In Fear

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Indie Spotlight is a series focusing on reviews of independent films The following review might contain SPOILERS. The British horror thriller In Fear focuses on Tom (Iain De Caestecker) and Lucy (Alice Englert), a young couple on their way to a festival.  After stopping off at a pub, during which Tom has some sort of altercation with the patrons, Tom suggests that he and Lucy stay at a nearby hotel he has booked them at.  However, as the two of them drive off the main road towards the hotel, they find themselves going in circles, with the hotel signs seemingly leading nowhere.  It quickly becomes clears that Tom and Lucy have found themselves at the centre of a twisted game, of which there may be no escape. In Fear is one of those films in which it is hard to gauge what exactly constitutes a spoiler.  For instance, the film only has three credited characters.  As such, when Tom and Lucy come across an injured man named Max (Allen Leech), is it any real surprise that he turns out to be the antagonist of the film?  Indeed the film does try to remain coy about this revelation, but at the same time it is blatantly obvious that something is not right with the character.  In the end, it can be surmised that In Fear is less about revelations and more about why this young couple is being tormented. While it can probably be said that In Fear is a somewhat well made film, I didn’t find the film all that engaging for much of the runtime.  There is a long period in the film when the plot is made up solely of Tom and Lucy driving around in circles and bickering with each other.  It is established early on in the film that Tom and Lucy only got together two weeks earlier and part of the plot involves how committed they are to each other as a couple.  However, this doesn’t really come into play until late in the film and, before then, the film just shows Lucy getting increasingly scared, while Tom gets increasingly annoyed (while also beginning to drink and drive). As a horror film, I have to say that In Fear wasn’t the most successful. There was little to no tension throughout and much of the plot was completely predictable, despite the use of a few red herrings.  There is one moment in the film, which does come off as somewhat shocking and horrific, but the film seems to shrug it off by the next scene.  That said, I still thought that the film was perfectly watchable, even if I didn’t find the plot all that interesting. Overall, I have to say that even though In Fear was a somewhat well constructed, and simplistic, road trip thriller, it ultimately had a plot that was not all that engaging, with some highly predictable revelations. 6 | WATCHABLE In Fear plays tonight at select Cineplex locations as part of the Sinister Cinema series

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