Fear (1996 film)
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | James Foley |
| Produced by | Brian Grazer |
| Written by | Christopher Crowe |
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| Music by | Carter Burwell |
| Cinematography | Thomas Kloss |
| Edited by | David Brenner |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6.5 million |
| Box office | $20,831,000 |
Fear is a 1996 American psychological thriller film directed by James Foley (who co-scripted without credit) and written by Christopher Crowe. It was originally titled No Fear, without bearing any connection to the same-named line of sporting apparel. It stars Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon, William Petersen, Alyssa Milano and Amy Brenneman. Described by producer Brian Grazer as "Fatal Attraction for teens" (a recollection in which Witherspoon and Wahlberg have the Michael Douglas and Glenn Close roles, respectively, while Petersen is in Anne Archer's), the film is an "intimacy thriller", a film subgenre which became highly successful in the 1990s. It revolves around an upper-middle class Seattle family whose seemingly perfect, yet humdrum existence is threatened, when their teenage daughter begins dating an attractive and mysterious young man, much to her father's chagrin.
Although Fear was largely derided by critics upon its theatrical release, it became a marginal sleeper hit in the spring of 1996, grossing $20 million at the U.S. box office. It has since developed a reputation as a cult film, while at the same time launching teen idol status for its two young leads, who were romantically linked at the time of the film's premiere. Wahlberg was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain.
Nicole Walker (Reese Witherspoon) is a fairly innocent teenager with a rebellious streak who is sent out from her mother's house. She lives in the suburbs of Seattle with her well-meaning but overbearing father Steven (William Petersen) and his new family: second wife, Laura (Amy Brenneman) and her son Toby (Christopher Gray) from her first marriage. At a rave with best friend Margo Masse (Alyssa Milano), Nicole meets David McCall (Mark Wahlberg), who is part of the same group of friends with Margo. Though he has borderline personality disorder and antisocial features, she is swept off her feet by his sweet, polite nature. When Steven meets David, he mistrusts him and does not believe him when Nicole violates her curfews to spend more time with David. Eventually Nicole and David sleep together at her home while Steven and Laura are on a business trip, disobeying the house rule about unsupervised guests. One day David scares Nicole by assaulting her friend Gary Rohmer (Todd Caldecott) upon seeing them hug each other. He shoves Nicole to the ground when she tries to stop him, giving her a black eye. Nicole ends things with David, leaving him crushed, but her father's now intense opposition to David ironically drives her to accept David's apologies. Steven's suspicion of David leads to him checking into David's background and learning that David spent his early life with various foster families, until getting arrested and institutionalized. When David turned 18, he was released from foster care.
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