Fear (1996)

You have quite a few established actors in this. The original Manhunter (the first one to face Hannibal Lecter, who was not played by Anthony Hopkins), a witch or the daughter of (Alyssa Milano), a very young Reese Witherspoon and of course Mark Wahlberg, who plays completely against expectations in this one.Since this was over 20 years ago, they all do look very young. The theme of the movie is very simple: dangerous first love. A father will always try to be as protective as possible. But is he right to do so in this case? A girl will revolt against people trying to keep her down. Even someone who seems like the quietest naive little girl. Also a very innocent looking one like the one Reese is playing, might be tempted by someone strong looking like Mark. You can see where this is going, so it is predictable, but still somewhat fun, if you let yourself enjoy it

This movie is visually strong, suspenseful and extremely entertaining but the way in which it depicts family tensions is its greatest achievement. A teenage girl's relationship with a young man from the wrong side of the tracks soon sparks off numerous problems that are down to her father's over-protective instincts and the girl's natural rebelliousness but the dramatic possibilities are then heightened even further due to the specific dynamics that exist within the girl's reconstituted family.Nicole Walker (Reese Witherspoon) is the naïve 16-year-old who, after previously living with her mother, moves into her father's suburban home in Seattle. Steven's (William Petersen) an overworked architect who lives with his second wife Laura (Amy Brenneman) and her young son Toby (Christopher Gray). When Nicole and her high school classmate Margo Masse (Alyssa Milano) go to a local rave, Nicole meets David McCall (Mark Wahlberg) and is instantly attracted to him. He's exceptionally polite, softly spoken and seems very gentle and considerate. David instantly makes a positive impression on Laura and Toby when he visits their home but Steven instinctively takes a dislike to him. This naturally creates a rift between him and Nicole and makes her even more determined to continue the relationship.Things suddenly change one day when David sees Nicole hugging her school friend Gary (Todd Caldecott) and is overcome with jealousy and rage. In a sudden and violent outburst, he brutally attacks Gary and roughly pushes Nicole to the ground. After the attack, Nicole is left with a black eye and immediately stops seeing David. This incident reinforces Steven's negative feelings towards David but it isn't long before Nicole surprisingly rekindles the relationship. Steven is incensed and angrily forbids David from seeing his daughter again. David, however, is totally obsessed with Nicole and as his fury grows, the revenge he takes on the Walker family becomes progressively more violent until his actions eventually lead to a terrifying conclusion.The ways in which conflict grows between the generations is shown very effectively in this drama because, whilst it's natural for parents to want to protect their children from pain, exploitation or bad experiences, it's also entirely natural for teenagers to want to explore life in the way that their instincts dictate and not be given advice which they just regard as being interfering by parents who want to spoil their fun. The tensions in the Walker family are also complicated by the step-parents' desire to be accepted by their adopted children and also the uncertainty that children can feel about a parent's new spouse.Reese Witherspoon does a great job of portraying the mixture of naivety and growing maturity that's typical of a 16-year-old and Mark Wahlberg is particularly good in the scenes that require him to express his anger. William Petersen provides the other standout performance as the father who's left frazzled by being overworked, having to contend with his concerns about his daughter and trying to cope with his wife's unreasonable attitude to his work commitments. Overall, this is a movie which provides some pertinent observations on family life in the 1990s in a story that's perfectly paced and delivered in a style that's never dull.

This was the first movie I had ever watched with Mark Wahlberg in it and I fell in love!! I absolutely love thrillers, dramas & movies with great acting plus young & hot actors in them!! I've been a huge fan of both Mark Wahlberg & Reese Witherspoon for a very long time. This movie has it all. Lust, forbidden love, obsession, action, mystery, suspense, real-life situations, rebellion, strong emotions that will grip you at times and a plot that will keep you intrigued all the way through to the very end. It's weird to see one of my favorite CSI characters in a movie where he got his start, William Petersen who plays Steve Walker in this movie (played Gill Grissom on CSI). If you haven't seen this movie and are looking for a good thriller/suspense movie to watch from the mid 90's....this is a must watch in my opinion!!

When she and her best friend, Margo, go out to a party one night, Nicole meets mysterious David, who she ends up getting together with. After a couple of weeks, Nicole realises that David is becoming possessive and gets very jealous when she talks to other men. David beats up one of Nicole's male friends because he's seen walking Nicole home. When she ends up breaking up with David, he's not happy, and does everything to try and get her back, when that doesn't work, he and his friends break into Nicole's home.......When this film was first released way back in '96, i thought it was a great thriller. After all, it was the nineties, and we'd been spoilt with these psycho type films earlier on in the decade, and hadn't had a decent one since Unlawful Entry.Well, my movie tastes have diversely changed in nearly twenty years, and I wanted to see if it held up as much as I'd hoped. Well it has, and it hasn't. Wahlberg and Witherspoon are an age away from this, and unfortunately in some scenes, Wahlberg is laughably wooden rather than sinister, his David just isn't edgy as I thought he once was, more autonomous.But it's suitably silly, looks really good, and you could stick a pin in the film the moment when you, Petersen and everyone else knows that David is a bad egg. It's one simple line.'Nicole, get me a coke'Cue the dramatic incidental music, and the look from Petersen, as if to say 'he didn't say please!!!!!! Good heavens Nicole.....Fear for your life!!!!'But, with all these shortcomings, its a lot of fun, Petersen is brilliant as usual, and it gets very Nast in some scenes.If you've seen the majority of these nice people turning psycho movies, then you know what's going to happen, when it's happening, why it's happening, and how it's going to end.And I wouldn't have it any other way....