Introduction

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.

Outline

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 ladies try to call for help, Tess goes outside and kills one of the attackers. She grabs the assailant’s wallet and has the ladies check for the guy’s identity, but no one recognizes him. Tess leaves the ladies with a pile of tools that can be used for self-defence. 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 ladies are confused by his demands. As the ladies discuss their options, they agree for Mia to 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. 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 ladies 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-defence 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.

Cast

• Maggie Q as Tess
• Kat Foster as Beth
• Travis Hammer as Perry
• Gia Crovatin as Mia
• Brenda Meaney as Bridget
• James Carpinello as Bart
• Highdee Kuan as Rose
• Ito Aghayere as Noelle

Production

Principal photography began in Los Angeles in April 2022.

Release

The film was released in theatres, on digital and on demand on 21 July 2023.

Trivia

• When the aggressor slashes Beth’s throat, she instantly dies and falls to the floor.
  • That is not at all how fast a human being or any living creature would die from that type of wound.
  • She would either drown in her own blood, suffocate or die from the massive blood loss, but even though death would follow quickly, it wouldn’t be instantaneous.
• It is implied early in the movie, that Tess is a recovering alcoholic.
  • However, the beer that she drinks in the end wouldn’t technically break her sobriety since it is alcohol free.
  • Notice the white and light blue label specific to the Corona Cero which has 0 alcohol.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s):
  • Neil LaBute
• Producer(s):
  • Christian Ackerman … line producer
  • Eric Brenner … producer
  • Jennifer M. Byrne … line producer
  • Tyler Gould … executive producer
  • Larry Greenberg … producer
  • Matthew Helderman … executive producer
  • Lucas Jarach … producer
  • Berry Meyerowitz … producer
  • Jeff Sackman … producer
  • Luke Taylor … executive producer
• Writer(s):
  • Neil LaBute
• Music:
• Cinematography:
  • Rogier Stoffers
• Editor(s):
  • Vincent F. Welch
• Production:
  • BondIt Media Capital (in association with)
  • Buffalo 8 Productions (post production)
  • Quiver Distribution
• Distributor(s):
  • MVK (Russia, 2023)(theatrical)
  • Ukrainian Film Distribution (UFD) (Ukraine, 2023)(theatrical)
  • Blue Swan Entertainment (Italy, 2022)
  • Blue Swan Entertainment (Italy, 2023)
  • Quiver Distribution (United States, 2022)
  • Splendid Film (Germany, 2023)(Blu-ray)
  • Splendid Film (Germany, 2023)(DVD)
• Release Date: 21 July 2023.
• Running Time: 92 minutes.
• Rating: 15.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

Video Link(s)