Tom? Tom? TOM! TOM!
I'm posting just to vent about the things I could not handle. As a movie fan, particularly of the thriller/horror genre, I have no problems with having to work the answers out for myself, an ambiguous ending, and subtle things that not everyone picks up on. That has nothing to do with why I did not care for this movie. A list:
-Well obviously, I felt that the actress screamed and said the name "Tom" far too often. She also screamed EVERY SINGLE TIME something remotely spooky happens, which is a shame because silence can really instill actual fear in the viewer until they are startled by an obnoxious scream. Once in awhile is fine, but I swear every time anything happened this chick began mouth breathing through her ugly teeth and then screaming once or twice, and then shouting, "Tom! Tom?!" over and over again. It was pretty aggravating. I heard they didn't have a script? Well, sometimes having a script can stop annoying repetitive things from happening in your movies. Just saying.
-I enjoyed the idea of a maze luring potential victims to a hotel that may or may not exist, whether or not the maze is supernatural or just some psycho out there changing all the signs on you. It's a good idea for a horror movie. My only problem with it is that it just happened to be placed right in the middle of a blackout zone for the GPS. Are there devices this guy could have used to cause this to happen? If so, that makes sense. I just found it weird and TOO thought provoking as a viewer when the GPS suddenly sprang back to life. I would have also enjoyed seeing how she got out of the maze, but oh well. That's just nitpicking.
-Opening the gate with the huge chain on it was just one of those things that your average person is just not going to accept at face value. Can I accept that this is a horror film and people do dumb things in horror films? Yes. But I can't imagine booking a room at this motel and not being weird-ed out by the "guide" who just points and drives off (never even meets them, actually! How did they even know he was a guide?), and then they STILL have to unlock this gate to drive into the area the motel is supposed to be in? Who would really fall for that? Apparently....TOM!
-It was quite obvious to me from the second Max (Max? I think that was his name. We'll call him Psycho Man) got in the car that he was the big bad wolf. That scene could have been great and suspenseful, but the way Tom kept looking in the mirror with his mouth hanging open in what appeared to be shock and awe, was just...ODD. Like, I kept asking myself, "Why does he have that look on his face?" You might think it's because he was in on this whole thing and couldn't believe his co-conspirator had showed up, but then it seems he doesn't know anything after all, because he ends up dead. So why the face? Little things like that really grate my cheese...If they can't act without a script, give them a script.
-Speaking of, they could not hide in a dark forest to save their lives, clearly. Turn off the freaking flashlights, nimrods.
-The incident in the pub. I think we were supposed to think it was more than it was, and that was just annoying when I found out that 1: I'd never get to find out what really happened and 2: a lot of time was wasted on that repetitive conversation they had about it in the car, during which Tom's name was again said several times. Honestly, that was about the only thread of a plot this movie even had, so losing it was not a good move.
-The car is out of gas, there's a psycho chasing me, I don't know where my sort of boyfriend is, and now here I am back at the car which I insist on getting in and out of multiple times and THERE'S GAS. OMG. Better use it, I'm sure it's not to get me to keep driving through this death maze. Sure, her other option was to just sit there and rot and potentially be attacked later on, but if there's one thing you should probably have in your set of survival skills it's knowing whether or not you are being duped by the person who has been stalking you through the woods for hours. Especially when they conveniently leave the very thing you desire the most for your escape.
-I just didn't care. I didn't care that Tom was dead. What did I know about him? That he had been dating this tooth girl for 2 weeks? That he lied about some weird thing that apparently never happened in a pub? That he doesn't like light on him while he's taking a whiz outside? Nothing. Same with the chick. I just did not care about either one of them. Poor job on the actors' parts, methinks. Furthermore, even if I didn't need to know anything about Psycho Man to understand his motives, which is fine, I can use my imagination, he wasn't even remotely scary. Actually, he was kind of goofy. Plus he laughed when the car scene was over and he got out, in a way that made me wonder if this was all some elaborate prank. So they lost all of the tension when he was revealed.
I'm sure I have a lot more to say, even though I've already said a lot, but I just had to get it out. Nothing makes me angrier than a bunch of people talking about how "scary" and "atmospheric" and "eerie" a movie is and then watching it and being distracted by terrible acting, directionless story, SCREAMING, and a big collection of no scares. A couple of jump scares? Yes, you will find those in this movie. But nothing that would chill you to the bone. In Fear is only worth watching if it's free. You'll need an imagination to fill in the holes, and I am okay with that, but no amount of imagination can take care of annoying performances or sheer stupidity. That's all!