Tim Brett (David Hennings) is a Recovered Addict who has published a successful memoir about his addiction and is now visiting his wealthy aunt Lucy Dawson (Flora Robson) in Italy. When Lucy is mysteriously murdered, Tim investigates. He finds a card left by an organization called the Stepping Stones that he believes had something to do with her murder. However, as he investigates, he starts getting threatening messages from people telling him to back off.
Fragment of Fear contains examples of:
- Addled Addict: Tim occasionally sees some of his old friends, including a miserable-looking junkie shooting up in an alley while curious teenagers watch from the street.
- Blackmail: Aunt Lucy would take bright, promising juvenile delinquents under her wing, train and nurture them for years, financially support their endeavours, and then as soon as any of them became politically successful, she'd threaten to expose their criminal past so they'd pay her. Eventually a spy agency got wind of what she was doing and demanded to see the list of public figures and their crimes. She said they'd get the list over her dead body, and they did.
- Bringing Running Shoes to a Car Chase: While Tim is on the way to his wedding to Juliet (Gayle Hunnicutt), one of the members of the conspiracy taunts him from a car. Tim runs after the car and even briefly touches it, but it quickly gets away from him.
- Evil Laugh: One of Tim's stalkers adds an evil cackle to a recording Tim made. He later calls Tim to make the same laugh.
- Fish-Eye Lens: Used for Tim's P.O.V. shots at the wedding.
- I Can See You: During Tim's first phone call with his stalker, he reaches over to close the window. The stalker remarks, "You closed the window."
- Impersonating an Officer: After Tim first realizes he's being stalked, an officer named Sergeant Matthews arrives at his apartment to tell him about a false sexual harassment accusation against him. He listens to Tim talk about what happened and takes the evidence with him. Tim later learns that there is no Sergeant Matthews working at the local police station.
- Police Are Useless: The police barely investigate Aunt Lucy's murder at all, and assume Tim has started taking hallucinogenic drugs again when he tells them he's being stalked.
- Sanity Slippage: Tim starts to lose his mind from stress and paranoia. By the end of the movie, he's hallucinating stalkers in seats that are actually empty.
- Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Tim has been warned that his stalkers will hurt Juliet if he doesn't back off. At the wedding, he keeps thinking different guests are going to attack her. When the priest says, "Speak now or forever hold your peace," Tim says, "I think I'm going mad," and drags Juliet out of the church.
- Stress Vomit: When Tim realizes his apartment has been broken into, he vomits out of fear. The vomit lands on a cigarette butt left by the stalker, which he flushes down the toilet, realizing only later that this means less evidence to show to the police.
