Fear (1990 film)

Fear is a 1990 American thriller/horror/suspense film. It is directed by Rockne S. O'Bannon and stars Ally Sheedy, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Michael O'Keefe, Lauren Hutton, Keone Young, Stan Shaw, Dean Goodman, Don Hood and Jonathan Prince.

Fear
Directed by	Rockne S. O'Bannon
Written by	Rockne S. O'Bannon
Produced by	Richard Kobritz Mitchell Cannold Diane Nabatoff Henry Kline
Starring	Ally Sheedy Lauren Hutton Michael O'Keefe Keone Young Stan Shaw Jonathan Prince
Cinematography	Robert M. Stevens (credited as Robert Stevens)
Edited by	Kent Beyda Lorraine Salk
Music by	Henry Mancini
Distributed by	Vestron Pictures
Release date	July 15, 1990 (1990-07-15)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Plot

Cayce Bridges (Ally Sheedy) is a psychic gifted in a form of psychometry that allows her to mentally link with murderers enabling police to catch them. That is until she encounters the mysterious and elusive Shadow Man (Pruitt Taylor Vince), who is not only similarly blessed in Telepathy, but is more powerful than she is. At a dinner party hosted by Cayce’s friend Jessica, Cayce telepathically picks up on the Shadow Man and he begins to take control of her body, making her stab the table with a knife. Cayce realizes that the Shadow Man is a more powerful psychic than she is, and so her boyfriend Jack teaches her to block him out. Cayce uses this to find out where the Shadow Man, but he threatens her and later kills Jessica while Cayce's on a flight at a carnival. Cayce eventually finds the Shadow Man in an attraction called the “Chamber of Fear” and realizes that the reason why he followed her was because he read Jack's thoughts and not hers. After a brief struggle, the Shadow Man falls out the window, killing himself.

Cast

• Ally Sheedy as Cayce Bridges
• Michael O'Keefe as Jack Hays
• Lauren Hutton as Jessica Moreau
• Pruitt Taylor Vince as "Shadow Man"
• Keone Young as Detective William Wu
• Stan Shaw as Detective Webber
• Jonathan Prince as Colin Hart
• Dina Merrill as Catherine Tarr
• John Agar as Leonard Scott Levy
• Marta DuBois as Inez Villanueva
• Dean Goodman as William Tarr
• Don Hood as Holcomb
• Jane Sibbett as Newscaster

Release

Originally intended for a theatrical release, the film made its premiere on Showtime on July 15, 1990.

DVD

The film has been released on DVD by Lions Gate as a double feature with Parents.^[1] Both films are presented in widescreen.

Critical reception

Writing in Radio Times, critic Alan Jones described the film as an "unusual thriller" with Sheedy displaying "an unexpected steely side," and that although there is "little in the way of mystery [...] there's plenty of unnerving action."^[2] Critic Rick Kogan wrote in The Chicago Tribune that the film was "interestingly textured and graced by a bold performance" from Sheedy, and that it "will keep you interested, offers an interesting variation on its theme and rarely dips into predictability."^[3] A review in the Sun Sentinel, reported that although the film is "billed as a psychological thriller, [it] is really a color-by-number, blood-and-guts crime story with a better-than-average gimmick."^[4]