Tom and Lucy are both happy young adults eager to set out on their first weekend getaway as a couple. They set off for a planned stay at a remote hotel but quickly find themselves getting lost in a maze of backwoods roads. However they soon discover that they are at the mercies of an unknown tormentor that is eager to take advantage of their vulnerability and distance from civilization.
Review
Bored and looking for something to watch I was browsing through lists of the best horror movies of 2013. The more and more "In Fear" appeared in them the more my interest was piqued.
Well let's just say the anticipation of watching it was much more exciting than the actual process of watching it. All we have with "In Fear" is a poorly scripted annoyingly repetitive horror movie that is carried along by a phenomenal score that is way better than it has any right to be. The sounds mesh with the images so well that there were moments that I still felt nervous even though I knew what was going to happen courtesy of the bythenumbers script.
Tom and Lucy are two people that just met two weeks prior. On their way to a music festival in a nearby town Tom decides to surprise Lucy by taking her to a hotel for a night...a rather questionable move for people that have just met. Thankfully Lucy seems to be fine with it.
But there are some red flags from the outset For one the only way to get to the hotel is to follow a truck whose owner they never see. Even more alarming He points to a locked gate insinuating that is where they should go next before suddenly leaving them alone. I don't know about you but that would be enough for me to get the hell out of there and never return but Tom and Lucy stupid horror characters that they are do as they're instructed.
From here we get thirty minutes of them driving around in circles inexplicably continuing to follow the same signs to the motel even after learning it only takes them back to where they started. Somehow these scenes manage to be creepy at least at first if for no other reason than the aforementioned score. Of course once minute twenty rolls around of the same old thing it starts to lose its luster. Then once Max arrives things go from bad to worse both for the characters and for the viewer leading to an abomination of an ending.
"In Fear" is certainly a competent example of independent filmmaking at least from a visual standpoint and I guess it deserves some points for that. It's well shot well acted well lit and despite a few confusing cuts pretty well edited. Unfortunately the one thing it's missing besides a shred of believability is a halfway decent script. These characters are ones you've seen in dozens if not hundreds of horror movies before in that they are clearly only reacting to the needs of the script they do not act like normal people attempting to get out of a desperate situation but rather. Put any real person in this situation and it would be a five minute movie with no scares and no real action.
Come to think of it I've essentially summed up "In Fear" only it somehow needs 85 minutes to do that.