The Last Horror Film (also released as Fanatic) is a 1982 American horror comedy film directed by David Winters and starring Joe Spinell and Caroline Munro. Its plot follows a delusional middle-aged New York City taxi driver who, fixated on the idea of being a film director, visits the Cannes Film Festival where he begins stalking an actress he is obsessed with.
The film was shot on location at the Cannes Film Festival in France without permits, and reunited actors Spinell and Munro, who had previously starred together in Maniac (1980).
Upon its initial release, it won and was nominated in several film festivals dedicated to genre films. It was considered a partially lost film due to the fact that portions of its gore were excised from the original 35 mm film negatives, and largely only available on some home video editions. In 2023, a complete print of the original cut was found at the La Cinémathèque Française, and utilized by Severin Films for a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release.
Plot
Vinny Durand, a New York City taxi driver who lives with his mother, dreams of directing a film starring horror film actress Jana Bates. He decides to attend the Cannes Film Festival, where she has been nominated for Best Actress her latest horror film Scream, as he hopes to meet her and get her to star in his movie to kickstart his directing career.
Accompanying Jana at Cannes is her manager and ex-husband Bret Bates, as well as her boyfriend Alan Cunningham, who has produced the film. Durand tries to meet Jana, but is turned away, only to find out agented scripts are accepted. Shortly afterwards, Jana and Cunningham attend a press conference, where she receives a note saying, "You've made your last horror film. Goodbye." She goes to see Bret at his hotel room after and finds his decapitated corpse. When she later returns with the police, the body is gone.
In the meantime, Durand stalks Jana, covertly filming her with his camera. Marty Bernstein, Jana's agent, runs into Durand and shrugs him off. Bernstein meets with the Scream's director Stanley Kline, and his personal assistant Susan Archer, who reveal that all of them have received the same notes that Jana received. When the police are informed, they believe that Bret's disappearance is a publicity stunt. The next day, Bernstein gets a letter signed from Bret to meet him in a theater screening room. Bernstein is murdered by a cloaked figure upon arrival.
While Jana attends further press conferences, Durand visits a nightclub where he attacks a stripper after envisioning her as Jana. Later, he watches a horror film by Stanley Kline, which he finds disgusting. Later, when Durand runs into Kline outside, he yells at him telling him he should not make nasty films. The following day, the newscast announces the discovery of Bret's body. Archer tells Kline that she wants to leave, but he convinces her to stay. That evening, both of them are killed by an assailant who films their deaths.
Later that night, while Jana is showering in her hotel room, Durand sneaks in with a bottle of champagne, hoping to charm her into starring in his movie. A terrified Jana orders him to leave, causing Durand to break the champagne bottle in anger and threaten her with the jagged glass. A bellboy arrives and interrupts the encounter, after which Jana flees through the hotel lobby, which guests mistake for another publicity stunt. Durand, caught off guard, stops and smiles for the onlookers, allowing Jana to escape in a car with Cunningham.
The next day, Cunningham drives Jana to a remote château in the French countryside where his friend Jonathan is staying. Durand follows them. That evening, he sneaks into the château, to be chased away by Jana's bodyguards who shoot pistols in the dark to accidentally kill Jonathan instead without realizing it.
Cunningham and Jana return to Cannes for the awards ceremony and when left alone she is subdue by Durand who takes her back to the castle to film a scene where Durand plays Dracula and Jana the victim. Suddenly, Bret shows up with another camera and a pistol, and congratulates Durand on setting everything up for him. Bret, revealed to be the killer and the mastermind behind this, says that on the day when Durand phoned him about his movie proposal, he realized that he was the perfect fall guy to set up to get even with Jana for leaving him. Durand throws his cape over Bret and runs away.
Bret grabs Jana and follows Durand outside. Bret taunts him to come out. Durand turns on a motorcycle's headlights, blinding Bret, and as Jana steps aside, He grabs a chainsaw and murders Bret with it. Cunningham arrives with the police, to see Durand stands before Bret's dead body and screams.