There’s no cinematic surprise in the thriller Fear the Night because most everything is telegraphed ahead of time and the plotting offers nothing new or very deep.  The surprise is that this rather pedestrian thriller is written and directed by Neil LaBute, who, for a brief period about twenty years ago, was very much an up-and-coming trendy filmmaker.  He took hits even then for his treatment of women; here he puts eight women in a remote farmhouse and has them brutally hunted and murdered for the sake of entertainment.

Neil LaBute’s story centers on the tough woman in the group, Tess (Maggie Q, who also produced), an Iraqi war veteran who barely tolerates other people but knows how to survive.  A brief interaction with a trio of rednecks leads to them interrupting a bachelorette party with a deadly arrow attack and a demand for money that nobody in the house knows anything about.  Tess can’t save them all, but she can sure make those country yahoos feel the pain for messing with her sister’s party.

The film is certainly effective, mostly because it’s brutal.  LaBute understands that if the situation calls for brutality it needs to be delivered.  He doesn’t mess around; there are several killings and they are mean and messy.  But even at a sleek 92 minutes, the story is underdeveloped.  Too much time is spent marking Tess as an outsider, even amongst her family.  We get it.  What we should be shown is a greater scope of the rednecks’ situation and a much greater effort on the part of the women (other than Tess) to stay alive.  It almost seems like an indictment of modern women powerless and unwilling to protect themselves.  That kind of message doesn’t resonate anymore.  Or maybe Neil LaBute is exhorting all women to turn into warriors like Tess before it becomes too late.  If so he is using a sledgehammer to do so.

This type of crazy-killers-in-the-country story and its accompanying vigilante justice has been prevalent, if not popular, since the 1970s (The Last House on the Left, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, ad nauseam).  Thrills and chills can certainly continue to be mined in this well worn genre, but they should fresher and more interesting than what we are seeing here.  Though I do like watching Maggie Q kick butt.  ☆ ☆.  25 February 2024.