The Fear, a 1966 Greek film written and directed by Kostas Manoussakis and with beautiful cinematography by Nikos Gardelis, is a powerful parable about human bestiality.

Humanity, reduced to its most basic condition, is nothing more than animal instinct, hostage to its basest desires and interests.

Man, victim to fear, lives under pressure, due to his uncontrollable instincts and the terror of the imminent loss of his worldly and material interests.

Served by black and white cinematography, which highlights this human beast and its harsh habitat, with an unsettling soundtrack by Giannis Markopoulos, and some memorable performances, especially by Anestis Vlahos, this is a film that will not be forgotten and that the most cynics will not hesitate to call it a masterpiece.

This ponderous Greek melodrama relates the misfortunes of a Greek farm family whose basic unhappiness is unendurably intensified by the misdeeds of the sexually frustrated son. Anestis, who is in his mid-20s and is neurotically driven to voyeurism and then to the grotesque rape of the family's deaf-mute maidservant, whom he afterwards murders. Apart from the unhappily wed parents there is a pretty young sister who is confronted with the tragedy when she returns from boarding school. The contrast between the brother, who is a borderline sociopath, and the very normal sister forms a prolonged tension in the movie's second half, where her marriage, the only happy point of the film, is ultimately juxtaposed with the after effects of the murder. The movie is carefully structured to be hard-hitting but is mostly overwrought melodrama.

Anestis, the son of Demitrios, is a psychologically and emotionally crippled young man, harshly treated by his tyrannical father and bitter stepmother. Demetrios rules his family and his big wheat farm with an iron hand even though he himself reserves the right to go get drunk and take up with whores whenever it suits him. Anestis is a bit slow and socially undeveloped, the butt of the other young men in the village who taunt him for never having known a woman sexually though he is nearly 30. No one has ever been kind to him in his whole life...he has never known love or approval. Driven by his needs and unsatisfied lust aroused by his frequent voyeurism, he traps a saintly, beautiful deaf-mute hired girl who was milking the goats in the barn. Unable to control himself, he rapes her as she is deaf to his pleas. About to be discovered, he tries to calm her down but she is hysterical, so in panic he shakes her against a wall and unintentionally crushes her skull, killing her. Her fear is now his and his guilt and remorse destroy what little sense is left in him.... The stepmother soon finds the body he hid under some hay and knows that he murdered her...in contempt and hatred for him she and his father help him to dispose of the body in the nearby lake, believing that the townspeople will lynch the whole family if it's ever found out. Ridden with horror at his crime, Anestis is forced to dance at his stepsister's wedding but his eyes are full of guilt and fear of discovery. He constantly breaks into sweats and in a state of near nervous collapse. The superb acting by Anestis Vlahos is unforgettable, the portrayal of a weak and twisted man who never even thought of committing such an heinous crime is so powerful you will actually feel sympathy for the unfortunate man who became both rapist and murderer. The beautiful black and white cinematography is stark and brooding, underscoring the tragedy and the fear.