Fear X

Name: Fear X
Genre: Thriller
Released: January 28, 2005
Rating: 61

2005

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 49 Ratings

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8.2

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8.2	User Score Universal acclaim based on 49 Ratings

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Fear X

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Movie Details & Credits

Silver Nitrate Releasing | Release Date: January 28, 2005 | PG-13

Summary: This psychological thriller stars John Turturro as a security guard whose wife is murdered in the mall where he works.

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Genre(s): Thriller

Rating: PG-13

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Critic Reviews

100

David Sterritt

This thriller is ingeniously woven with motifs suggesting the difficulty of seeing and understanding truth, and substitutes psychological chills for commonplace gore. Read full review

Scott Foundas

A supremely elegant, meditative thriller. Read full review

Scott Foundas

Turturro keeps Fear X fascinating, practically in spite of itself. Read full review

Michael Atkinson

Perhaps a radical re-editing of Fear X-like Lynch did on “Mulholland Drive”-could rescue the film's workaday unease from the dread taboo of derivative weirdness. It's half a movie, but a half that hums. Read full review

Merle Bertrand

A tedious, snail-paced mess. Read full review

John McMurtrie

Muddled. Read full review

Lou Lumenick

A pretentious, unsatisfying and ultra-slow-moving thriller. Read full review

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User Reviews

Dtengleb

Jul 12, 2017

Nicolas Winding Refn's Fear X is by no means an easy movie to watch. It is slow moving and often times difficult to understand, a fact that may not be helped by its stylistic cinematography and somewhat experimental scenes. But despite its flaws this movie has a remarkable and uniqueNicolas Winding Refn's Fear X is by no means an easy movie to watch. It is slow moving and often times difficult to understand, a fact that may not be helped by its stylistic cinematography and somewhat experimental scenes. But despite its flaws this movie has a remarkable and unique ability to draw us into the world of its central character, Harry(John Turturro).

A world of unresolved grief and senseless loss. During the film I found myself emotionally invested in a character that I both struggled to understand and did not completely trust. I found myself desperately trying to make sense and understand the information presented to me. I became frustrated by the limitations of the median the information was being viewed from- film. Before long I really began to understand the ingenious nature of the movie. The result, Fear X is a movie that achieves something remarkable, an intentionally flawed story that the audience can experience on an emotional level. Those emotion you experience are ultimately left to the devises of viewer interpretation and a close viewing- in short a small amount of work.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JLuis_001

Feb 12, 2022

Nicolas Winding Refn's first English-language feature film might have seemed overly ambitious for a director who at the time only had two films on his resume, but understandably within the arthouse realm Fear X found a niche that would eventually cement Refn as the director he is today.
ButNicolas Winding Refn's first English-language feature film might have seemed overly ambitious for a director who at the time only had two films on his resume, but understandably within the arthouse realm Fear X found a niche that would eventually cement Refn as the director he is today.
But to be honest, I enjoyed this film more than his last projects; The Neon Demon and Too Old to Die Young.

The story centers on a security guard (John Turturro), as he is trying to find out the identity of his late wife's killer.
His character embarks on a quest that eventually becomes more important than finding the answers. After all, it's that plot and Turturro's excellent performance that clearly earn this film its cult status.

Refn doesn't steal the thrills from his thriller, but the film deteriorates when its final act relies more on the psychological aspect and the very uncertainty he brings to the plot, rather than letting the suspense do the work better, but still, this film has its fine strengths, and overall I was satisfied with the results.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

RegOz

Jan 29, 2012

The beginning of the movie was promising. I expected and intelligent plot with a los of psychological twists. Unfortunately, it wasn't what I thought it would. It is a pretentious movie with no major substance, if people are still talking about it,questioning themselves, and trying to findThe beginning of the movie was promising. I expected and intelligent plot with a los of psychological twists. Unfortunately, it wasn't what I thought it would. It is a pretentious movie with no major substance, if people are still talking about it,questioning themselves, and trying to find the 'real' meaning of the movie, they shouldn't because this movie is not The Machinist. The plot here is much more basic but the producers are trying to make us believe there is a 'smart plot' and that there is 'much more' to the eye, but at the end is it just pointless. Slow, unenganging, boring. It is sad to say that because I did think the movie had potential! I ended up truly disappointed. I wouldn't recommend it at all. The best thing of this movie are the performances. The ending: Bad...apparently the director(check online, for it is true) said that he just didn't know how to end it so he didn't work on it and that is why he left it like that ! So, there it goes... according to the director the ending meant nothing but what it was...so I think the movie probably didn't mean much either! Period!...… Expand

0 of 5 users found this helpful05

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