Fear the Night is a home invasion thriller that struggles to find anything new or interesting to do or say in its chosen sub-genre. About the only saving grace is a fairly forbidding (if sporadic) performance from Maggie Q.

The flick follows a bunch of ladies on a bachelorette party out in the country. Without warning (or much in the way of motivation or plot), guys starts murdering them with bow and arrows and it’s up to Maggie Q’s combat veteran to rally the troops and survive the night.

It’s pretty telling that the title of this movie is so generic. It’s the kind of title that feels like a placeholder for a better title they never figured out. Which is fair for a movie that barely manages to scramble itself out of utter mediocrity.

The movie is kind of dull but has mixed in some pretty decent suspense scenes. I’d like to say it gave Maggie Q some kick-ass action scenes but it doesn’t. Instead, she (along with one or two of the other ladies) pulls off a pretty solid performance. Her monologues suggest a better movie.

There are some ick factor sexual assault threats and a very weird, very drawn out epilogue that left me a little baffled. That is, until I saw the director’s name in the end credits: Neil LaBute. Now it all makes sense… I guess this was secretly one of his misanthropic screeds. Too bad it’s such a routine hum-drum script instead of something with an idea in its head.

This flick has enough moments in it to say it’s not a complete waste of time. But it tried real hard to convince me otherwise. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you just need more LaBute in your life… or just have to see all the home invasion flicks.

Score: 71