1996 American film
Fear is a 1996 American psychological thriller film directed by James Foley and written by Christopher Crowe. It stars Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon, William Petersen, Alyssa Milano and Amy Brenneman. It revolves around a wealthy family whose seemingly perfect life is threatened when their teenage daughter begins dating an attractive and mysterious young man.
The film was largely derided by critics upon its release, but became a sleeper hit in the spring of 1996, grossing $20 million at the U.S. box office. It has since become a cult film, while at the same time launching teen idol status for its two young leads - Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon - who were romantically linked at the time of the movie's premiere.[1] Wahlberg was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain.[2]
The film's own producer, Brian Grazer, described it as "Fatal Attraction for teens".[3]
Plot
Sixteen-year-old Nicole Walker lives in the suburbs of Seattle with her father Steven, his new wife Laura, and Laura's son Toby. While she is at a cafe with her best friend Margo Masse and friend Gary Rohmer, Nicole meets David McCall, and instantly falls for his good looks and charm. Nicole falls in love with David, but Steven dislikes him, and grows angry with him when he disregards Nicole's curfew and, eventually, has sex with her. David soon becomes possessive and jealous over Nicole, culminating in attacking Gary when he sees them hugging, beating him up and giving Nicole a black eye. As a result, she breaks up with him, but they get back together when David apologizes to her for his actions. He later manipulates her into believing her father assaulted him.
David invites Nicole to a party at his friend Logan's house. At first, she declines but then decides to drive to the party, where she witnesses Margo smoking crack and having sex with David, although Nicole does not realise it is not consensual. The following day, she confronts him about his infidelity and breaks up with him for good, and also confronts Margo, not believing that David raped her. David then threatens Margo to convince Nicole to take him back. After seeing Nicole with Gary, David follows and kills him.
Nicole goes with Laura and Toby to the mall, where David corners her in the women's restroom, vowing to her that he will not let anyone stand in the way of him having Nicole for himself. Meanwhile, Steven finds his car vandalized with an insulting note left by David. Furious, Steven breaks into the house David shares with Logan and vandalizes it after discovering a shrine David made for Nicole. In retaliation for Steven's vandalism, David decides to break into the Walkers' residence with his four friends: Logan, Hacker, Knobby, and Terry, aiming to harm Nicole's family and take Nicole for himself.
After Margo informs the Walkers of Gary's death, David and his gang behead Kaiser, the family dog, then make multiple attempts to break inside. Steven and Laura barricade the doors, and Laura injures Hacker with a drill, and he is then taken to the hospital by Knobby. Using a flashlight, Nicole sends an SOS to the Walkers' private security guard, Larry, who arrives to confront the situation, but is killed by Terry. David, Logan, and Terry take Steven hostage, forcing Laura to surrender. Toby escapes through a window and gets to Laura's car phone. After Terry finds him in the garage, Toby fatally runs Terry over with the SUV. Logan forces himself onto Nicole; Margo intervenes, but is knocked unconscious.
David shoots Logan dead for attempting to rape Nicole, and then tells her that he intends to kill her father so he can finally have Nicole, believing that Nicole will get over it and accept him. After Toby retrieves Larry's keys and releases his parents, Steven rushes at David, but David takes him down and gets ready to kill him, until Nicole saves her father by impaling David in the back with a peace pipe (a gift from David himself). As a hurt David looks at Nicole in shock, Steven gets back up and brawls with him. An enraged David attempts to attack Nicole, but Steven furiously throws him to his death through the bedroom window. The family embrace each other as the police and the paramedics arrive.
Production
In March 1994, it was announced that Imagine Entertainment was in the process of putting together a thriller written by Christopher Crowe titled No Fear, with James Foley in negotiations to direct.[4]
Leonardo DiCaprio was looked at for the role of David McCall (surnamed McNeil prior to production), DiCaprio didn't think he was right for the part, but he put in a good word for Mark Wahlberg (whom he co-starred with on The Basketball Diaries) to director James Foley.[5]
The movie was filmed for 11 weeks in the Pacific Northwest. While the story was set in Seattle, Washington, the filmmakers actually spent three days there to establish the city before moving production to Vancouver, British Columbia, where the filmmakers found the site for the Walker family house on Howe Sound.[6]
Reese Witherspoon said she requested a stunt double for the sex scene during the roller coaster sequence, saying:
"I didn't have control over it. It wasn't explicit in the script that that's what was going to happen, so that was something that I think the director [James Foley] thought of on his own and then asked me on set if I would do it, and I said, 'No.' It wasn't a particularly great experience."[7]
Release
Fear was released on April 12, 1996, in 1,584 theaters. It opened at number four at the box office, making $6.3 million in its opening weekend. By the end of its run, the film earned $20.8 million in the US.[8]
Reception
Fear holds a 46% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 39 reviews, with an average rating of 5.20/10. The site's consensus reads: "Fear has an appealing young cast, but their efforts aren't enough to consistently distract from an increasingly overblown - and illogical - teen stalker story".[9] On Metacritic it has a score of 51% based on reviews from 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[10] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[11]
Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "Fear is hard to resist. On one hand it's a shameless thriller that makes up for the inevitability of its story by consistently being bigger, faster and more appalling than you might expect. On the other hand, it contains enough truth about fathers, teenaged daughters and young lust to distinguish it from most thrillers and ground it in vivid emotion. It is a nightmare fantasy for fathers. Director James Foley and screenwriter Christopher Crowe keep raising the stakes all the way to a finish that's something out of The Straw Dogs. It's a maddening, satisfying, junky, enjoyable picture."[12]
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a positive review, further accrediting the comparisons to Fatal Attraction. According to him, "Fear is a teen Fatal Attraction, with Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon in the Glenn Close and (respectively) Michael Douglas roles, and with William Petersen in Anne Archer's. And — surprise — it isn’t bad." He did, however, criticize the finale: "[Director] James Foley does a fine job evoking the sexual tensions between father, daughter, and rogue suitor. Yet he has less luck with the (inevitable) garish climax, which is unconvincingly staged...never even making it over the top".[13]
Gene Siskel gave the film a thumbs-down while Roger Ebert gave it a thumbs-up. Siskel called the picture "Predictable trash with an 'inspired' title, and with a third act which nosedives into pure mayhem...It's shocking that such a film was made by the same director who gave us At Close Range, Glengary Glen Ross, and After Dark, My Sweet; this one is not worthy of his talent. It should have been titled Who's That Boy." Ebert claimed the movie "generates genuine psychological interest, with an effective and suspenseful portrait of a family under siege."[14]
Movie historian Leonard Maltin gave the picture two out of four stars: "This passable slasher epic benefits from taut, stylish direction and from decent performances; still, it's awfully derivative -- especially the climactic showdown. Mark Wahlberg is menacing as the lovestruck hood, but he could benefit from diction lessons."[15]
Critical revaluation of the film has proved more positive than its initial reception, with Carter Burwell's score being especially well received.[16] One critic has since stated that "although dismissed by some reviewers upon its release as a sensationalist, hysterical, formulaic piece, Fear has improved with age".[17] The film was placed as No. 19 on Bravo TV's "30 Even Scarier Movie Moments".[18]
Adaptations
On May 23, 2019, it was announced that Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment would produce a remake of the film with Brian Grazer again producing, along with Karen Lunder as co-producer. Jonathan Herman was reported to adapt Crowe's script for a modern audience and Amandla Stenberg was in talks to star.[19][20]
In October 2022, it was reported that a television series adaptation of the film is in development at Peacock.[21]
