It’s the same old story: Boy meets girl, boy takes girl on romantic getaway, boy gets lost, boy and girl are terrorised by crazed, murderous yokels in the dead of night... Ah, young love! In a PSA against both dating and any hotel without some solid TripAdvisor reviews, Alice Englert and Iain deCaestecker are Tom and Lucy, a young couple who take an ill-fated detour to a music festival. As they attempt to find a secluded hotel, the road signs send them in endless circles, eerie figures seem to follow, and, as darkness falls, things go bump in the night.
Director Jeremy Lovering ratchets the tension as the claustrophobic confines of the car and darkening labyrinth of back-roads begin to wear on the protaganists. The psychology of fear and social pressure is also astutely observed. The young actors pitch their largely improvised performances perfectly, and as the film unfolds in close to real time, In Fear evokes the discomfort of being in a frightening situation with someone you don’t really know – or trust. As petrol runs out and a bloodied, unnerving stranger (Downton Abbey’s Allen Leech) appears, fear, anger and paranoia escalate, along with the action. Alas the denouement is pure slasher-movie boilerplate, which takes the gloss off the smart, efficient opening. A flawed but promising theatrical debut from Lovering.