As A Prelude to Fear is an abduction story that revolves around the kidnapping of Eve (Lara Lemon). She travels to the middle of nowhere with the expectation that she is going to improve her skills with a cello teacher. Immediately Eve is thrown into a dank, dungeon-like pit where the previous tenant has just been murdered. Eve learns from her neighbor in the cell next to hers that she has been in captivity for fourteen years, and the same long, arduous fate most likely awaits Eve as well.

In the outside world, the kidnapping comes to the attention of DCS Barnbrook (Francis Magee), who has been chasing a serial killer named the Pied Piper for years. Believing this is the work of the very same man, the obsession begins anew for Barnbrook and his underling Dobson (Lucy Drive). Eve’s boyfriend, believing that the cops aren’t doing a good enough job, launches his own investigation into everything. Most trails and leads trace back to a man named Giles Corcoran (Roger Wyatt), but the cops have had problems coming up with sufficient evidence to pin the crimes on him. 

The story itself isn’t always compelling or particularly scary, nor does it have any kind of real tension. The characters oftentimes make decisions that seem to go against common sense. Eve walks into a home that looks less than safe based on a note pinned to the door informing her this is where the cello lessons are. Her boyfriend Jamie doesn’t find it necessary to escort her to the house to confirm her well-being, simply driving off after she gets out of the car. While it’s easy to cheer for smart and resourceful characters, it’s equally as difficult to get behind characters who make such poor decisions over the course of an entire movie. That is the case here. 

The other difficult part to get past is that nothing much happens. The story moves at an exceptionally slow pace, with long scenes of expository dialogue occasionally broken up by scenes of Eve being attacked or otherwise harmed by the Pied Piper. More scenes of Eve working a way to get out of her situation or the cops doing something other than sitting in an office would have gone a long way to make things more interesting, and perhaps add some much-needed tension to the movie. 

The actors do the best they can with the material that they are given. Specifically Lara Lemon as the imprisoned Eve. She has a couple of good scenes of terror and hopelessness as she is plunged deeper into her situation. The masked actor playing the Pied Piper brings a decent amount of menace to his scenes, and the rest of the cast gives it their all with the clunky dialogue. 

As A Prelude to Fear has an interesting enough launching off point with the idea of the Pied Piper and an obsessive pursuit of perfection concerning musicians and their craft. That interesting launching-off point is quickly bogged down by repetitious and slow scenes, and a lack of any kind of scares or tension. 

3 out of 10