YMMV / Fear (1996)

• Angst? What Angst?: Toby is remarkably blasé about his beloved pet dog's severed head being shoved through the dog door. Not to mention when he himself manages to run one of the thugs over with the car too.
• Catharsis Factor: It's a pretty awesome and cool moment when Steven finally overpowers and chucks David out the window where he literally bounces off the rocks below.
• Complete Monster: David McCall is the seemingly friendly, if troubled, boyfriend to Nicole Walker, as well as the entitled leader of a violent gang. Over their relationship, David becomes possessive of Nicole, at one point assaulting her friend Gary and striking Nicole. When they reconcile, David frames Nicole's father for assaulting him, and rapes Nicole's friend Margo at a party, before intimidating her. When Nicole cuts ties with him, David becomes more deranged, stalking and molesting Nicole, and murders Gary out of spite for standing up to him. Finally, David leads his gang to try to kidnap Nicole and kill her family, killing their security guard, and dog. David kills one of his friends for touching Nicole, and plans to have Nicole watch her father die before taking her away.
• Cult Classic: Didn't exactly light the box office on fire and received mostly negative reviews at the time but is now seen as a pretty well-made thriller with some genuinely unnerving moments as well as being a showcase for two future stars.
• Heartwarming Moments: Crossed with TearJerker: Steven's care for Nicole expands to Margo and their friendship as well. So seeing Nicole push her away for something that's not her fault is something that clearly effects him too.
• Moment of Awesome:
  • After how smug David was about how much control he had over Nicole to him, Steve gets to turn the tables by refusing David entry to the house to see Nicole and getting the support of his full family by doing so too.
  • Toby briefly taking control of the car and running one of the gang members over with it.
  • Steven finally giving David his just desserts and throwing him out the window, to his death, is incredibly cathartic.
• Moral Event Horizon: Crossed by David when he beats Nicole's friend Gary senseless just for hugging her. This is the first of a slew of major red flags about him in the film. Other way more potent examples are raping Margo just because Nicole didn't come to the party, forcing himself on Nicole in a bathroom stall and stalking Gary in the woods until eventually catching him and snapping his neck.
• Realism-Induced Horror: Dating an Ax-Crazy sociopath who believes they're Entitled to Have You to the point of homicide, is a horrifically all-too real concept.
• Signature Scene: David fingering Nicole on a rollercoaster while The Sundays' cover of "Wild Horses" plays.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Nicole thinking Margo helped David cheated on her willingly and pushing her away while Margo calls out and begs to Nicole about how "[Nicole's] her only friend".
  • Crossed with Heartwarming: Steven seeing how horribly Nicole rejects Margo after David raped her is painful for him. He knows how much Nicole and Margo care for each other and is seeing yet another example of how badly David's presence and actions are effecting his whole family.

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