Fear (film)

Infobox Film
name = Fear


caption =
director = James Foley
writer = Christopher Crowe
editing = David Brenner
starring = Mark Wahlberg
Reese Witherspoon
Alyssa Milano
William Petersen
Amy Brenneman
producer = Brian Grazer
distributor = Universal Pictures
budget =
released = April 12, 1996 (USA)
runtime = 97 min
country = USA
language = English
imdb_id = 0116287

"Fear" is a 1996 thriller / Home Invasion film directed by James Foley, starring Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon. The film also features Amy Brenneman, William Petersen, and Alyssa Milano. Financed by Universal Pictures, the film was a commercial success at the US box office, and received mixed critical reviews.

Plot

Nicole (Reese Witherspoon) is fairly innocent, but with a rebellious side particularly directed at her father, Steve (William Peterson). At a rave, she meets David (Mark Wahlberg) and is swept off her feet by his sweet, polite nature. Steve, seeming overprotective, does not like or trust David. The closer Nicole and David become, the more Steve objects. When David first meets the family everyone likes him except Steve, but Nicole doesn't care and actually prefer it that way. David and Nicole go to a carnival together, and ride the roller coaster, where David gives Nicole her first sexual experience. Eventually, David sneaks into her room and Nicole then loses her virginity to him.

As they grow closer, David's dark, possessive nature begins to emerge. When he sees Nicole innocently hugging a male friend (Gary) at school, David attacks Gary and savagely beats him and accidentally hits Nicole, giving her a black eye. The violence escalates. Nicole tries to ignore it and Steve can't make her see what's happening. When Steve finds out that Nicole and David are sleeping together, he tells Nicole that she is now under newer, stricter rules. Steve also discovers that David is lying about his past, and not only did he lie about his parents being alive, but he also concealed his criminal record. When Steve confronts David and warns him to stay away from Nicole, David taunts Steve by telling him Nicole doesn't want or need him anymore. They argue and Steve leaves. David beats himself and then shows Nicole the bruises and tells her that Steve beat him. David later rapes Nicole's best friend, Margo (Alyssa Milano). Nicole sees all of this happening through a window in his house. She thinks her best friend having was having consensual sex with David and becomes furious with Margo.

Although she didn't understand what she saw, seeing the sexual encounter between Margo and David finally helped Nicole realize that David was a violent psychopath. She breaks up with him, but he doesn't take the news well.

Later, David sees Gary walking home from school. David follows him through the forest. He tells him that when he was a child, he learned to break any walls that stood between him and what he wanted. David starts to chase Gary and eventually grabs hold of him, snaps his neck and leaves the body in the woods. Margo, at a loss of what to do about her bad entanglement with David's gang, comes to Nicole's house not knowing what her best friend had seen. Nicole rejects Margo in her time of need. David finds Margo driving away from Nicole's place and bothers her eventually making her pull over. David then insults her, pulls her out of the car and starts to beat her because he believes that Margo told Nicole about their off night. He threatens her by saying "You better make it right, because if you don't, I'm gonna hurt you." Then he gives her a passionate kiss. Margo is terrified since she does not know what to do about this horrific situation. Later, while Nicole is in a mall bathroom, David corners her and tells her (while sexually assaulting her) that they'll soon be together, leaving her in a distressed state.

Meanwhile, Steve discovers where David lives. David has built something like a shrine to Nicole. Finding Nicole's stolen things and seeing how David has "modified" them, he trashes his place. Margo later goes to Nicole's house again revealing (to Nicole) that Gary was found dead in the woods, and Nicole immediately realizes who did it.

David comes home hours later to find his room completely ruined. He knows who did it and wants revenge. He and four of his loyal friends arrive at Nicole's remote waterside home and terrorize her family and Margo. They kill an officer who arrives to help, cut the family dog's head off, and they tie up Nicole's parents. David drags Steve upstairs "to give away the bride", but Nicole's frantic state distracts David from killing Steve. As David is trying to reason with Nicole, Steve is able to free himself and, after a brief struggle, throws David through a second-story window. David falls to his death on the ground below. The film ends with Nicole throwing herself into Steve's arms, and the police finally arriving on the scene.

Cast

*Mark Wahlberg as David McCall, a nineteen year old psychopathic teenager who is very obsessed with Nicole Walker.
*Reese Witherspoon as Nicole Walker, a 16 year old girl who falls in love with David McCall. She lets her father's disapproval and David's politeness cloud her judgement. Her best friends are Margo and Gary.
*William Petersen as Steve Walker, father of Nicole and stepfather of Toby Walker. He is justifiably protective of Nicole, and dislikes her dating David.
*Amy Brenneman as Laura Walker, wife of Steve Walker and mother of Toby and stepmother of Nicole Walker. She is rather supportive of Nicole's relationship with David.
*Alyssa Milano as Margo Masse, best friend of Nicole Walker and Gary. Dated David's friend Logan.
*Christopher Gray as Toby Walker, stepbrother of Nicole Walker and stepson of Steve Walker and son of Laura Walker.
*Tracy Fraim as Logan, David McCall's friend, who also dated Margo Masse.
*Todd Caldecott as Gary, one of Nicole's best friends. He is killed by David.
*Banner as Kaiser, the Walker's German Shepherd.

oundtrack

* Jessica - The Allman Brothers
* Green Mind - Dink
* Comedown - Bush
* Wild Horses - The Sundays
* Machine Head - Bush
* Something Always Wrong - Toad the Wet Sprocket
* Animal - Prick
* The Illist - Mark Wahlberg
* Irie Vibe - One Love

Trivia

* The roller coaster in the theme park scene is called "The Coaster", and is one of the biggest attractions at Playland, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
* The film was placed as #19 on Bravo TV's "30 Even Scarier Movie Moments"
* When David returns to the abandoned party house to find that Nicole's father went through his things, a small doll of Chucky from Child's Play can briefly be seen.

External links

*imdb title|id=0116287|title=Fear