REVIEW - IN FEAR

It really is about the little things. I never actually believed that it was, but In Fear is proof that it is. Little things such as a little bit of character shading, a little bit of explanation, a little bit of reason for why Amy, Tom and the rest of us are being tormented like this. A filmmaker can take those little things and let their film run its course, comfortable in the knowledge that every action and reaction, every move and motive now means something more than mere provocation. Without those little things, a film like In Fear is just that, sensory stimulation, all scare and nothing there. One wonders if the horror genre became the default for low-budget filmmaking less because it doesn't tend to suffer from limited resurces (it usually does, though) and more because it's plain old low-art as well as low-budget. It doesn't need to be, though, not with those little things, you know? Jeremy Lovering has a firm handle on our heart rates, and is proficient in inducing a palpable sense of dread, as long as you can ignore the more blatant techniques he employs in so doing. But he has nowhere to go with his directorial craft, since he's just embellishing a screenplay that would otherwise have crashed the entire film within minutes. What could any debut director on meagre means do with so pedestrian a premise, or so restrictive a space, or such a silly excuse for a villain - psychotic and reckless to the point of inviting death upon himself, wide-eyed and grinning and giggling as we're just groaning. Such insufferable posing. One regard in which the film excels is its thrilling edit, aided by more varied camera set-ups than usual in similar films. One regard in which it could have excelled but does not is in its soundscape. Sound design is perfunctory, and score is crude and callous (much like the film's upsetting climax). It's only in the film a little, but then, it really is about the little things.