This Campy Thriller on Netflix Is “Fatal Attraction For Teens”

The Big Picture

• Fear
  tried to be the “Fatal Attraction for teens,” but ended up a campy affair with laughable moments.
• Despite missing the mark,
  Fear
  was a sleeper hit, launching Reese Witherspoon and Mark Wahlberg to stardom in the ’90s.
• Fear
  ‘s camp value has led to Universal considering a reboot.

Hollywood never met a success story it didn’t want to replicate, whether it’s the rash of attempts at cinematic universes or the rise of the Western. The erotic thriller was no exception, especially with Fatal Attraction. It was parodied in Family Guy, remade into a streaming series on Paramount+, and director Adrian Lynne tried to recapture its glory with the Hulu film Deep Water. The most blatant attempt to cash in on Fatal Attraction, however, would be Fear — to the point where producer Brian Grazer used it as a touchpoint.

Grazer reportedly called Fear “Fatal Attraction for teens,” according to Leonard Maltin, and the premise shares more than a few similarities. Nicole Walker (Reese Witherspoon) recently moved to Seattle with her family; she’s struggling with the fact that her father Steven (William Petersen) recently remarried, as well as his strict parenting style. She falls for a boy named David McCall (Mark Wahlberg), and at first, it feels like a typical teenage romance. But David begins to reveal himself as deeply psychotic to the point where he’s obsessed with having Nicole to himself. On paper, that’s a solid recipe for a thriller, but the end result is an extremely campy affair that viewers won’t be able to take their eyes off of.

‘Fear’ Swings for Scary, but Often Lands in Silly

What makes Fear a prime candidate for the camp of…well, camp is the way certain scenes play out. The more macabre moments clash with the teenage romance, resulting in scenes that should be scary turning out to be absolutely hilarious. A prime example is the climactic scene where David confronts the Walkers at their house, particularly how Wahlberg’s face contorts into a cartoonish grimace when he screams “Let me in the f***ing house!” There’s also the moment where David tattoos “Nicole 4 Eva” onto his chest; it’s a childish act that underplays how much of a psychopath this character is.

But the ultimate “so bad it’s good” moment concerns most of the interactions between David and Steven. These play out like a supercharged version of the overprotective dad meeting his daughter’s rebellious boyfriend; when Steven confronts David and tells him to stop seeing Nicole, David repeatedly hits himself in the chest and lies to Nicole that Steven hit him. Again, the climax provides the ultimate “laugh out loud when you’re not supposed to” moment. When David has Steven at gunpoint, he shouts “Now you will forever hold your peace!” — right in time for Nicole to stab him in the back with a peace pipe. As if that wasn’t ridiculous enough, Steven hurls David out of a seemingly unbreakable window which kills him on impact. That’s right, Fear ends with a heightened version of “the dad throws the boyfriend out of his house.”

‘Fear’ Attempts To Emulate Elements of ‘Fatal Attraction,’ but Misses a Key Point

In leaning into the “Fatal Attraction for teens” angle, director James Foley and writer Christopher Crowe crafted scenes in Fear that feel very similar to what happens in the latter film. Alex (Glenn Close) and Dan (Michael Douglas) have a steamy encounter in an elevator; Fear attempts to one-up this by having a sex act take place on a roller coaster. The most egregious examples involve the death of an animal: Fatal Attraction has Alex boiling a bunny alive while Fear sees the decapitation of a dog. To both films’ credit, these scenes are treated as extremely disturbing (especially the poor dog).

However, what Foley, Crowe, and Grazer missed about the appeal of Fatal Attraction is that most of the problems in the film are caused by the antagonist. Alex is willing to do anything to be with Dan — she attempts to kill herself, she stalks his family, and she kills a bunny. In contrast, most of the drama in Fear is driven by Steven’s actions towards David. It’s Steven’s confrontation with David that drives Nicole into David’s arms. It’s Steven wrecking David’s house that sets David and his friends on the warpath. Granted, David’s a full-blown psychopath, but most of the film’s events could be laid squarely at Steven’s feet.

‘Fear’ Elevated Its Leads to Teenage Heartthrob Status

The clashing of tones within Fear didn’t particularly land it critical acclaim, though the San Francisco Chronicle had a more nuanced outlook, calling it “a nightmare fantasy for fathers” as well as “a maddening, satisfying, junky, enjoyable picture.” Fear would end up being a sleeper hit at the box office, while also serving as a launching pad for bigger projects for Witherspoon and Wahlberg. Both of them closed out the ’90s in style: Witherspoon would receive critical acclaim for starring in Election and Cruel Intentions, while Wahlberg starred alongside none other than George Clooney in Three Kings. Alyssa Milano, who plays Nicole’s friend Margo, would also enjoy a major role in Charmed.

It’s Petersen, however, who had the most interesting career trajectory. He had turned in some solid performances before with To Live and Die in LA and Manhunter, which, alongside his role as Gil Grissom in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, solidified him as a magnetic character actor. No matter the project, Petersen gives it his all, often with a steely gaze or a cutting remark. Fear has a great example of this during Steven and David’s confrontation; when David more or less insults Steven, the older man fires off a rather graphic threat. It’d sound silly coming out of any other actor’s mouth, but Petersen makes it work.

Though Fear won’t be regarded as “the next Fatal Attraction,” it’s still worth a watch. It’s also enough of a cult and camp classic that Universal is attempting to reboot the series for Peacock. One can only hope that the campier elements remain intact.

Fear is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.Watch on Netflix