick, applaud. He stops to take a bow and she makes it to safety. This bad start does not stop the cabbie from trying to reach her and before the story ends, many people die horrible deaths, leading to the film's surprising ending. Much of the story was shot on location at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival and features shots of several famous actors and filmmakers. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 27 min.
Directed By: David Winters
Genres: Horror

In Theaters: Oct 9, 1982 Wide
On DVD: Jun 2, 2009

No Critic Reviews Found…

Featured Audience Ratings

AJ V

Obviously this isn't the last horror film, but it is a good one, it's a mystery horror story. This movie is suspenseful, scary, and has a nice twist at the end, I really liked it.
Lee ?

A slightly less sleazier follow-up to the 1980 movie Maniac about a wannabe film-maker stalking his favourite actress around Cannes during the film festival carving-up any directors and producers that shun his ideas. It's got some bloody murders, plenty of naked flesh on show and… More
A slightly less sleazier follow-up to the 1980 movie Maniac about a wannabe film-maker stalking his favourite actress around Cannes during the film festival carving-up any directors and producers that shun his ideas. It's got some bloody murders, plenty of naked flesh on show and Joe Spinell has fun in his maniacal role once again. But it doesn't quite have the gritty, shocking impact as Maniac. Good entertaining fun.
A.D. V

Spinell is creepy as usual but the film lacks any kind of suspense or narrative cohesion and Caroline Munro still can't act (although she's quite lovely to look at). So in other words don't bother.
Cassandra M

I bought this on DVD from a Poundland for, hey! - a pound. It was re-titled as 'Fanatic'. Actually it was a double bill. Another schlock flick who's title I forget was on the flip side of the disc. So in effect, I got the Spinell picture for 50p. I'd say it was… More
I bought this on DVD from a Poundland for, hey! - a pound. It was re-titled as 'Fanatic'. Actually it was a double bill. Another schlock flick who's title I forget was on the flip side of the disc. So in effect, I got the Spinell picture for 50p. I'd say it was money well spent. This was shot on the hoof at the 1981 Cannes film festival. Joe is a taxi driver who goes there to seek out his idol/wet dream Caroline Munro. Caroline appears with her then real life spouse Judd Hamilton. Husband and wife are both dubbed, and Caroline looks pretty much as she did when she was a hostess on '3-2-1' with Ted Rogers. The film bears little resemblance to the previous Spinell/Munro vehicle, 'Maniac'. That was grim, gory and reprehensible. This is light, silly and incomprehensible. 'The last horror film' seemed to receive an inordinate amount of coverage in the British film fantasy magazine 'Starburst' at the time. I can now see why: Spinell appears reading a copy of said periodical. Reciprocal publicity. There are also numerous references to other films, especially Scorsese's 'Taxi Driver' (which Joe appeared in). In fact, there is a vaguely interesting blurring of film reality and fantasy and 'real' reality and fantasy throughout. Generally, though, it's a mess. Scenes just seem to rear up out of nowhere. But if you're interested in such things, the footage of Cannes and the general nakedness of the female cast will provide fifty pence's worth of entertainment. There's a nice story on the Spinell documentary included on the Anchor Bay 'Maniac' disc which pertains to the making of this film. The cast and crew were staying at a rather expensive Cannes hotel, and due to the penurious nature of the budget found themselves unable to foot the extravagant bill. Spinell, Winters, Munro and all concerned therefore decided to do a runner in the middle of the night and catch the nearest plane home. Pity they didn't film that little episode and stick it in here along with everything else. Watch out for Joe's verbal sparring with his real life mother Filomena (aka Mary). Pretty funny.