Madison Iseman has been steadily building her film career for the last few years. She has mainly appeared in ensemble casts thus far, appearing in both recent Jumanji films, Goosebumps 2, and Annabelle Comes Home to name a few. Now comes her first significant lead role in Signature Entertainment’s latest release, Fear of Rain. Iseman stars as Rain, a seventeen year old recently diagnosed with early on-set schizophrenia. After a particularly intense incident, Rain finds herself in hospital with the stark warning that if these episodes persist, she will be put into residential care. Desperate to remain in her familial home with her parents (played by Harry Connick Jr. and Katherine Heigl), Rain starts to try and pull her life back on track. Her best intentions soon hit a snag however, when she witnesses a young girl trapped in her neighbours house. With no one willing to listen to her warnings, Rain begins the dangerous task of trying to rescue the girl and prove her lucidity at the same time. But is the little girl real, or just another manifestation of her psychological condition?
Writer and director Castille Landon does a great job at continuously distorting the perceptions of reality. With the story playing out from Rain’s perspective, the viewer, like Rain, is never one hundred percent certain what is real and what is hallucination. It’s a hard game to play, but Landon manages to keep the audience guessing throughout, scattering mistruths, red herrings, and unexpected revelations everywhere. Quite how this lines up with the reality of the condition at the heart of the story is unclear and there are always issues with using a mental illness as a basis for a piece of entertainment.
Although pitched as a psychological thriller, Fear of Rain works far better as a coming-of-age drama. The thriller aspects are quite firmly in subplot territory with much greater time and attention spent with Rain as she struggles to come to terms with her mental health issues. Landon ensures that we spend plenty of time with Rain as she tries to go about her normal daily life. It’s perhaps a little too sedate in moving through the normal routine; a huge chunk of time is devoted to this, and as such, attention occasionally wanes. When the film does venture into the darker, more traditional horror moments, Landon demonstrates a deft hand at creating tension. Her choice in casting for Rain’s neighbour, Eugenie Bondurant, does a lot of the heavy lifting. It’s refreshing to see a woman cast into the creepy character role. Bondurant’s part has little in the way of dialogue and relies much more on physicality to convey Rain’s perceived menace. There’s something so unsettling about seeing Bondurant slither around the screen that it immediately conveys old-school witch vibes.
Focusing purely on Rain puts a lot of pressure onto Iseman’s shoulders, but she proves herself very capable of the task. Her more public profile has seen her stick to supporting characters, but here she really gets the opportunity to shine and the complexity of Rain enables her to convey the full breadth of her range. Hopefully, with her solid performance here within a less conventional story, Iseman will get the chance to tackle some really meaty roles in the near future.
Landon is next to step into the directing chair for the third film in the After series, and if her work here is anything to go by, she could take it in some very exciting directions. Much more of a drama than a thriller, the conflicting components with Fear of Rain sometimes clash, but ultimately unite to create a film with plenty of potential.
Signature Entertainment presents Fear of Rain on Digital Platforms 26th April.
Fear of Rain
Summary
Madison Iseman proves her leading lady credentials in this twisting yarn that goes deep into the stark darkness of mental illness.
