Directed By:Martin Scorsese
Written By:John D. MacDonald, James R. Webb, Wesley Strick
Cape Fear
Metascore
Generally Favorable
73
User score
Generally Favorable
7.5
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
78% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
22% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
A hypnotically engrossing thriller that spins along on the dreams and anxieties of its characters.
90
Martin Scorsese brings honor back to the remake. He shines up this reprise of the original with original brilliance
User score
Generally Favorable
81% Positive
174 Ratings
174 Ratings
17% Mixed
36 Ratings
36 Ratings
3% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
Jun 17, 2024
10
this Movie was not only a masterpiece, but also an amazing remake of the classic 1962 film. Every single one of the actors truly had a great performance. The ending especially was unique and really leaned into the 1962 style. Overall an amazing watch
Jun 23, 2016
10
Cape fear is universal's underrated movie released in 1991, max cady is released to have his own revenge on sam and his family, max cady is a murderous psychopath to bowden family, watch cape fear 1991.
78
If this is Scorsese's bid for the commercial big time, then let the cash registers ring.
75
Impressive moviemaking, showing Scorsese as a master of a traditional Hollywood genre.
70
An exercise in audience manipulation, with every frame designed to stagger the senses.
60
The movie keeps insisting that the gruelling experience it's putting us through is really meant to edify us; it drags us into the mud and then tells us that we haven't got dirty.
60
Even as a simple genre picture it works only in fits and starts.
Jan 23, 2021
9
Great thriller with an interesting character Max Cady: on the one side a victim, on the other side the bad guy in this movie and on a vengeance. The movie is also interesting to show, that a man can terrorise another one legally.
Jan 15, 2021
9
A great suspense/thriller movie and one of 1991's best movies.
De Niro is scary as hell as Cady, and the build up to it's tense ending will keep you on the end of your seat.
Jan 4, 2019
6
To Mourn And To Charge. Cape Fear Scorsese's calculatively planned and emotionally influenced revenge is both cheesy and smart. Enfolding layer after layer, the screenplay just keeps giving you back the thrills that were promised. Armed with such a buoyant script Scorsese is surprisingly chalky on terms of execution. With eerie camera work and ear numbing explosions blazing across the screen, the film makes you uncomfortable not significantly, but in its inadequacy to stay true to its tone. Brimmed with smart tricks to overpower each other on screen, Nolte and De Niro may not get a better role than this to go mano-y-mano on screen. From conversations to physical sequences, this meticulous script may have written people pleasing entertainment all over it, but there also resides a layered illuminating concept that is vivid enough to recite Bible and other mythological ideologies. Mutilating every aspect of Nolte's possession; personal and professional, De Niro is on the podium with a sensational speech on mind and performance on his body language. Among many sharp encounters of his with multiple characters, the most riveting is the one he shares with Lewis. The entire conversation is a build up and the gist of the film itself, his rage that masks the entire screen to honesty is a testament to his majestic performance. Walking parallel-y Nolte is a convincing flawed human whose family is at risk and even though he never gets to score on De Niro's level, his own resistance towards the concept of life and death is intriguing. Lewis and Lange are too impressive on their supporting role, especially the brattiness of Lewis and her gullible nature that denses up the storytelling. Scorsese fails to picturize the explicit writing on screen that every now and then raises questions. Cape Fear is through and through on clearly depicting the concept, the fear is genuinely felt by us.
Aug 24, 2010
6
Martin Scorsese's remake of the 1962 classic.
Man leaves prison after 14 years & comes back to harass the lawyer who put him away & his family.
De Niro plays a sort of camp Harvey Keitel but is still pretty scary. Personally I preferred Robert Mitchum in the original.
The main thing that is better than the original are the women, especially a young Juliette Lewis as Danielle.
Nice to see three of the original cast in there but does get a bit silly towards the end.
Nov 4, 2021
5
Sadly, this Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear is not a good movie as the original one actually was. A pretty ordinary and without particular merits movie that for more than one occasion even turns out to be boring and terribly over acted.
Production Company:
- Amblin Entertainment
- Cappa Films
- Tribeca Productions
Release Date:Nov 13, 1991
Duration:2 h 8 m
Rating:R
Tagline:The Bowden family has moved to New Essex.
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 2 Nominations
Golden Globes, USA
• 2 Nominations
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
• 1 Win & 3 Nominations




























