The good, the bad, and the ugly (Major Spoilers)

(Major Spoilers)

THE GOOD

In Fear creates a strong sense of creeping dread. The long POV shots of driving down winding, ever narrowing roads, builds a real unease. Shots of the setting sun and lowering gas gauge help build on that unease.

There’s also references to something that may or may not have happened at the pub. That’s important, because it’s established early on that they’ve only been a couple for two weeks and don’t really know yet if they can trust each other. This part of the story helps create a genuine paranoia.

I also liked how the story doesn’t answer questions. The dread and paranoia build naturally, all without much of anything happening.

THE BAD

Like most movies in the horror/suspense genre, once the questions begin to get answered, In Fear loses most of the dread and paranoia it worked so hard to create. As soon as Max is in the car the movie begins to take on the normal tropes of the genre. To the filmmakers’ credit, they still try to string along the audience, but the jig is pretty much up by that point.

THE UGLY

The final shot, while true to what Max talked about earlier, smacks of “Hollywood”. It just seems to be an easy way out.

IN FEAR is a decent watch, and the first 2/3rds are increasingly nerve-wracking. I personally would’ve liked to have seen the Max character eliminated, and have the story simply continue down the creeping dread/paranoia path.