16-year-old Nicole Walker lives in the suburbs of Seattle with her father Steven, his new wife Laura, and Laura's son Toby. At a bar with her best friend Margo and friend Gary, Nicole meets David McCall, and instantly falls for his good looks and charm. Nicole falls in love with David, but Steven dislikes him, and grows angry with him when he disregardes Nicole's curfew and, eventually, takes her virginity. David soon becomes possessive and jealous of Nicole, culminating in attacking Gary when he sees them hugging, beating him up and giving Nicole a black eye. As a result, she breaks up with him, but they get back together when David manipulates her into believing her father assaulted him. David invites Nicole to a party at his friend Logan's house. At first, she declines but then decides to drive to the party, where she witnesses Margo smoking crack and, apparently, having sex with David. The following day, she confronts him about his infidelity, and also confronts Margo, who insists that David raped her. David then threatens Margo to convince Nicole to take him back. After seeing Nicole with Gary, David follows and kills him. Nicole goes with Laura and Toby to the mall, where David corners her in the women's restroom. Meanwhile, Steven finds his car vandalized with an insulting note left by David. Furious, Steven breaks into the house David shares with Logan and vandalizes it. In retaliation for Steven's vandalism, David decides to break into the Walkers' residence with his four friends: Logan, Hacker, Knobby, and Terry. After Margo informs the Walkers of Gary's death, David and his gang behead Kaiser, the family dog, then make multiple attempts to break inside. Steven and Laura barricade the doors, and Laura injures Hacker with a drill, and he is then taken to the hospital by Knobby. Using a flashlight, Nicole sends an SOS to the Walker's private security guard, Larry, who arrives to confront the situation, but is killed by Terry. David, Logan, and Terry take Steven hostage, forcing Laura to surrender. Toby escapes through a window and gets to Laura's car phone. After Terry finds him in the garage, Toby fatally runs Terry over with the SUV. Logan forces himself onto Nicole; Margo intervenes, but is knocked unconscious. David shoots Logan dead for attempting to rape Nicole. After Toby retrieves Larry's keys and releases his parents, Steven rushes at David and the pair get into a furious brawl. David gets ready to execute Steven but Nicole stabs David in the back with a peace pipe. Steven then throws David through the bedroom window to his death. Moments later, police and paramedics arrive.
Fear was released on April 12, 1996 in 1,584 theaters. It opened at No. 4 at the box office, making $6.3 million in its opening weekend. By the end of its run, the film earned $20.8 million in the US.
The film holds a 46% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 5.06/10. The site's consensus reads: "Fear has an appealing young cast, but their efforts aren't enough to consistently distract from an increasingly overblown - and illogical - teen stalker story". Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "Fear is hard to resist. On one hand it's a shameless thriller that makes up for the inevitability of its story by consistently being bigger, faster and more appalling than you might expect. On the other hand, it contains enough truth about fathers, teenaged daughters and young lust to distinguish it from most thrillers and ground it in vivid emotion. It is a nightmare fantasy for fathers. Director James Foley and screenwriter Christopher Crowe keep raising the stakes all the way to a finish that's something out of The Straw Dogs. It's a maddening, satisfying, junky, enjoyable picture." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a positive review, further accrediting the comparisons to Fatal Attraction, writing: "Fear is a teen Fatal Attraction, and — surprise — it isn’t bad." He did, however, criticise the finale: " James Foley does a fine job evoking the sexual tensions between father, daughter, and rogue suitor, but he has less luck with the garish climax, which is so unconvincingly staged it never even makes it over the top". Gene Siskel gave the film a thumbs-down while Roger Ebert gave it a thumbs-up. Additionally, Leonard Maltin gave it 2/4 stars. Critical revaluation of the film has proved more positive than its initial reception, with Carter Burwell's score being especially well-received. One critic has since stated that "although dismissed by some reviewers upon its release as a sensationalist, hysterical, formulaic piece, Fear has improved with age". The film was placed as No. 19 on Bravo TV's "30 Even Scarier Movie Moments".
