In Fear

 

“We’re not lost. We’re in a fucking maze.”

Kilairney House Hotel is the location desired by a young couple, Lucy and Tom (Alice Englert & Iain De Caestecker) who were supposed to meet up with friends camping. Instead they wind up driving around in circles, caught in a wilderness labyrinthine hell as a creeper spies on them from within the woods, soon to show up as a “victim” named Max (Allen Leach), supposedly assaulted by the masked assailant who almost carried off Lucy when the couple was at one point stopped. So trapped in a backwoods maze and soon to contend with a cat-and-mouse struggle thanks to a psycho in their midst, Lucy and Tom are suffering that old punishment of “wrong place, wrong time.”

**/½ / *****

 

This reminded me mostly of a film I watched not too long ago and reviewed for this blog called Five Across the Eyes where a group of high school girls in a SUV are lost and pursued by a female psychopath tormenting them both physically and psychologically. The film is entirely shot inside their vehicle. That is what separates it from In Fear which takes place primarily in the car of Lucy and Tom, except the location of the Ireland woods is viewed as a menace itself along with Max. Max is a thrill-seeking nutcase enjoying his little game with Lucy and Tom who just wanted to spend some alone time at a secluded hotel to celebrate their “two week anniversary”. Horror loves to utilize the “lost in the woods” scenario. How do our characters find their way out and back to a location that is familiar and safe? Add the “psycho in the woods who is familiar with his surroundings” plotline along with the “lost in the woods” scenario and the deck is stacked against our heroes. Will they be able to get out of these damned woods alive?

 

 

The leads are good at showing us a couple who dig each other, while the ensuing crises eventually rob them of their joy as the terror and anxiety begin to take their toll. This doesn’t cover new ground but treads it with rather decent results. I like the actress particularly, and she well expresses what any of us in her situation might feel. Iain as Tom exudes the usual increasing guilt and nervousness as the escalating problems they encounter tells him they should have just went as planned to the campsite. The night and rain, along with the muddy, narrow dirt roads and uneasy sight of trees everywhere (and their branches almost seem to reach out from each side of the roads), and constant, repeated sight of a cabin that seems to mock them (telling them, “you truly are up shit creek without a paddle”) are the film’s assets in my opinion.

 

The claustrophobic confines of the couple’s car work to have the viewer inside with them to see their up, close, and personal emotions run the gamut. Give this a shot, but keep in mind that In Fear doesn’t offer anything all that innovative story-wise, but with talent behind and in front of the camera, sometimes that is enough.