Director Castille Landon dabbles in the thriller genre for her third film in Lionsgate's Fear of Rain. Rain (Madison Iseman) is a teenage girl living with schizophrenia and struggles with terrifying hallucinations. Her parents, Michelle (Katherine Heigl) and John (Harry Connick Jr.), seem to understand her and try their best to support her.
Unfortunately, her best friend Alexa (Julia Vasi) has left Rain high and dry, regularly bullying her. However, things appear to look up when Rain meets Caleb (Israel Broussard), the new kid in school. Over time, she begins to suspect her neighbor and her teacher, Mrs. McConnell (Eugenie Boundarant), had kidnapped a child. Naturally, the only person who believes her is Caleb, but he's a boy she isn't even sure exists.
I rented Fear of Rain to pass the time during a rainy day and honestly wasn't expecting much. There's nothing with PG-13 thrillers, but there is with a clichéd one, and that's where Fear of Rain falls. Madison Iseman was quite enjoyable in the Jumanji sequels and Annabelle Comes Home, but in this film, she was lacking. Castille Landon's script just doesn't have the depth to bring out Iseman's natural charm. Yes, I understand that Rain is supposed to have schizophrenia, but the character just doesn't work.
The usually reliable Israel Broussard is just doing a bad imitation of his Carter character from the Happy Death Day franchise. If Broussard isn't careful, he will fall into typecasting and never be taken seriously as an actor. Harry Connick Jr. and Katherine Heigl do what they can with the script, but both of their performances scream, we are here for a check.
I haven't seen any of Castille Landon's previous films, and I get where she wanted to go with LFear of Rain, but for me, it just doesn't come together. Good scriptwriting is not math, it's science. You keep mixing the stuff up until it blows up or it becomes this incredible potion. That said, Fear of Rain is a mixture of ideas that we've already seen executed in much better films. Worst of all is a third act twist that is unrealistic and forced and ruins the movie.
There are still many movies left to see in 2021, but Fear of Rain just may earn a spot in my year's ten worst. With terrible acting and an even worse script, Fear of Rain did succeed in one avenue, and that was wasting my time.
Final Grade: F
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