''Fear'' is a 1996 American

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting. In terms of context and co ...

film directed by James Foley and written by Christopher Crowe. It stars

Mark Wahlberg Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received multiple accolades, including a BAFTA Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, three ...

Reese Witherspoon Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, she ...

William Petersen William Louis Petersen (born February 21, 1953) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his role as Gil Grissom in the CBS drama series ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' (2000–2015), for which he won a Screen Actors Guild Aw ...

Alyssa Milano Alyssa Jayne Milano (born December 19, 1972) is an American actress. She has played Samantha Micelli in '' Who's the Boss?'', Jennifer Mancini in ''Melrose Place'', Phoebe Halliwell in ''Charmed'', Billie Cunningham in ''My Name Is Earl'', Savan ...

and

Amy Brenneman Amy Frederica Brenneman (born June 22, 1964) is an American actress and producer. She worked extensively in television, coming to prominence as Detective Janice Licalsi in the ABC police drama series ''NYPD Blue'' (1993–1994). Brenneman nex ...

. 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 entertainment industry, a sleeper hit is a film, television series, music release, video game, or some other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release but became a success later on. A sleeper hit may have little promo ...

in the spring of 1996, grossing $20 million at the U.S. box office. It has since become a

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...

, while at the same time launching

teen idol A teen idol is a celebrity with a large teenage fan base. Teen idols are generally young but are not necessarily teenagers. An idol's popularity may be limited to teens, or may extend to all age groups. By region Asia East Asia possess ...

status for its two young leads, who were romantically linked at the time of the movie's premiere. Wahlberg was nominated for the

MTV Movie Award for Best Villain This is a following list of the MTV Movie & TV Awards, MTV Movie Award winners and nominees for Best Villain. In 2012, the award was renamed Best On-Screen Dirt Bag, though the Best Villain moniker was reinstated the following year. Two of the winne ...

. The film's own producer, Brian Grazer, described it as "''

Fatal Attraction ''Fatal Attraction'' is a 1987 American psychological thriller film directed by Adrian Lyne from a screenplay by James Dearden, based on his 1980 short film '' Diversion''. Starring Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, and Anne Archer, the film centers ...

'' for teens".

Plot

Sixteen-year-old Nicole Walker lives in the suburbs of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

with her father Steven, his new wife Laura, and Laura's son Toby. At a bar 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 for his action, and 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.

Cast

as David McCall *

as Nicole Walker *

as Steve Walker *

as Laura Walker *

as Margo Masse *

Gary Riley Gary Riley (born April 28, 1967) is a former child and teen American character actor with numerous film, made-for-TV films and television credits. Film and television career Riley played Charlie Hogan, one of his best-known roles, in the 1986 ...

as Hacker *

Jed Rees Jed Rees (born March 8, 1970) is a Canadian actor, best known for his roles in movies such as ''Galaxy Quest'' (1999), '' The Ringer'' (2005), ''Deadpool'' (2016), and '' American Made'' (2017). Early life Rees studied music for two years in co ...

as Knobby *

Todd Caldecott Todd Caldecott (born January 21, 1969) is a Canadian clinical herbalist, Ayurvedic practitioner in Vancouver, British Columbia, author of the textbook ''Ayurveda: The Divine Science of Life'' (2006) and ''Food As Medicine: The Theory and Practic ...

as Gary Rohmer *

Andrew Airlie Andrew Airlie (born September 18, 1961) is a Scottish-born Canadian actor. Early life Airlie was born in Glasgow, Scotland on September 18, 1961. Career He has starred in television series including ''Breaker High'' and his TV credits include g ...

as Alex McDowell * Christopher Gray as Toby * Tracy Fraim as Logan * Jason Kristofer as Terry *

Gerry Bean Gerald William Bean is a Canadian former actor who had television and film roles under the names Gerry Bean and John Oliver."North of 60 star charged with assault". ''Ottawa Citizen'', April 15, 1994. Career Bean is best known for his role as R ...

(using the pseudonym John Oliver) as Eddie Clark * David Fredericks as Larry O'Brien * Banner (dog) as Kaiser

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 negotiations James Foley to direct.

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.

Soundtrack

# " Jessica" by

The Allman Brothers Band The Allman Brothers Band was an American rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman (founder, slide guitar and lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, keyboards, songwriting), as well as Dickey Betts (lead guita ...

# "Green Mind" by

Dink "DINK" is an acronym that stands for "double income, no kids" or "dual income, no kids". It describes a couple without children living together while both partners are receiving an income; because both of their wages are coming into the same house ...

# " Comedown" by

Bush Bush commonly refers to: * Shrub, a small or medium woody plant Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to: People * Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name **Bush family, a prominent American family that includes: *** ...

# "

Wild Horses Wild horse (''Equus ferus'') is a species of the genus ''Equus'' that includes domesticated and undomesticated subspecies. * Przewalski's wild horse (''Equus ferus przewalskii'' or ''Equus przewalskii''), a rare and endangered subspecies of wild ...

" by

The Sundays The Sundays were an English alternative rock band, formed in the late 1980s, which released three albums throughout the 1990s. The band's beginnings came with the meeting of singer Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin while attending ...

