| Fear the Night | |
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 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Neil LaBute |
| Written by | Neil LaBute |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Rogier Stoffers |
| Edited by | Vincent F. Welch |
| Music by | Adam Bosarge |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Quiver Distribution |
Release date |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Fear the Night is a 2023 American action thriller film directed and written by Neil LaBute. It stars Maggie Q, Kat Foster, Travis Hammer, and Gia Crovatin.
Tess is an Iraq War veteran and a recovering alcoholic, who has returned home to recover. She has a tense relationship with her sister, Beth. However, the two have temporarily reconciled to attend their little sister Rose's bachelorette party at the family farm. Tess only tolerates the company around her as she dislikes crowds and the people attending the party. To avoid trouble, Tess distances herself from the group and observes the caretakers of the house, sensing something is not quite right with them. Beth thinks she's only making a fuss and is trying to scare people.
Later that night, as the rest of the bachelorette party enjoy themselves with a male stripper, Tess goes outside to be alone. Rose comes out to check on Tess, and when Beth also comes out, she gets angry seeing Rose comforting Tess, thinking Tess is making everything about herself when Rose should actually be inside enjoying her own bachelorette party. At this moment, attackers strike the women, killing Rose with a crossbow. Tess brings Rose's body into the house, alarming the entire party. Confused, the women wonder what's happening as the arrows continue to fly through the house, killing the stripper. As Tess is the only one trained for combat, she commands everyone to help make the house dark, barricade themselves inside, and find a means to call for help.
As the women try to call for help, Tess goes outside and kills one of the attackers. She grabs the assailant's wallet and has the woman check for the guy's identity, but no one recognizes him. Tess leaves the women with a pile of tools that can be used for self-defense. Esther, one of the partygoers, heads upstairs to try to get a phone signal to call for help; Tess later finds her shot dead with an arrow. Perry, one of the attackers, makes his presence known and demands his money, which is inside the house, but the women are confused by his demands. As the women discuss their options, they agree that Mia should make a run for it in order to call for help. Before leaving, Mia tells Tess she has had a crush on her since high school. Mia runs to a nearby house while luring away one of the men but finds there is no phone connection. Mia's pursuer catches up to her, and she is forced to bludgeon him to death before escaping. The remaining women are waiting for Tess to return when someone knocks on the door. Divya, another partygoer, opens the door, hoping it is Tess, but it is Perry and his men; they kill her with an arrow and storm into the house.
Tess infiltrates the caretakers' home and finds a man there, whom she questions. This caretaker tries to lie but eventually reveals the truth: the caretakers have been peddling meth for Perry's gang, and they're hiding the drug money from them. They have hidden the money inside the family farm and have told Perry's gang that the women are their girlfriends; Perry and his men think the women are stealing money from them and want to kill them all for it. Tess intends to bring the caretaker home with her when one of the attackers appears and kills the caretaker; Tess kills the attacker with a pitchfork. Back at the house, only Beth, Noelle and Bridget remain alive. Bridget tries to reason with Perry, but Perry slashes her throat. As Perry searches the property, Noelle offers oral sex to one of the captors, Tim, in exchange for her freedom. As Noelle pretends to be compliant, Tess returns and the women take down the last two men of Perry's gang. In a final showdown, Tess finds Perry, who has found his missing bag of cash. The two fight and Tess stabs Perry to death. As the sun rises, Tess emerges from the house, bloodied, with a beer in hand.
In the aftermath, Tess, Beth, Mia and Noelle have survived the attack and have made it back to town for help. However, Tess gives an altered version of events as her statement. Tess tells the authorities that their attackers captured them, killed several of them, and subsequently turned on each other after they found their money. Tess explains that they managed to take out two of their attackers in self-defense before coming into town for help. The sheriff doesn't believe a word of her statement, but Tess is allowed to leave (albeit with pending lawsuits). The story ends with Tess and Beth reconciling as sisters and Tess traveling with Mia to another destination. However, Tess's legal troubles, the fate of the meth money, and her reasons for giving a false statement remain unresolved.
Principal photography began in Los Angeles in April 2022. [4] [5]
The film was released in theaters, on digital and on demand on July 21, 2023. [6] [7]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 30% of 30 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.6/10.The website's consensus reads: "Despite typically strong work from Maggie Q, Fear the Night is a fairly generic and disappointingly tension-free thriller from writer-director Neil LaBute." [8] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 30 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. [9]
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