Vicious psychopath Max Cady (Robert De Niro) has returned to exact his revenge. Fourteen years have passed since attorney Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) failed to keep him out of prison. There, his body hardened, and his hate forged into iron resolve. Now, he vows that Bowden will "learn something about loss." And whatever move Bowden makes to save himself and his family only serves to entangle them further in Cady's web of terror.

In Amblin Entertainment and Universal Pictures' Cape Fear, Martin Scorsese brings his cinematic prowess to a genre that he has always loved—suspense. Scorsese's interpretation of the 1962 Gregory Peck-Robert Mitchum classic Cape Fear stars Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Joe Don Baker, and Juliette Lewis. Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, and Martin Balsam, all of whom starred in the 1962 film, appear in cameo roles. Set in a quiet suburb in the Carolinas, this suspense drama is the latest work from one of America's most provocative and original filmmakers.

Cape Fear was written by Wesley Strick, based on the screenplay by James R. Webb, and adapted from the novel, The Executioners, by John D. MacDonald. Strick expanded the original premise, a man protecting his family from a madman, to a more complex story of a self-righteous ex-convict spurring a family unit's dissolve. The film, a departure at the time from Amblin Entertainment's usual fare, was produced by Barbara De Fina and executive produced for Amblin by Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall.