A Fantastic Fear of Everything

Simon Pegg stars as Jack, a writer who used to pen children’s books about friendly hedgehogs but is now writing a tome on Victorian Britain serial killers called Decades of Death. Writing about these “hackers, dosers and severers” is making Jack unhinged and scared of his own shadow. Everybody he sees on the streets either resembles a madman from another era or is afflicted with some sort of psychosis that he thinks will eventually result in his death. It’s a curious and fun film from first-time filmmakers Crispian Mills and Chris Hopewell, and they bring out one of Pegg’s most manic performances. Throughout the film you’ll find echoes of Hitchcock, Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton and, most of all, Evil Dead II-era Sam Raimi. Like that film, this one centers on a character slowly and solitarily losing his marbles, and it’s a hoot to watch.