By Geno McGahee
John Travolta usually delivers even if the movie isn’t the best. OLD DOGS comes to mind. It was a terrible movie but Travolta tried to make it work and make it watchable. So, I had never heard of THE FANATIC with Travolta but stumbled upon it for 4 bucks on Blu-ray and said “what the hell?” I would have most definitely rented it from Blockbuster for the 4 bucks back in the day. So, even if it sucked, it’d be worth it.
I know a lot of people seeing that this film was written and directed by Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit fame would not give this a chance, but I’m not anti-Durst. I’m also not anti-Limp Bizkit. I liked that song “My Way or the Highway” back in the day especially because it was used in the WWE with the Undertaker. I think he was the one that used it. It may have been Stone Cold. Whatever the case, it wasn’t a terrible song. It wasn’t a song that I would listen to now unless Stone Cold and the Undertaker were sitting with me and reminiscing.
It’s pretty obvious that Durst in in film because he loves film. I kept thinking that he was involved in something that I had seen and he was good in it. I kept thinking “did it have anything to do with the Undertaker,” but I knew it didn’t. He was a cop in the underrated movie POPULATION 436 and he was decent in that role. As a cop, it could be argued that it was his way or the highway.
THE FANATIC concerns Moose (Travolta), a very likable character with some disabilities, has a fixation on Hollywood and getting autographs from stars. His idol is the action star, Hunter Dunbar (Devon Sawa), and he desperately wants to get close to him in some capacity. When a book signing happens, Moose stands in line for an hour, but is shunned when Hunter exits to deal with his ex-wife. This leads to an altercation between Hunter and Moose where poor Moose gets roughed up a bit. Travolta is very sympathetic in this role and I kept disliking Hunter for his aggression, but he was dealing with a crazy stalker after all. So it’s all good.
Moose has a friend, Leah (Ana Golja), and she tries to guide him and help him as much as she can. She knows he’s got issues and that he is compulsive and he does listen to her, for the most part, but she eventually gives him some information that changes his life and Hunter’s life. She mentions a map to the homes of the stars app and he is interested and becomes obsessed when he realizes that Hunter’s home address is available.
After showing up at Hunter’s home a few times and being chased off by the star, Moose begins to change and gets angry. He has had enough and will not be the victim anymore. He does some really creepy things like breaking into Hunter’s home, using his toothbrush, and then hiding underneath Hunter’s young son’s bed. At one point, he is watching Hunter sleep and even kisses him on the forehead. My sympathy for Moose began evaporating.
When Leah finds out that Moose posted pictures of Hunter on his social media, things get really crazy. After burning memorabilia connected with Hunter, Moose heads back to his house for one final statement. He ties up Hunter to a bed and then terrorizes him using horror themes including FRIDAY THE 13TH and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. It’s so obvious that Moose isn’t all there and should not have been living alone from the start. Leah did what she could to help, but he was too delusional and obsessive for this not to be a likely thing.
The final fight between Hunter and Moose is really brutal. It is difficult not to want to see Moose make it out alive. I have to give great credit to Travolta for this performance. I didn’t see him as Travolta. He became Moose and that doesn’t happen very much when you have such a noticeable and popular actor.
THE FANATIC is a really good movie that made me think about ONE HOUR PHOTO a lot. It covers a very real topic with stalkers harassing celebrities, and sometimes, going further. I really liked this movie and it’s easy to sympathize with Moose, a guy that has nothing and only wants some sort of nod from his idols. This film does well playing with the empathy of the viewer while testing it the whole time.
John Travolta shows why he has been a consistent start in this film and that he has plenty of life left. Unfortunately, this film really bombed and I can see why. I had never heard of it. I don’t think much of the reported 18 million budget went into marketing. It came out in 2019, so maybe Covid played some role in its failure.
Whatever the case, THE FANATIC is really good, with the exception of the non-ending. I know the viewer can easily connect the dots, but I prefer confirmation in my assumptions. Even with that, I highly recommend this one. I really enjoyed it.
