THE FEARWAY (2023)

The Fearway (2023)
Directed by: Robert Gajic
Written by: Noah Bessey
Starring: Briahn Auguillard, Eileen Dietz, James Politano, Jessica Gray, John D. Hickman, Justin Gordon, Robin Bookhout, Shannon Dalonzo, Simon Phillips

THE FEARWAY (2023)
Directed by Robert Gajic

Soon-to-be-married couple Sarah and Michael are on their way to visit her dying father when they find themselves being chased by a mysterious man in a black muscle car. Managing to pull off the deserted stretch of desert road on Route 66, they decide to settle their nerves at the Easy-Inn Diner before continuing their journey. Everything seems fine until they discover that the black muscle car is once again on their tail, on a never-ending stretch of road they’re unable to escape from.

Blending the fear of being stalked and run off the road, and the feeling of being trapped in a timeloop, THE FEARWAY preys upon the couple’s desperate attempts to reach their destination in this Duel-inspired horror thriller.

Sarah and Michael are just like any other couple. Deeply in love, they’ve decided to get married but Sarah wishes to speed up their marriage proposals so her sick father can be around to be a part of their wedding. However, Michael wonders whether they should postpone their wedding, so she can spend more time with her ailing father rather than rushing around making wedding plans. Despite their disagreement on timing of the marriage, they both want Sarah to spend as much time as possible with her father, so are on a roadtrip to visit him.

The dusty, isolated stretch of highway on Route 66 makes the perfect location for Sarah and Michael to be targeted. With no other road users about except for the mysterious driver of the muscle car, it doesn’t take much the for the couple to panic as they hit the accelerator of their Kia in a bid to make some distance between them and their stalker. The Easy-Inn diner slap-bang en-route is like a ray of light for Michael who spies the opportunity to escape the muscle car into the arms of people who can help. His idea works, and the muscle car driver fails to follow them into the diner’s parking lot, giving Michael and Sarah some much-needed respite from his antics. However, this is just the beginning.

Right from when things go bump for the couple, as they appear to hit something on the highway in their car, it’s plain to see something isn’t right. The subsequent cat and mouse chase and entrance into the diner only serves to raise suspicions. Whilst the waitress and cook they meet at the diner are nice as pie, the patrons sitting inside (including Eileen Dietz!) appear a bit odd. The further we spend time in the diner, the more we begin to suspect nothing is as it seems. It doesn’t take long for Sarah to come to the same conclusion, and the feeling of being trapped in a nightmare begins to escalate. As the diner manager, played by Brit actor Simon Phillips, tries to allay their fears about their stalking predicament, his conflicting attitude with the rest of the staff makes his intentions appear disingenuous. Just what is he hiding and what is the diner’s role on the highway that never seems to end?

THE FEARWAY has some good ideas and embraces a loop mechanic that I’ve always liked to watch in movies, but the danger and threat to the couple never seems to boil over into true fear for the viewer. It’s as though elements are tip-toed around and teased without ever fully committing. Even the character of the demonic-looking muscle car driver, with his veined skin and sharp teeth, feels underused in his role. When things start to really heat up in the final twenty minutes, it does so with a fizz rather than a bang, with an ending to the film that feels a little lacklustre. The ingredients are there in the movie, utilising a great location and diner aesthetic, which helps to build the story. It has many of the right things, but the overall execution is just a bit underwhelming in the horror department.

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