Fear X (2003)

58% of critics liked it
(33 reviews)
33% of users liked it
(2,025 ratings)

A man searching for the truth about his wife's killer learns more than he wanted to know about her own private story in this powerful drama. Harry Cain (John Turturro) works as a security guard at a large shopping mall in Wisconsin. Harry's life takes a sudden and disturbing left turn when his wife,… More A man searching for the truth about his wife's killer learns more than he wanted to know about her own private story in this powerful drama. Harry Cain (John Turturro) works as a security guard at a large shopping mall in Wisconsin. Harry's life takes a sudden and disturbing left turn when his wife, Kate (Deborah Kara Unger), is shot to death in the mall's parking facility. Devastated by his wife's passing, Harry begins combing over every scrap of evidence he can find in hopes of tracking down the gunman and reviewing hours of videotape from the mall's surveillance system. One night, Harry has a vision in which he sees Kate walking out of the house across the street; he breaks into the abandoned home to investigate, and finds some photographs that may lead him to his wife's murderer. However, the more Harry learns about Kate, and as he travels to Montana in search of a possible culprit, Harry begins to learn just how much he never knew about Kate and her life. Renowned novelist Hubert Selby Jr. co-wrote the screenplay for Fear X, while composer and musician Brian Eno contributed to the musical score. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 31 min.
Directed By: Nicolas Winding Refn
Written By: Hubert Selby, Jr., Nicolas Winding Refn
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Horror

In Theaters: Apr 4, 2003 Wide
On DVD: Mar 8, 2005
Studio: Moviehouse Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Lou Lumenick, New York Post
A pretentious, unsatisfying and ultra-slow-moving thriller.
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
Fortunately, Turturro's subtle turn keeps our emotional connection solid even when the story skates on thin ice.
John McMurtrie, San Francisco Chronicle
The story, in the end, is less than satisfying and, unfortunately, doesn't match the movie's eerie style.
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
With an elliptical style and open-ended interpretations, it is definitely not for those who like their mysteries spelled out and tied up neatly.
Stephen Holden, New York Times
Grimly austere barely begins to describe the atmosphere of dread that seeps through Fear X like a toxic mist.
Michael Atkinson, Village Voice
It's half a movie, but a half that hums.
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
The director captures a sense of hazy, harrowing obsession that's amplified by his immaculate camera set-ups and pans.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Slick thriller.
Prairie Miller, Long Island Press
A Middle American psychological crime thriller agreat portion of which plays out none too rationally inside its protagonist's head.
Prairie Miller, Long Island Press
A Middle American psychological crime thriller agreat portion of which plays out none too rationally inside its protagonist's head.
Bruce Feld, Film Journal International
What happens afterwards, in Refn and the late Hubert Selby, Jr.'s can't-resist-obscurity-and-ambiguity screenplay will disappoint most filmgoers.
Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Frustratingly opaque by design, Fear X offers viewers insufficient fear and excessive "X."
Larry Carroll, FilmStew.com
Imagine an hour of birds flying backwards and rooms with red curtains, and there's the rest of your movie.
Rob Vaux, Flipside Movie Emporium
It's a fundamentally Scandinavian movie, a hyperintense meditation on death and destiny set amid a bleak wintry landscape and played out by the emotionally devastated.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
As the film builds, director Refn skillfully allows Harry to get both closer and farther away form his goal, like an optical illusion.
Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Turturro's clammy, lumpen Cain is a profoundly disagreeable guide down the rabbit hole of hallucinatory paranoia.
, E! Online
This X doesn't mark the spot.
Brent Simon, Now Playing Magazine
Fear X, like an impressionistic painting, is evocative in original ways.

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]In "Fear X," Harry Caine(John Turturro) is so obsessed with the murder of his wife Claire(Jacqueline Ramel) that it is adversely affecting his job as a security guard at a shopping mall. Not helping any are his acquaintances who either directly tell him… More
[font=Century Gothic]In "Fear X," Harry Caine(John Turturro) is so obsessed with the murder of his wife Claire(Jacqueline Ramel) that it is adversely affecting his job as a security guard at a shopping mall. Not helping any are his acquaintances who either directly tell him to move on or feed him surveillance videotapes.(One would think the most prudent course of action would be to not bring up the subject at all and to try to subtly get his mind onto something else.) His investigation gets a boost when the FBI informs him that they have a picture of the murderer...[/font] [font=Century Gothic]The thing that separates superior psychological dramas like "Keane" and "Red Road" from a mediocrity like "Fear X" is a certain fearlessness, not only from the director but also from the lead actor.(John Turturro is good but he is not that good.) This movie would also have been better if the FBI had approached Harry at a point when he was starting to put his life in order. While aiming for a certain dreamlike aesthetic ala David Lynch for some odd reason, the movie falls flat on its face. And after failing to follow through on one promising idea, it disappears into another movie completely which not even the usually reliable James Remar and Deborah Kara Unger can do anything about. Only at the very end does the movie come close to succeeding.[/font]
Juan C

john turritoro haunting performance of a man desprite to know who kille his wife, by expressing it in frusteration and anger. B+
Chosen 7

Decent mystery