Relative Fear (1995)

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

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This little known film which I caught by channel surfing in 1995 and taped and later bought has turned out to be one of my all time favorite thrillers. It stars mostly little known actors other than James Brolin and M. Emmett Walsh. The movie begins with 2 babies being born at the same hospital one night, one from a lady in restraints who is screaming that they can't take her baby from her, and the other from a married couple who seem very happy and normal. Of course the viewer realizes there's going to be a baby switch. That's a given. The focus is henceforth on the normal couple. The mother, Darlene Fluegel, senses something is wrong before leaving the hospital. The movie then shifts to 4 years later (It should have been 5 or 6 as the excellent Michael DuPuis is way too big to be 4) and "Adam" is mute, and fascinated by watching a cable crime channel that covers mainly murder cases live or re-enactments. He has a talent for drawing but never speaks. They are told he is autistic, though his behavior is not typical of autistic children. Then again, the movie is a whodunit, not a study of autism. Soon, strange happenings begin to occur. Adam's Grandfather's dog is lured out and not seen again. A neighbor's child who teases Adam when no adults are around gets shot and killed. Then the Grandfather dies when someone disconnects his oxygen. Adam is always present at these events. Is he a bad seed? The parents hire a professional tutor to try to get Adam to speak from a well known Child Help Foundation. The rest of the film has many twists and turns and a very powerful climax, with a few chills along the way. It was written by Kurt Wimmer, who just this year (2010) wrote "Law Abiding Citizen" starring Gerard Butler. Some may figure out the ending early on, but the scene where Adam's mother finds her biological child is a winner, and all the characters are intelligent people. The film is "R" rated for violence, though by today's standards it should be PG-13 at worst. No gore. Most of the deaths occur off screen. It is more suspense than horror. I know most don't think this is a great film judging from critics and viewers reviews, but it is one of my 20 favorite movies ever (I am nearly 70 and have seen nearly 3000 films, some as many as 40 times), and everyone I have shown this has at least liked it. Some similarity to the original "Stepfather".

SPOILERS!! This is the story of a family with an autistic child. Isn't that exciting? Adam is a four year old boy who is apparently autistic, despite the fact that he doesn't seem to show any signs of it, other than he can't talk. He is a gifted artist, and he loves the Crime Channel. As his drawing become more and more violent, people around him start to die. Is it Adam committing the murders? Perhaps if the movie didn't give everything away in the first few minutes we might think so. As it turns out the "twist" is obvious from the get go, although it makes little sense.None of the actors were great, a few were really horrible, but no one was so bad that you had to turn the movie off. The little boy who plays Adam spends the whole movie in a trance (I guess thats his autism?), and he makes you want to slap him.There are other, better movies with similar themes that I would recommend such as the Bad Seed, The Good Son, or even Mikey, although the "twist" does make this movie slightly different from those listed above.

this was a pretty good movie..i was surfing channels and came across this..relative fear is a real creepy affair..especially the autistic adam that kid creeped the s**t out of me... the plot was good and so were the twists....but creepy adam stole the show ... so if you like thrillers with good twists then relative fear is for you... i give it 8/10 and will never look at 4 year old autistic kids the same again

I've watched this video several times and the suspense is chilling, the end great fun.