Unmasked Month: The Fan (1981)

Call me creepy, but films about obsessed fans that predate the semi-new celebrity stalking trend fascinate me. They can be outrageously over the top, such as The Eyes of Laura Mars, or they can be low-budget sleazefests like The Last Horror Film, or they can fall somewhere in between, which is where The Fan lingers.

Considered trashy fare, featuring slumming (and perhaps falling) movie stars, The Fan is also a pretty compelling, if flawed, look at the world of someone who only believes one other person exists, and that person is destined for them. The Fan was released shortly after the death of John Lennon and previews for the film stated it was not related to the event, but many movie goers found an eeriness to the coincidence. That may have been a major draw, but the critics were not kind, and it was tagged as tasteless and exploitive. Thirty years later and Hollywood has released far tackier fare, so perhaps a second look is in order.

Lauren Bacall is Sally Ross, an older, famous and undeniably fabulous actress who is full of charm, style and grace. She is admired by all, but one twisted soul has decided she is the love of his life and he’ll do anything to make his perverted dreams an even more sadistic reality. Douglas (Michael Biehn) is an angry loner who loves to embellish his real life and explores his fantasies through writing letters to his favorite actress. He receives responses, but they are of the impersonal sort which pushes Douglas into feeling that someone is trying to keep him apart from his true love. At first he targets her secretary, Belle (Maureen Stapleton) and she is brutally assaulted in a subway station. This sets off a string of attacks, and eventually murders, with Douglas escalating each step until he breaks into Sally’s apartment, destroying it – he just wants her to know how accessible she is. Sally escapes the luxury of her successful life in New York, but our killer seems to always be one step ahead.

The Fan is an interesting movie for several reasons. It’s really a slasher-hybrid, acting like it’s not reveling in the brutality, while taking it one step further than most slashers dared to go. Stapleton’s attack is shot in horrifying close-up. Her face is cut up with ferocious aplomb, making the scene a difficult watch. While slashers tended to stay away from the killing of an older person, this film features the attacks and death of a few. Of course, there have been some examples in straight slashers, such as the dressmaker in He Knows You’re Alone and the hilariously nasty camp counselors in the Sleepaway Camp films, but very few films in the sub-genre have dealt primarily with more mature victims (the TV film Isn’t it Shocking? features only elderly victims but it’s the one horror film from that era I can think of).

While slashers were hitting a high in 1981, the set ups and stereotypes were still a bit fresh, and The Fan was already turning them on their head. Biehn is fantastic as the lunatic fan and his not-yet-rugged, but still quite handsome features contradict the anger and delusions he hides away inside. The celebrity stalker phenomenon came into its own in the 80s with the deaths of the above mentioned Lennon and Rebecca Schaeffer, as well as the horrendous stabbing of Theresa Saldana, but this movie is based on the 1977 novel written by the late Bob Randall, and the story is told through a series of letters. This type of fan/star exchange had been the most popular form of getting closer to celebs before conventions and twitter, and The Fan is an interesting look at someone taking such a mundane medium to new heights of terror. To have masked Douglas would have been a great disservice to the film because it would have taken away the idea that unmitigated terror can stem from the most innocuous looking subjects.

Lauren Bacall is a fabulous choice for the lead, and it is with a heavy heart that I note the lame choices older actresses are often saddled with. Sally Ross jokes about her age, but never seems to truly want to hide it. This is no botox beauty queen looking to live her life as it once was (aside from her obvious feelings for her ex-husband, played by James Garner), and she works at continuing to spread her wings as an actress (the musical she appears in, Never Say Never, is beyond words! Why wasn’t this real?). That Douglas, a perfectly gorgeous and fit young man, found her incredibly sexy and desirable struck me as bittersweet. Sure he’s crazy and homicidal but when was the last time we saw mature characters acting mature and remaining the object of a younger person’s desire?

Bacall commented on this herself during an interview she did with The New York Times to promote The Fan. She said, “Every time I wish I was younger, I think again. Why would I want to be younger? The best thing about growing older is that you don’t give a damn and you can say whatever you want. In Faulkner’s words, you not only endure, you prevail. And I say I will not give up. I will not give up any of it.” The actress and co-star Garner would later disown The Fan and that’s truly a shame since I think it is a enthralling thriller that offers a little food for thought.

See larger image The Fan (DVD) Starring: Lauren Bacall, James Garner, Maureen Stapleton, Hector Elizondo, Michael Biehn Rating: R (Restricted) List Price: $19.99 USD New From: $6.50 In Stock Used from: $5.97 In Stock Release date September 24, 2002.