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!!

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.

***

I had very low hopes for FEAR . I'd read the synopsis in the TV guide and the plot sounded like one of those psycho killer stalker from hell thrillers that were being churned out without any thought in the mid 1990s . Considering it starred singer Marky Mark , Reese Witherspoon and William Petersen who's a rival to Eric Roberts in the straight to video / cable TV movie stakes I didn't think this was going to be up to much

While not being a classic thriller FEAR certainly did hold my attention , probably because much of the characterisation is credible . All too often in this genre the actor or actress playing the villain really goes to town showing the audience what a bad ass they are thereby parodying the role . Mark Wahlberg as David is very restrained for the most part which makes David and credible character and his on screen chemistry with Reese Witherspoon's Nicole is believable , you can believe these two characters are genuinely in love with one another something that is all too rare in this type of movie

I should also point out that much of the movie revolves around the interaction of Petersen's Mr Walker who is concerned about his daughter's relationship with David . You can't blame the guy for wanting what's best for his offspring and it enhances the credibility of the story . It's refreshing to have a more thoughtful approach to this type of genre because if people start turning up dead after 15 minutes then things start to get silly , so the violence is kept to a minimum until almost at the end of the movie which does suffer something of a plot hole because no one seems to have a mobile telephone at readily hand and don't tell me professional people didn't have mobile phones in 1996 . Also watch out for references to STRAW DOGS , THE SHINING and NOSFERATU at the climax

Even if you're burned out on those 90s stalker from hell thrillers you could do worse than watch this on a wet Friday evening

Over the years I've caught bits and pieces of this film many times on cable and even premium movie channels. Just finally I decided to sit down and watch it all and I must say overall "Fear" is a pretty decent mind thriller. It's theme fits well with teenage love obsession and the stalker crisis. And the cast here is well known it features some of the early work for most of them before they would go on to TV fame(Brenneman, Milano, and Petersen) and movie stardom(Wahlberg and Witherspoon). Set in Seattle, Washington a teenage girl the innocent and pretty Nicole(in one of Reese's earliest roles)lives with her father Steve(William Petersen)and stepmother Laura(Amy Brenneman)and Nicole has a good loving family life yet her parents are to overprotective and she starts to give into the pressure of her peers especially from her best friend the free spirited and sleazy Margo(the hot Alyssa Milano). It's upon their partying and club going that Nicole meets a young and innocent and nice talking young man named David(Mark Wahlberg). Yet appearances and personalities can be deceiving as after David seduces Nicole and she loses her innocence and develops a false trust surely enough David begins a violent obsession with her. Her family sees it and warns her, eventually this leads to drama all concluding with violence and a hostage situation with Nicole's family that was brought on by David and his thug friends. Yet in the end Nicole will grow to learn love is blind as she faces her fear. Pretty decent thriller of the stalker mode with some early performances from what would later be big stars in both TV and film. So give it a watch some late night on cable or premium TV.

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