Fear and Desire

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Fear and Desire

Released Mar 31, 1953

1h 8m

War

Drama

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Popcornmeter

70%

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20 Reviews

34%

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1,000+ Ratings

Four soldiers must confront their fears and desires behind enemy lines.

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Steve Erickson

The Atlantic

... Fear and Desire shows that Kubrick's polished vision didn't emerge from a void. He had to start out with a rough draft first.

Feb 22, 2018

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Tim Grierson

Village Voice

Treat it like a wobbly, precocious demo from a 24-year-old with mighty aspirations, filled with hints of what he would become, and you'll be properly enthralled.

Mar 27, 2012

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Nick Schager

Slant Magazine

For all its heavy-handed gloom and stylistic unevenness, Fear and Desire has a certain fierceness that's hard to shake.

Mar 17, 2012

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Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

It’s a talky, eccentric little movie that no doubt would have puzzled but also intrigued anyone catching it on the bottom half of a double bill...

Apr 1, 2024

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

The picture itself remains a Kubrick curio rather than an integral part of his filmography.

Rated: 2/4

Mar 16, 2024

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Jeremy Carr

Vague Visages

Fear and Desire is more than just a curio for the Kubrick completist. It is indeed a genuinely revealing work.

Nov 16, 2023

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gdavisloop f

Kubrick was right to pull this film. It looks like a 20-minute student film stretched to a feature, and even at 20 minutes it would be boring, and awful. Kubrick's next film, Killer's Kiss, was MUCH better. The two shorts included on the Kino Lorber disc are more interesting than the feature.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

09/07/25

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Mark M

Fear and Desire is a tedious, pretentious mess. Incoherent plot, forgettable characters, and heavy-handed symbolism make it a chore to watch. Avoid. 2 out of 10 🤙 from this guy.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

07/20/25

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Stephen C

What the flying **** and bull****?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

05/23/25

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Tom F

As a first-time director’s low budget project, it is understandably clunky and unpleasant. Best viewed as a pupal stage in Kubrick’s development, with themes he would later explore.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/02/25

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thiago s

filme bacaninha, o roteiro é bacana, os personagens são meio fracos, as cenas de tiro ficou legal, mas teve uma cena quase perto do fim do filme, que o maluco estava no lado de fora da casa com uma espingarda, e ele atirou no cara que estava dentro de casa, através da janela, o cara que rebeceu o tiro caiu de um jeito engraçado. mas mesmo assim o filme é bacaninha.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

10/27/24

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Mason M

Kubrick's worst film, but a bad Kubrick film is still a good film.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

09/08/24

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Synopsis

Four soldiers must confront their fears and desires behind enemy lines.

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Producer: Stanley Kubrick
Screenwriter: Howard Sackler
Distributor: Joseph Burstyn Inc.
Production Co: Kubrick Family
Genre: War, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 31, 1953, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 23, 2017
Runtime: 1h 8m

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