Fear

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Fear is a 1996 psychological thriller starring Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon.

Nicole Walker (Witherspoon) is a teenage girl who, while at a cafe, meets a handsome and mysterious young man named David McCall (Wahlberg). The two end up together and within a couple of weeks, Nicole realizes that David starts to become possessive of her and ultimately breaks up with him. David tries everything to get Nicole back, but when that doesn't work, he and his group of friends break into Nicole's home by holding her and her family hostage, which leads to some nasty consequences.

The film costars William Petersen as Nicole's father Steven, Amy Brenneman as her stepmother Laura, and Alyssa Milano as her best friend Margo.


Tropes used in Fear include:
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Nicole certainly thought this when she started dating David, until she realized he's not just a bad boy, but a psychopath and a criminal.
  • And Now You Must Marry Me: Once Steven and Laura are tied up, David lifts up Steven so he can "give away the bride."
  • And Your Little Dog, Too: David murders the family dog and decapitates it to intimidate the family.
  • Asshole Victim: Logan when he is killed by David for trying to rape Nicole.
  • Badass Boast: The note David leaves when he trashes Steven's car.

Now I've popped both your cherries.

  • Chekhov's Gun: The peace pipe David wins for Nicole is the one she uses to stab him in the back to save her father and weakening him so Steven can kill him.
  • Destination Defenestration: How David is killed at the end.
  • Good Parents: Steven loves his daughter and usually takes her rebellious and bratty nature with good humor, but is willing to scold her when she gets too out of line especially when he finds the condom David used when he had sex with Nicole. He also kills David when he goes after Nicole when she stabs him in the back with a peace pipe. He's also a better father to his stepson Toby than Toby's biological father.
  • Hunk: David's a rare villainous example, and a pure evil one to boot.
  • If I Can't Have You: Once David is stabbed in the back by Nicole with the peace pipe, he tries to either kill her or take her by force. Thankfully, his wound weakens him enough for Steven to gain the upper hand and kill him.
  • Kid Hero: Toby, a nine-year old boy is able to kill one of David's thugs, call 911, untie his mother who in turn frees Steven who along with Nicole, is able to defeat David. Without him, David would have won and Nicole would have either been forced to marry him or worse.
  • Murder the Hypotenuse: More like murder anyone that gets in his way of having Nicole to himself. He starts this when he murders Nicole's friend, Gary.
  • Muscles Are Meaningful: David is not only quite muscular, he is very strong able to knock Steve down with one smack. Nicole stabbing him in the back with the peace pipe weakened him enough for Steve to kill him. And even then, Steve barely won. Also he took a punch from Steven better than Logan did.
  • Muscles Are Meaningless: Steven is a fit man, but he ain't winning no bodybuilder contest. Even so he knocked down Logan with a single punch and is the one who kills David, though only because Nicole was able weaken him by wounding him with the peace pipe.
  • Papa Wolf: Steve takes charge to protect his family, especially his daughter from David and his gang. He's also the one who kills David, though Nicole helped him too.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: David murders his best friend, Logan, when he tries to rape Nicole. It's not so much he murders him for attempting rape, but because David wants Nicole all to himself.
  • Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: So much so that even the slutty Margo is disgusted with herself when David rapes her. It also cements David as an irredeemable monster as far as Nicole's concerned. Though she thought it was consensual.
  • Slut Shaming: Nicole was called this by Laura because of her make-up. Margo's reputation as a slutty girl made Nicole believe that David raping her was consensual despite the fact David was actually hurting her.
  • The Modest Orgasm: Nicole can be surprisingly quiet when pleasured by David.
  • Villain With Good Publicity: David can be quite charismatic and won over Nicole's family fairly easily. Even Steven at first took a liking to him until David's true nature is exposed.
  • Would Hurt A Child: Terry, one of David's thugs tries to murder Nicole's nine-year old step brother Toby when he tries to call 911 on a car phone. Terry fails and Toby kills him by running him over.