Sometimes, a horror film needs nothing more than the right cast, the right setting, and an elegantly streamlined story to effectively induce dread. Such is the case with In Fear, the feature debut of Sherlock director Jeremy Lovering; the film completely eschews the trappings of cheap gimmicks and gore, all the better to break the genre down to its fundamentals. Add two parts innocent victims, one part charming psychopath, and one part foreboding backwoods landscape, and you’ve got a perfect, elegantly simple cocktail recipe for scaring the bejeezus out of an unsuspecting viewing audience.
You may chalk this up partly to Lovering’s approach to shooting the bucolic Irish countryside in which In Fear takes place; alternately, you may wish to credit his actors for turning out shockingly natural performances. In truth, the secret to the film’s efficacy lies somewhere in between the impressive efforts of its thespian trio and Lovering’s eye for turning idyll into a labyrinthine nightmare, rife with varying degrees of paranoia. Rather than meddle with forces supernatural, In Fear instead relies heavily on a relentless, unnervingly human brand of cruelty that greatly emphasizes the chemistry of its cast.
The film begins simply enough, kicking things off with a classic comic set-up appended by white-knuckle fear; three people walk into a bar, and eighty minutes of slow-burning terror ensues. Tom (Iain De Caestecker) and Lucy (Alice Englert) are off on holiday to celebrate their two-week anniversary, and they’ve chosen to wander way, way off the beaten path to lodge overnight at a hotel located in remote, pastoral Ireland. It’s all part of Tom’s grand scheme to charm Lucy off her feet, but all his best laid plans are led decidedly astray when they arrive at their destination and find themselves spun about on winding, forested roads, and stalked by an unseen menace lurking in the underbrush.
For a time, Lovering is content allowing In Fear to give the impression of uncertainty. We know something foul is afoot in the maze he’s constructed for his anxious couple, but we don’t quite know what, or even why. At times, we may even side with Tom’s staunch refusal to accept that he and Lucy are in danger of anything other than running out of gas; she, in turn, almost becomes an unreliable narrator, except that we the audience are wise to the grammar of horror and can easily recognize that they aren’t alone on these seemingly unpopulated and terribly uninviting roads. The question simply becomes one of who, or what, is watching them.
Because the film clocks in at close to eighty minutes, we don’t have to wait very long for an answer; before that time comes, though, In Fear’s draws sustained tension from its scenario using little more than the cover of darkness and a claustrophobic backdrop. It’s not quite a one-room film, but it comes damn close, and it takes a gifted hand to foster ratcheting suspense within a cinematic space that’s quite this uniform. Partly, that’s because we feel like we’re in the car with Tom and Lucy; we want out as badly as they do, though Lovering makes it quite clear that they’re not any safer on foot than they are driving. There’s never a moment’s reprieve from the mind games being played on them.
Eventually, we meet a third person, Max (Allen Leech), the architect of Tom’s and Lucy’s torment, and the tenor of the film changes. Max introduces himself as an innocent victim on the run from an angry pack of violent locals; whether you choose to believe him or not, his appearance drives an immediate wedge between Tom and Lucy, who up until Max’s arrival have already spent too many hours gripped by the utmost unease. Is Max friend or foe? A cursory glance at the casting credits gives the answer away, but Leech, Englert and De Caestecker work together in such harmony that In Fear tempts us right to the edge of trusting our moviegoing instincts.
The film’s most important element, bar-none, is Lovering’s skill in the art of suggestion, but the quality of performance happens to come a very close second. Lovering can claim some credit in that department, too; eschewing traditional methods of production, he shot In Fear sequentially and passed out notes to his cast on a scene-by-scene basis. In the absence of advance knowledge about the film’s chicanes, De Caestecker’s and Englert’s alarm becomes real, or at least as real as can be on a movie set. Their performances prove wildly successful, giving In Fear a needed component of humanity while enhancing its unsettling potency. (It’s worth noting that Leech, trading on his Downton Abbey persona, appears to be having the most fun.)
If there’s fault to be found with In Fear, it’s that the film loses a modicum of mojo once Lovering reveals a tangible nemesis for Tom and Lucy to contend with. The unwholesome shocks they encounter when they’re alone reach far more disturbing peaks than the decidedly conventional cat-and-mouse stuff at the end. But that’s a nagging punctilio, because even after Max shows up, In Fear is still more frightening than typical gussied up studio attempts at horror. Bemoaning the third act downshift feels like a quibble. Short, lean, and ruthless, In Fear effortlessly gets to the heart of horror with no frills necessary.
Boston-based critic Andy Crump has been writing about film on the web since 2009. You can follow him on Twitter.
Director: Jeremy Lovering
Writer: Jeremy Lovering
Starring: Iain De Caestecker, Alice Englert, Allen Leech
Release Date: Mar. 7, 2014