Being a fan of horror movies can, and has, to a degree, become a tiresome love affair. I constantly find myself paying my hard-earned cash to watch a horror movie that promises to scare the living daylights out of me and often reneges on that very promise. I find myself leaving the cinema after the majority of 'horror' films nowadays questioning firstly, why I continue to believe Hollywood are capable of making a good horror film and, secondly, if I'm ever going to be scared watching one again.
However, every once in a while (and its been a while), a horror film comes along and reminds me of why I sit through all the weak dross that Hollywood churns out such as Sinister, Insidious 2, You're Next, The Conjuring. I could go on but I'm sure you get the picture. What I find more baffling than these films inability to scare is the ratings they often gather on this very site. Anyway, one of those films, that diamond in the rough if you like, that needle in the horror haystack, came along this evening when I decided to go and see In Fear.
I like to go in 'blind' as it were to horror films and I suggest anybody thinking of watching this film avoids delving too deep into it before they go and see it (if you haven't already). All I knew going into the cinema was that it had a pretty poor rating of 5.4 on here, but 100% from 23 critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. The former, rather worrying, the latter being an accolade not to be sniffed at.
And I was pleasantly surprised. More than pleasantly surprised. Let's put it this way, I'm glad I missed the showing of the Counselor that I was originally planning on seeing tonight and watched In Fear instead.
Its only a short film, less than an hour and half, yet its incredible the amount of tension and anxiety that director Jeremy Lovering has crammed into those 85 or so minutes. Couple that with fantastic performances from the two main protagonists in the film, Alice Englert and Iain De Caestaecker, and it didn't take long for things to turn weird.
In Fear has a couple of very genuinely, creepy scares, just enough for the viewer to remain both interested and tense enough to care. It utilises its two best scares sparingly, yet hauntingly and effectively, the primal fear of the dark and the claustrophobic nature of the films setting.
In Fear is a genuinely scary film. Like Kill List (2011) and Maniac (2012), it is that needle in the haystack, that diamond in the rough and its re-ignited inside me the reasons why I persist and love the horror genre. Give this film a chance whilst its on its limited and undoubtedly short release, it might just do the same for you.
However, every once in a while (and its been a while), a horror film comes along and reminds me of why I sit through all the weak dross that Hollywood churns out such as Sinister, Insidious 2, You're Next, The Conjuring. I could go on but I'm sure you get the picture. What I find more baffling than these films inability to scare is the ratings they often gather on this very site. Anyway, one of those films, that diamond in the rough if you like, that needle in the horror haystack, came along this evening when I decided to go and see In Fear.
I like to go in 'blind' as it were to horror films and I suggest anybody thinking of watching this film avoids delving too deep into it before they go and see it (if you haven't already). All I knew going into the cinema was that it had a pretty poor rating of 5.4 on here, but 100% from 23 critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. The former, rather worrying, the latter being an accolade not to be sniffed at.
And I was pleasantly surprised. More than pleasantly surprised. Let's put it this way, I'm glad I missed the showing of the Counselor that I was originally planning on seeing tonight and watched In Fear instead.
Its only a short film, less than an hour and half, yet its incredible the amount of tension and anxiety that director Jeremy Lovering has crammed into those 85 or so minutes. Couple that with fantastic performances from the two main protagonists in the film, Alice Englert and Iain De Caestaecker, and it didn't take long for things to turn weird.
In Fear has a couple of very genuinely, creepy scares, just enough for the viewer to remain both interested and tense enough to care. It utilises its two best scares sparingly, yet hauntingly and effectively, the primal fear of the dark and the claustrophobic nature of the films setting.
In Fear is a genuinely scary film. Like Kill List (2011) and Maniac (2012), it is that needle in the haystack, that diamond in the rough and its re-ignited inside me the reasons why I persist and love the horror genre. Give this film a chance whilst its on its limited and undoubtedly short release, it might just do the same for you.