Paura

This is a perfect movie for people who enjoy suspense, but don't mind if the film is not entirely intellectual or whatever. Mark Wahlberg is great to look at (so is Reese Witherspoon for the guys) and the story - though done before - is very engaging and watchable. The chemistry between David and Nicole before he goes wacko is great, too. I recommend this as a good film to rent for a "night with the girls" or if you are just in the mood for a thriller with real good looking people. Plus, Fox seems to put this movie on TV twice a year, as it was just on last night, and was on in August of '99. ENJOY!!

I mean it's ok but so dated and not in a good way. The acting is laughable in many places apart from the step mum and dad but definitely not worth the high rating on here. Easy to watch and it's fine but a 5 is all it deserves

I have titled this review 'Revisited' as I have seen this movie before, a long while ago, but I have still seen it before. It really is a little gem of a film. The storyline is good, the acting is good and even the 'thriller' aspect of the film makes you feel a bit freaked out. There is a romance aspect, but its not too mushy.

Excellent acting from both Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon. Both so young in this film, and also still acting today. I could easily say that Fear features possibly one of the best performances from the pair of them. Wahlberg's ability to play a psychopath so easily, and convincingly is amazing. Witherspoon's naivety as a sixteen year old girl, was also incredibly outstanding. Both Wahlberg and Witherspoon are household names now, that almost everyone had heard of, yet in this film they were both new and unknown. Excellent way to pave a career guys.

Movie like this either reach out and pull you in or they don't. Fear pulled me in. I rented this movie about a week after Halloween of 1996 and put it in my VCR not sure what to expect. 2 hours later I ejected the movie from the VCR feeling somewhat dazed and overwhelmed. Fear isn't a classic. But it works well. It is scary, violent gory and well made. The reason it works so well is because it was made by people who knew what they were doing. The whole stalker style of movies is full of uninspired trash that sounds like it was made for the USA network.

Fear stands heads and shoulders above that (And to some extent above the original Fatal Attraction). It's not afraid to push, to pull us inside, to scare us and give us a good conclusion at the end, one that movies of this type always mess up.

***

Nice, innocent teen Nicole (Reese Witherspoon) falls for handsome, muscular, soft spoken David (Mark Wahlberg) not knowing he's a psycho who wants her--forever. Good thing she's got a nice, muscular, protective father (William Petersen).

OK, it's no masterpiece and the plot is very familiar, but I was never bored. It's well-directed (especially a roller coaster ride), has beautiful scenery and architecture (look at the house where Witherspoon lives with her family) and a script that, if not always credible, never stops moving. The last 20 minutes really rock. A little unpleasant at times though. As for the acting--Witherspoon is OK. At times, she's totally believable--other times she's not. And she's obviously over 17. Petersen is very good playing the understanding, protective dad. A nice, understated performance. Mark Wahlberg is (surprisingly) very good as the psycho. He plays the nice guy and the evil guy very effectively. REALLY nice bod too--what a chest! But he needs some serious voice lessons--his Boston accent kept creeping in. So, a pretty good thriller. You could do worse.