Driving to a music festival in Ireland, new couple Lucy and Tom lose their way on complex, winding country roads while in search of a hotel. Their frustration turns to desperation and fear when they are then set upon by a cruel and mysterious evil. For the first hour, I believe In Fear (a brief and apt title) is a genre masterpiece or close to it. I am an avowed fan of films trusting in the power of the audience's imagination, teasing and firing it with a subtle visual clue here, an unusual sound there. Lucy and Tom's day trip turned nightmare becomes a source of almost unprecedented suspense, and no element (such as the car itself, at once a space of imagined safety and genuine claustrophobia) goes underutilized. The film's unusual production, in which the cast were often unaware how a scenario would end or what lay in wait around the next turn, leaves no visible trace beyond the more-authentic-than-usual displays of anxiety put forth by the gifted leads. Alas, every film must end, and this is where In Fear loses its way to a certain extent. It is, to be honest, not an unexpected problem: after unfolding as an exercise in direct, elegant, no-bull atmosphere and menace for an hour, the final 20 or so minutes are burdened with explanation, revelation, and a more direct form of conflict. There is still a fair share of excitement within the climax, but one's mind turns to the concrete and quantifiable, such as the question of logistics and motivations, and the vast sense of unease cannot help but be undermined once given literal shape.

B+

Regarding the ending:

In my opinion, there is a very specific point at which In Fear turns from great to solid-but-flawed. It is when Max (the antagonist played well by Allen Leech, who I mainly know as the friendly, inadvertently social-climbing chauffeur on Downton Abbey) gets out of the car after creating a fever pitch of fear and forcing Lucy to name Tom as the one who should die, almost in the tradition of Sophie's Choice. There are so many neat avenues they could have gone from here. Perhaps Tom beats Max to death. Then, in a twist, focus the third act on this previously-nice couple responding to the fact they have committed a murder, however justified. "What do we do now? What is our story?"

Or, I admit this is fairly out-there, but maybe Max simply vanishes, and Lucy and Tom drive on to find the road to the hotel now easy to navigate. It is as if they were caught in an evil and unexplained supernatural paradox which forced them to turn on one another. The film could wrestle much, much more with the fact, at the absolute moment of cruel truth, Lucy chose self-preservation rather than sacrifice.

The actual ending? Eh. Max finding a way to rig a death-by-exhaust-pipe for Tom is a bit absurd and a bit...Saw. Her screaming, "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?" startles the viewer, but in the wrong way: with its unoriginality. This is true, too, of him shouting explanatory dialogue regarding designing a phony website for the phony hotel. And I expect the very ending, particularly the abrupt final cut, is intended to be provocative in the way it reflects the earlier anecdote of the child who jumped in front of a moving car to see the driver's reaction, but it just does not fly for me. In my mind, of course she will hit him. She has every right to hit him: he is a borderline Michael Myers figure who obviously intends her nothing but harm. I do not find myself caressing my chin and going hm or, if this was the intention, contemplating the morality of her to-hit-him-or-not-to-him choice. Which is hardly even a choice.

I agree with your assessment of the ending (and I simply can't buy Tom Branson as the villain!). The difference for me is that it dragged down the whole film for me more than for you. I'd gie it a C.

The first half of this is really fantastic. Incredibly intense. I was on the edge of my seat and I was actually scared watching it by myself. Then the last twenty minutes happened. It ended in the worst, most generic way possible. Dragged it way down for me.

B

Some strong atmosphere and performances help make the first half intriguing. Then it gets completely ridiculous and far-fetched. The ending really sucked. You could do worse, but I still wouldn't recommend this. It was pretty good for a while so it's too bad it goes totally downhill.

I'll go with a C+.

I really hate that the ending was just so horrible. I was totally going with it until then. I was actually scared sitting in my house in the dark watching it... Then that happened. The fuck.

I didn't really find it scary at all. My friend did though but overall didn't like the movie much. She hated the ending.