# " Machinehead" by Bush # "

Something's Always Wrong "Something's Always Wrong" is a single by alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket. The song is included on their 1994 album ''Dulcinea''. "Something's Always Wrong" was co-written by Glen Phillips and Todd Nichols. Although not as popular as ...

" by

Toad the Wet Sprocket Toad the Wet Sprocket is an American alternative rock band formed in Santa Barbara, California, in 1986. The band at the time consisted of vocalist/guitarist Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss, w ...

# "Animal" by

Prick Prick may refer to: * Prick (manufacturing), a style of marking tool * Goad or prick, a traditional farming implement * Fingerprick, a wound for blood sample * ''Prick'' (slang), vulgar slang for human penis or a derogatory term for a male * ' ...

# "

Stars and Stripes Forever "The Stars and Stripes Forever" is a patriotic American march written and composed by John Philip Sousa in 1896. By a 1987 act of the U.S. Congress, it is the official National March of the United States of America. History In his 1928 autobi ...

" by C.H.S Municipal Band # "The Illist" by

Marky Mark Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received multiple accolades, including a BAFTA Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, three ...

# "Irie Vibe" by

One Love One Love may refer to: Music * One Love (record producer), Timothy Sommers, American record producer, half of the duo Kinetics & One Love * ''One Love: The Bob Marley Musical'', a 2015 stage musical Albums * One Love (Blue album), ''One Love'' (B ...

Reception

''Fear'' holds a 45% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 38 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". On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

it has a score of 51% based on reviews from 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Mick LaSalle Mick is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Michael. Because of its popularity in Ireland, it is often used in England as a derogatory term for an Irish person or a person of Irish descent. In Australia the meaning broaden ...

of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'' 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."

Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for ''Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...

of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' gave the film a positive review, further accrediting the comparisons to ''

'', writing: "''Fear'' is a teen ''Fatal Attraction'', and — surprise — it isn’t bad." He did, however, criticise the finale: " irectorJames Foley does a fine job evoking the sexual tensions between father, daughter, and rogue suitor, but he has less luck with the (inevitable) garish climax, which is so unconvincingly staged it never even makes it over the top".

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...

gave the film a thumbs-down while

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

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 ''At Close Range'' is a 1986 American neo-noir crime drama film directed by James Foley, based on the real life rural Pennsylvania crime family led by Bruce Johnston Sr. which operated during the 1960s and 1970s. It stars Sean Penn and Christop ...

'', '' Glengary Glen Ross'', and ''

After Dark, My Sweet ''After Dark, My Sweet'' is a 1990 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by James Foley and starring Jason Patric, Bruce Dern, and Rachel Ward. It is based on the 1955 Jim Thompson novel of the same name. Plot Ex-boxer Kevin "Kid" C ...

''; 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." Movie historian

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...

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." Critical revaluation of the film has proved more positive than its initial reception, with

Carter Burwell Carter Benedict Burwell (born November 18, 1954) is an American film composer. He has consistently collaborated with the Coen brothers, having scored most of their films. Burwell has also scored three of Todd Haynes's films, three of Spike Jonz ...

's score being especially well received. 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". The film was placed as No. 19 on Bravo TV's "

30 Even Scarier Movie Moments ''The 100 Scariest Movie Moments'' is an American television documentary miniseries that aired in late October 2004 on Bravo.(November 2004)Liner Notes ''Starlog'', p. 20 Aired in five 60-minute segments, the miniseries counts down what producer ...

Remake

On May 23, 2019, it was announced that

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

and

Imagine Entertainment Imagine Entertainment (formerly Imagine Films Entertainment), also known simply as Imagine, is an American film and television production company founded in November 1985 by producer Brian Grazer and director Ron Howard. Background Brian Gra ...

would produce a remake of the film with Brian Grazer producing again, along with Karen Lunder as co-producer.

Jonathan Herman Jonathan Herman (born 1973) is an American screenwriter, best known for his work in '' Straight Outta Compton'' for which he received numerous award nominations, including Best Original Screenplay at the 88th Academy Awards. Herman is Jewish ...

will adapt Crowe's script for a modern audience.

Amandla Stenberg Amandla Stenberg (born October 23, 1998) is an American actress. She was included in ''Time''s list of Most Influential Teens in both 2015 and 2016, and has received several accolades, including a Teen Choice Award, an NAACP Image Award, and n ...

will star.

Television series

In October 2022, it was reported that a television series adaptation of the film is in development at

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

References

External links

* * * * {{Brian Grazer 1996 films 1996 drama films 1996 thriller films 1990s English-language films 1990s erotic thriller films 1990s psychological drama films 1990s psychological thriller films 1990s teen drama films 1990s thriller drama films American erotic thriller films American films about revenge American neo-noir films American psychological drama films American psychological thriller films American teen drama films American thriller drama films Films about domestic violence Films about fear Films about stalking Films directed by James Foley Films produced by Brian Grazer Films scored by Carter Burwell Films set in Seattle Films shot in Vancouver Films with screenplays by Christopher Crowe (screenwriter) Home invasions in film Imagine Entertainment films Murder in films Teen thriller films Universal Pictures films 1990s American films