In Fear (2014)

A Masterpiece!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

My quick rating - 4,8/10. I am not sure what people on IMDb are raving about. It may have been simple and to the point, or if you want to read well into this much more then exists, then sure, it could be phenomenal. Truth is I watched a marginal horror movie that was entirely too boring for half of it. The acting was not very good to hold so much of the film being just the two people in the car. I would give my opinions of what actually could've happened but there is no way to do so without giving spoilers. Let me just say, I really don't think this movie is much more then face value but only the creators could say for sure. Maybe someone will comment on IMDb to me and tell me if my "theory" about this is correct. If not, this is just a drive around lost with some bad guy harassing you every step of the way. Might be worth viewing if you want to get in the conversation of "What ifs"

The reviews on the poster for the movie were quite good, so I expected this movie to be better.It is not a bad movie. Although you can sum up the plot of the movie in a sentence: a couple got lost in the woods and are driving in a car in circles trying to find a hotel. At the end, I did not really understand whether the hotel exist or not. The 'house' with so many smashed cars is not really a hotel or ... I don't know. I guess it is one of the mysteries of the movie. The 3rd character is also a mystery. It does add to the story of the movie, but his own story remains hidden and his motive for the 'game ' with a couple is a bit ... too much.The biggest plus for the movie are some beautifully done scenes.5 from me.

This is one of those films that I recorded and left unwatched for a few weeks.In many ways this was right up my street. It's creepy. It's claustrophobic. It's pretty scary in parts and it kept my interest all the way through. It's one of those odd-ball movies that you only find yourself watching in the early hours but I liked it. The only thing that let it down was the acting. None of the performances by the three main leads was brilliant, especially the male lead who was so wooden you could probably stir soup with him.However it worked and the storyline was so intriguing that the acting didn't spoil my viewing. This plot reminded me of an old Twilight Zone episode. And that's good because I'm a big Twilight Zone fan.

SOME SPOILERSI was scanning the TV pages and this film had a great write up so I thought I would give it a chance as I rate the reviewer and although it was a 'smaller' film than I expected, I was not disappointed.The IMDb fan base scores this as 5.5 at time of writing which I think is far too low.I have scored this as a 7 because for a long time I found a true chiller that had me on the edge of my seat. Far bigger budgets try to fill the screen with CGI and sudden shocks and fail because of the compromise to sell to the market.The film is produced by Big Talk whose TV CV is high end but that does not always transfer to the big screen. That this film debuted at Sundance speaks highly of its aspirations and it certainly would have made a good B flick in the days when you used to get two solid films for your money at the cinema. It was not that long ago either.The story surrounds a young man and a young woman who are heading to an isolated hotel for an engagement. The fact the engagement is celebrating two weeks rather than any thing extensive becomes clearer as the film unravels and the lack of intimate knowledge becomes key to how they react to each other, especially as the hotel is more non existent than isolated.Travelling by car our two young friends are guided on their path by a faceless person in a land rover. All seems good after the land rover departs and the couple head towards the hotel, but not long into the journey 'sat navs' and maps become pointless and the road signs seem to just direct them in circles.As darkness descends and it becomes clear that they are being targeted by one if not more unsavoury characters the couple try and escape the tight country lanes but without any joy as the car's fuel tank heads towards empty.This was the first time I had seen Alice Englert on screen and I found her performance very good adding layers of emotion and complexity in a very easy manner as the film became a roller-coaster of fear towards its conclusion. The young man is played by Iain De Caestecker who many will know as 'Fitz' from 'Agents of Shield' but who first came onto my radar in a BBC production called 'The Fades'. He can often play many of his roles with a wide mouth had a certain intensity that he kept just under the his main performance making a final scene somewhat surprising.The film has a third player whose role is well beyond spoilers so I will merely mention that Allen Leech, yes he of Downton fame, is suitably nasty and very believable.I've checked through IMDb and have no real knowledge of the writer/director's (Ian Lovering) previous work, other than an episode of Sherlock, but that really is a Moffat/Gattis affair to be honest. I just hope that Lovering did not base this on reality.The ending provides a few unexpected twists and overall, as I mentioned I think the IMDb scores are too low.Worth a watch.