In Fear

In Fear is a tale of a young couple on their way to a festival, whom detour, at the request of the male half, to a remote idyllic hotel.

Things go horribly wrong.

Tension and paranoia builds nicely in the opening third of the movie. Our couple get lost in a network of country lanes, supposedly leading to the hotel, which turn out to be a maze. As dusk approaches, confusion and anxiety turn to fear and dread ...

This is about as much as I can divulge without spoiling anything, however, the plot from this point onwards goes from irritating to ridiculous. Painful-to-view clichés and "they'd never do that" type gaffs litter the movie until the end which, when it comes, leaves you wondering if the writer got stuck for an ending.

When it's tense, it works well but too much in this film went awry for me. I saw it at the FrightFest film festival and did speak to a lot of fans who loved it, but not I.

I could be wrong, so it's perhaps worth checking out, if you like a claustrophobic, low-budget vibe in your horror but if not, I'd tread with caution.

It's astonishing how they manage to induce terror with just a couple of actors, a car, rainy weather, and the wilderness. This is a case of low-budget filmmaking done well. Jeremy Lovering is an Edgar Wright collaborator, and his frame choices (with plenty of close-ups of the protagonists' worried faces) instantly draw you into the film. The score is also quite effective and adds to the creepy mood. The plot presents a total nightmare for folks who suffer from panic attacks - travel horror may not be a genre recommended for those people. The storyline progression is somewhat questionable, but the pacing remains apt.

The first key jumpscare happens at an unexpected juncture, and I think the film deserves some points on that front. The entry of the third character deflates the tension to some extent, yet the performances (of all three) keep you invested. Even from a psychological horror standpoint, the plausibility of certain developments lack finesse especially towards the end of the film. Nonetheless, I think it's a solid exercise in building tension and the atmospherics really add to that. If you liked Dead End, there's a good chance you'll savour this one too.

First of all, the acting in this movie is pretty darn good, but other than that i can't give it any other merits. The dialogue and the way the characters act makes it so unbelievable that the movie becomes painful to watch. It's hard to become immersed when you are screaming at the characters to be smart for a few seconds. The plot is so full of holes and boring that it feels like you just want it to end after a half hour. the setting is perfect for the horror genre, unfortunately there is no horror, not even any suspense. Nothing ever changes in this movie so you feel like one scene is constantly on repeat. The whole movie feels as though it's stuck in it's first five minutes and nothing gives this movie the nudge it needs to become truly frightening. I really can not recommend this movie to anyone because it has nothing positive from any genre out there. This movie is a pass.

After two weeks of knowing each other, a witless young New Zealander with a dodgy English accent agrees to go to a music festival in Cornwall... er, Ireland with a witless young Scottish guy. They take the ferry to Cornwall... er, Ireland and stop at a pub where the New Zealander sits on the toilet waiting for something to happen. Later, they get into their car and the Scottish guy announces that instead of going to the festival, they are going to a hotel and need to wait for someone to come and show them the way. A Land Rover pulls up behind them and then drives past with a hotel sign on the tailgate so the witless couple follow. Eventually the Land Rover stops and the driver points to the road ahead before taking a right turn and disappearing. The witless couple continue on and get lost. The Scottish guy is driving and starts to drink, while the New Zealander looks increasingly anxious. It gets dark and they car begins to run low on fuel. The New Zealander tries to follow a map but the Scottish guy keeps on drinking and tries to follow a confusing set of signs for the hotel. Then the Scottish guy decides to pull over and wander off into the forest for no apparent reason. The New Zealander gets even more anxious but the Scot returns and they both decide to wander off into the forest, leaving the keys in the car. They don't get far before the car alarm goes off so they return and can't find the keys, until they find they keys on the ground. They drive off and go around in circles until eventually someone tries to attack them and they flee, only to knock a guy over and then all hell breaks loose, but not in a logical way.

Given that the couple are utterly lacking in common sense, and spend most of the time shouting at each other and making stupid decisions, the viewer is left not really caring what happens as the story spirals down one plot hole after another. One day someone will make a movie about sensible folk who despite their best efforts journey into a nightmare. Sadly, this isn't it.

At least Downton Abbey's Allen Leech get's to chew some scenery!

... just the way I like it ! So yes, of course I will be pretty subjective in this review (but aren't everyone else in theirs, after all ?)

In current horror movie era flooded with zombies, haunted houses and paranormal activities, little movies like this one come as real refreshment. To be honest it's more mystery/thriller/suspense than horror, but nevertheless.

Simple plot (Man and woman in a car, lost in a maze of narrow roads at the countryside trying to find a secluded hotel they reserved on internet), combined with nice visuals and directing/editing is just what I wanted to see from a movie. No two and a half hours of over the top action scenes, no special effects, CGI monsters, ghosts and flying sheets ... just a little mystery and healthy dose of suspense.

Yes, the main protagonists maybe don't do and act how one would expect "normal" people to do in such situation, but it's impossible to predict anyway how "normal" people would behave in every situation. This is good enough.

I must say that I find recent British movies (to name a few I can remember without looking at my voting history: Truth or die, The Seasoning House, The Cottage ...) more appealing to me than ones from Hollywood. I think if you hated "Cabin in the woods" or you're just tired of movies like that, there's a big chance you'll like "In Fear"