kluseba "Fear X" (2003) is a quite weird psycho-thriller by the highly experimental Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn who is known for other controversial art house films like "Valhalla Rising" (2009) and "Only God Forgives" (2013). "Fear X" feels like an unfinished movie that seems to offer a lot of food for thought at first contact but only leads to two possible conclusions after the almost abrupt ending. Many viewers will be disappointed by the lack of a proper conclusion while others may find exactly this aspect very creative. In my opinion, the movie lacks the detailed descriptions and out-thought storytelling qualities of comparable art house directors like David Lynch. If you are not into slow paced art house movies, you are going to waste your time. If you are honestly interested in this genre, there are other classics like "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" (1972), "Lost Highway" (1997), "Audition" (1999), "In the Mood for Love" (2000) and "Memento" (2001) you should have watched and appreciated before you venture into the more liberal territory of "Fear X".As for the story, I invite you to discover it by yourself and don't want to give any more details than these: A depressed security guard can't forget about the murder of his wife that happened at his workplace some time ago when the young woman was gunned down along with a police officer by an unknown in the parking lot of a shopping mall. The desperate man is still looking for any possible detail to reconstruct the mysterious murder in order to understand why his wife had to die. A mysteriously discovered photograph leads him to a place where his wife and him had been on vacation several months earlier and his arrival will create a lot of nervous tension in town.As a fan of the art house genre, there are several things I appreciated and disliked about this movie. The first negative aspect is that the movie has a complete absence of crime scenes. The movie would have kicked off in a much more dynamical way if the director had shown us the initial crime that is later shown on blurry surveillance camera footage only. An even bigger problem is the lack of details in the plot that could have delivered some food for thought. Apart of the two main characters, all other appearances remain peripheral even though some of them actually had some potential. Many little scenes don't add anything to the plot at all. These scenes aren't there to confuse us either or to tell us more about the characters, I feel like them being really unnecessary. As I said before, there are two ways to analyze this movie in the end but I don't want to spoil this film for you as you need to experience it on your own to make up your own mind about it. One of these two options would induct a couple of massive plot holes though which would make this film appear quite amateurish.The movie also has its strong points though. The movie doesn't feature too many dialogues and the actors have to work a lot with their facial expressions. This approach is experimental and intriguing and the actors and actresses actually do a very convincing job. The movie's strongest point is its bleak and slightly surreal atmosphere. This point is supported by a minimalist soundtrack by Brian Eno, a clever choice of settings including many dark rooms and the use of the colour red in many scenes and the slow paced acting and storytelling. Even though nothing really happened in some scenes, the movie got me on the edge of my seat like an atmospheric horror movie. Some surreal elements of the film also added a nice psychological suspense that turned somehow out to be the main guiding line of this film.In the end, this movie pretty much offers as many positive as negative points. I liked to experience this movie once but I guess I wouldn't watch it again or recommend it to many people. I felt that this movie had a lot of potential and especially the first two thirds of the film very actually intriguing but the last third and the hollow ending were a negative surprise in my opinion. This movie is for patient art house cinephiles and fans of the controversially discussed director only.

tigercat99 Some stylish photo. Some good acting. I'll give it that much. A script not very interested in other parts than the main character – and then only to let you know he's obsessed, not to let you know him.The plot in itself may be clever -- I've read some of the other comments, references to other work seem plentiful -- or maybe it's just not clever at all and not complete. It doesn't say a thing. The pace is slow enough to give you plenty of time to try to figure out what's coming, ie figure out the plot. And if you do some figuring, you want an answer at the end. You don't get one. Lot's of threads left loose at the end. As if someone wrote a 3 hour script, then cut it down to 1,5.Or rather, to 1 hour. And filled the rest up by repeating some pretentious, simple out of plot thriller effects. They made my wife stop watching and go to bed, with a bored sigh. It could have been an OK low-key movie without this pret stuff and a bit more plot. Makes you think they couldn't come up with an end, "so let's make it incomprehensible instead".Some other comment says the movie requires you watch it a couple of times. Why should you?

tezza Harry Caine (John Turturro) is obsessed with finding his wife's murderer. Haunted by memories and hallucinations, Harry spends his spare time pouring over surveillance tapes from the scene of the murder - the mall where he is employed as a security guard. A vision of his late wife straying across the road to the neighbour eventually leads him there. Once inside the unoccupied house, he finds a strip of film, has it developed, and begins a quest to find the woman in one of the photographs. The search leads him to a small town and a confrontation with the man who killed his wife.Writer/director Nicolas Winding Refn makes it halfway through this tale before pouring on all the is this really happening? nonsense. Is Harry nuts? Is it all in his head? Has he concocted these events as a way of finally coming to grips with his grief? The first half hour or so of the film is somewhat intriguing. The second dull and absurd, not to mention old hat. If there actually is a conspiracy, well, that's been done to death. If it's all in Harry's head, well, that's been done several times already- by filmmakers with real talent.Musically, Brian Eno's ambient and atmospheric work was a highlight . He's wheeled out and dusted off the Yamaha DX7 synth. The piece played during credits/watching surveillance tapes exactly the same as the very beginning of U2's 'Where the streets have no name'. Oh well you can't beat a rock classic.In summary (1) there is no universally-accepted interpretation of the ending – even the director is lost on this one "It depends on how I feel that day. And of course that pisses off a lot of people because they're not used to a film without an ending. But what the f**k is an ending, you know?". And (2) I was actually hoping for a DVD directors commentary from Refn - I'd love to hear him try to justify this mess.

nastypuppy rented this movie cause blockbuster has a "special"> 3 for $5.99. anyway, the beginning was very brilliant. the brooding, grieving security guard was believably portrayed by john torturro. i could feel the grief driving him slowly insane. it was a very good portrayal of an introvert dealing with such a loss. the 1st hour or so i was riveted by his pain, but then something happened. i guess the director misplaced his notes or something but from the moment harry set foot in that sleazy hotel, the movie went soaring downhill. especially the part with the cops having their meeting to deal with peter killing harry's wife. peter was such a wuss! he wasn't believable as an assassin. too guilt ridden. but to me, this movie had an appropriate ending. he was dropped off at his car in the middle of no where, he tossed all those pics into the wind & then drove off into the sunset! he was finally free, he had revenge! he had an answer. what more of an ending was needed? the guy was a tortured soul & he was driving away to start fresh or become a serial cop killer. the end.