Fang (2022 film)

Fang is a 2022 American psychological body horror film written and directed by Richard Burgin, starring Dylan LaRay, Lynn Lowry, Jess Paul, and Tom White. Fang tells the story of a young autistic man who, after living with the stress of his mother's Parkinson's disease, starts to believe that he's turning into a rat.

Plot
23-year-old Billy Cochran is a cartoonist who lives with his mother Gina in a decaying industrial neighborhood in Chicago. He frequently uses prescription drugs like Valium and Oxycontin. Billy works at a meat processing warehouse, where he faces a demanding and unsympathetic boss, Mr. Wolfson. Gina's condition worsens dramatically, culminating in a crisis where she collapses and is hospitalized. Dr. Decanthian reveals that Gina has Stage 5 Parkinson's disease, emphasizing that she needs 24/7 care. Billy disassociates while hearing about Gina's diagnosis, flashing back to a dead rat he found in a field.

Billy becomes attracted to Gina's new caregiver, Myra Valenti. Despite the initial awkwardness between them, Myra shows an interest in Billy's drawings. Billy describes in great detail the sci-fi story he created in his drawings, about alien hybrid creatures named Graixians who live on the planet Graix in the distant future. Billy and Myra are interrupted by Gina, who demands that Billy change the TV channel for her. Gina shows signs of hallucinating, believing that she was at the Baltimore Airport while she was stuck on the floor at home.

Later that night, Billy discovers a rat in his bathtub, leading to a frantic chase around the living room of Billy and Gina's house. Billy gets bitten by the rat and is then hospitalized, where he's given a new kind of mixed tetanus shot. Billy starts to notice strange bumps and wounds on his skin. Mr. Wolfson lectures Billy and warns him not to skip work, without realizing that Billy had skipped work because he was in the hospital.

After a confrontation with Gina where she involuntarily urinates on the floor, Billy leaves to take a bath. He tears off a piece of his skin and notices a chunk of rat fur underneath. Billy draws an illustration of the rat fur in his notebook and shows it to Myra. Unsure what to make of Billy's vision of rat fur growing on his arm, Myra assures Billy that it was most likely a paranoid reaction. She ends by encouraging Billy to read a self-help book.

Gina confronts Myra at dinner and forces her to do a height measuring contest, where Billy is asked to measure which one of them is taller. After Gina is proven to be 3 inches taller than Myra, Billy has a panic attack, where he goes to the bathroom, looks at himself in the mirror, and finds more extensive rat fur growing on his body. At a bar, Billy tries to socialize with his co-workers Danny and Jeff, only to be interrupted by a vision of a humanoid creature with a giant rat head, known as the Rat King.

Billy runs home, deeply disturbed by what he saw. Gina confronts Billy, imagining that he didn't empty their dishwasher, leading to an intense argument between them where she claims to have never loved him. Billy responds by throwing a water glass at Gina, yelling, then retreating to his bedroom. Gina comes into Billy's bedroom wearing different makeup than in the previous scene. Gina talks to Billy about how when she was younger, she was a finalist for the Miss Indiana beauty pageant. It becomes clear that Gina is hallucinating as she sexually assaults Billy, believing that Billy is Sam, his dead father.

After the trauma of the assault, Billy discovers a more extensive growth of rat fur on his back. Billy has a nightmare where he meets another humanoid rat creature, Dr. Rat, who chants repeatedly to Billy, "We need red meat." The line between hallucinations and reality becomes increasingly blurred, as Gina tells Billy she doesn't remember their intense argument from the night before. Billy notices that the water glass he threw at Gina is on the table, fully intact.

At work, Mr. Wolfson tells Billy about the upcoming health and safety inspection of his warehouse, where he asks Billy to hide bank documents for him. Late in the day, Billy overhears Mr. Wolfson talking on the phone about how he has $500,000 in cash at his house. Billy buys a lockpick and hunting knife at a hardware store before he reveals to Myra that he plans to break into Mr. Wolfson's house and steal his money. Myra tries to convince Billy not to commit the burglary, but he argues against her.

During the health and safety inspection, Billy successfully breaks into Mr. Wolfson's house. He searches the premises and finds large amounts of cash in a bedroom closet. Mr. Wolfson is interrupted by a phone call, which requires him to suddenly go home. As Billy walks down the stairs of Mr. Wolfson's house, he has a sudden hallucination of the Rat King appearing on the living room TV as a talk show guest. Billy has a mental breakdown where he flails and yells wildly. When Mr. Wolfson arrives home, Billy lunges at him, stabbing Mr. Wolfson to death with his hunting knife.

Billy walks home, covered in blood. When Billy gets to his living room, he finds Gina stuck in an immobile position. Billy stabs Gina repeatedly, pulls out her intestines, and cannibalizes her. After eating part of Gina's intestines, Billy briefly transforms into a humanoid rat creature. Myra comes home, discovers that Billy killed Gina, and calls the police.

Billy is sentenced to stay in a mental hospital, where he gets diagnosed with autism, schizophrenia, and severe psychosis. Billy describes how he wants to get better. A drawing of a humanoid rat creature is shown hanging on the wall of Billy's padded cell.

Production
Fang was filmed in Chicago, Cicero, and Lockport, Illinois from January 10, 2020, to February 7, 2020. Filming took place over 23 days. An additional day of filming took place on December 13, 2019, in West Palm Beach, Florida, to film The Ron Larkin Show talk show sequences for Fang. Jason Kraynek was director of photography during the production of Fang, while Robert Felker was line producer.

Release
Fang premiered at the Davis Theater on November 29, 2022. Fang was distributed through a partnership between Richard Burgin and David Rokita of Malevolent Dark. David Rokita, Tom Deaver, Richard Burgin, and John Joseph Dunn were executive producers of Fang. Richard Burgin recorded the director's commentary track for Fang with Isabela Rangel.

Critical reception
The film received mixed to positive reviews. David Gelmini of Dread Central gave Fang 5/5 stars and wrote, "With its dedicated central performances and its abundance of nightmarish imagery, Fang is quite possibly one of the best independent horror films to come along in quite some time."

Lisa Marie Bowman of Through the Shattered Lens wrote, "Fang is a well-directed, well-acted, and well-visualized portrayal of life on the fringes of society, one that captures both the timeless theme of loneliness and the uniquely paranoid atmosphere of today."

Giles Edwards of 366 Weird Movies gave Fang a "Recommended" review, adding, "Please take the "Recommended" notice with this warning: Fang is very painful at times; but its most painful moments are its most impressive."

Bryan Kristopowitz of 411Mania gave Fang a very positive review, writing, "Fang is a masterpiece. A horror movie for the ages with two of the best performances you will see in anything. Dylan LaRay and especially Lynn Lowry should be up for all sorts of awards and recognition, as well as director Burgin."

Don Anelli of Don's World of Horror was more critical, describing Fang as a "somewhat flawed genre effort" and "problematic for what it is," while adding, "Among the better aspects at play here is the genuine sympathy elicited throughout here as this tries to make us care for what's going on."

Accolades
Fang won 13 film festival awards, with an additional 15 nominations, including 8 nominations and 1 award at the FANtastic Film Festival in San Diego, 5 nominations and 4 awards at the Milwaukee Twisted Dreams Festival, and the Shawna Spirit Award at The Shawna Shea Film Festival in Massachusetts.