City of Fear

City of Fear (1999) was one of those blockbuster rental exclusives, but has been released on DVD. It is better than most of the Blockbuster exclusives. Shot in Sofia, Bulgaria, it is the story of an American journalist (Gary Daniels) with an Australian accent who goes to Sofia, Bulgaria purportedly to cover a medical breakthrough made by his best friend. We also learn in the opening that he is an accomplished martial artist lacking only a sense of purpose and harmony with the universe to be great.

Upon arrival, he finds he is just in time for his friend's funeral. He decides to investigate, and teams with the lovely Carol Campbell to unravel what is going on. The players include Bulgarian national police, Interpol, the Russian Mafia, and more. Daniels has a few good fighting sequences.

NUDITY REPORT

There are two nude scenes, the first with carol Campbell in her dressing room showing the side of a breast, and her buns in sheer stockings. The second is a lovemaking scene, where she shows her breasts

DVD info from Amazon.

no widescreen version, no features

Sofia is an attractive city, and they shot enough of the film outdoors to take advantage of that. While the story was a little fuzzy here and there, it kept my interest for the most part.

The Critics Vote

no reviews online

The People Vote ...

With their votes ... IMDB summary: IMDb voters score it 5.2, but with only five votes.

With their dollars ... no theatrical release

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is a C.