Movie Review - In Fear

In Fear (2014)

Starring Iain De Caestecker, Alice Englert, and Allen Leech

Directed by Jeremy Lovering

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

While the two leads in In Fear -- Iain De Caestecker and Alice Englert -- are certainly appealing and adept at providing the correct amount of the titular emotion, this three person horror flick doesn't quite have the oomph to elevate it beyond the average.  A low budget feature to be sure, In Fear follows Tom and Lucy (played by the aforementioned actors) as they make their way to a music festival at a small town in Ireland.  The couple has only been together for two weeks, but Tom has booked an overnight stay at a small hotel in hopes of wooing Lucy a bit more.  On the way to the hotel, however, Tom and Lucy get lost in a maze of back roads and they seemingly appear to be getting sabotaged by someone moving around signs that lead them back to their starting points.  Unable to figure out a way out of the labyrinthine roads in the dark, with their car running out of gas, and the threat of a masked person popping up every so often in the dark woods in which they are trapped, Tom and Lucy find themselves panicking, ratcheting up their fear -- perhaps unjustly or justly so.

Taking place nearly entirely in their car and in "almost" real-time, In Fear succeeds at creating tension at times.  Admittedly, it takes a while to get started, but I appreciated the opportunity to get to know these two characters whom we spend so much time with.  Unfortunately, in that initial act, I got  the impression that this would be a taut psychological thriller dealing with the way man lets fear take over.  Instead, as the film's final act comes into view, some rather silly backstory involving a mysterious man comes to the forefront and the ending proves to be a bit unsatisfying.

The RyMickey Rating: C-