Fear The Night – Review

Suspense, kills and plenty of people reacting really strangely to terrible occurrences.

Maggie Q (Live Free or Die Hard, Divergent) returns to our screens for an all-out action home invasion horror that will ensure you’ll Fear the Night.

This new home invasion offering comes from writer–director Neil LaBute (In the Company of Men, Possession) courtesy of 101 Films.

Maggie Q leads as Tess, a recovering alcoholic/addict who evidently doesn’t get on at all with her sister Beth which makes it all the more baffling why she’s agreed to join her and a group of friends at their parents remote farmhouse for her other sister Rose’s Hen do.

On the way to the party in the heavily contrived empty property in the middle of nowhere, the group of friends stop off to pick up some beer and other party essentials at a local store, and are met with some local leering sex pests. Tess flexes her Iraq War veteran credentials and gives the hillbilly dude bros a verbal slapping. She keys their truck on the way out too, because she’s a badass and all that.

When they arrive at the property Tess’s War Vet Spider Sense is tingling when the caretakers of the property aren’t the doddering old couple they expected ,but a couple of off the shelf rent a hillbilly types, you know, all boots Jeans and Gilets.

The fairly unfathomable unlike-ability of Tess continues to shine through, you just know she’s seen things maaaaan! The only person more unlikeable is Beth, the sister she doesn’t like who just seems to have a stick up her ass for some reason. Nice sister and bride to be Rose chats nicely with Tess on the stoop of the house, and gets rudely interrupted with an arrow to the chest. Rude!

From there on in all hell breaks loose as the farmhouse is invaded by the gang of rent-a-goons and Tess takes control with her skills.

I really enjoyed Fear the Night, yes it’s contrived, yes it’s got some dodgy scripting, yes most of the arguments between the sisters makes you feel like there’s a big chunk on the cutting room floor that explained something but overall it’s just a decent home invasion thriller.

The acting from pretty much everyone is good, Maggie Q plays the pensive war vet nicely and the hillbilly dude bros are all well done.

Forget the slightly questionable story, it doesn’t affect your enjoyment of the movie, unless you let it.

Some nice kills, one bit had me really rooting for one of the girls and I was hoping she’d make it through the night.

The film’s hour and a half runtime means it clips along at a decent pace and there’s enough happening to keep you interested throughout.

The ending is pretty nicely wrapped up, and there’s a lovely continuity bit with a beer bottle I thought was good, until it was drunk and I thought that didn’t fit with the character and was a shame. Strange thing to notice I know but hey…

The Epilogue is something that I loved, sure it wasn’t particularly well scripted but it did pose a question I often think about after films like this. After murdering a load of people (ok in self defence maybe but…) wouldn’t everyone get arrested?

So if you want a fun, well shot home invasion thriller with a strong female led cast then look no further than Fear The Night. It’s got suspense, kills and plenty of people reacting really strangely to terrible occurrences.

Poor Rose…