Dead End

[XvoorheesX]

Did anybody see this?

I barely know anything about this movie, except that it's supposed to be "David Lynch does all out horror" in style, it's about a family driving to a realtive's house on Christmas Eve, and it's supposed to be amazing. There's not much on the imdb page, and the only thing I got out of googling it is that the dvd was released last month or so.

Sorry if there are any other threads on this, searching didn't bring anything up.

[Skysaber]

It's alright. Basically a family is driving to Grandma's for Christmas and the father (driver) decides to take a short-cut (we all know this is never good in a horror-type movie) and they end of going along this straight, lonely road to nowhere as they get haunted by a ghostly woman, too. One by one the family members go nuts. They can't stop the car either because every time the car stops, one of them dies.

It was more gruesome than scary, I thought.


**EDIT**

Everyone who likes extremely cheesy dialog should thoroughly enjoy this movie :)

[Pestilence]

David Lynch had something to do with with Dead End???

Not since I last checked....:D

[XvoorheesX]

David Lynch had nothing to do with it, it was directed by Jean- Baptiste Andrea. It's just "Lynchian" in genre.

[Skysaber]

Originally posted by Pestilence
David Lynch had something to do with with Dead End???

Not since I last checked....:D

Yeah you're right, I had to go pop the movie back in again, for some reason I thought he had some part in the directing, but the real director of it just took some of Lynch's idea's from Lost Highway and incorporated it into this movie.

[XpatrickX]

It's not quite up there on the Lynch scale, but it's worth a watch. It's entertaining for what it is.


Dead End

Plot 7/10:For the past 20 years, Frank Harrington has grudgingly driven his family to celebrate Christmas with his mother-in-law. This year, he takes a shortcut. It's the biggest mistake of his life: The nightmare begins. A mysterious woman in white wanders through the forest, leaving death in her wake. A terrifying black car - its driver invisible - carries the victims into the heart of the night. Every road sign points to a destination they never reach. The survivors succumb to panic, to madness; deeply buried secrets burst to the surface, and Christmas turns into a living hell.

Gore 3/10: The gore wasn't the focal point in this, but there was a baby corpse, a lip bitten off, a painful leg shooting wound, and a head busted open. I possibly watched a version with some gore cut out, but either way it didn't really need much.

Nudity 1/10: I saw boobs in the magazine clipping!! Any nudity would have been totally pointless.

Teachnical 6/10: The sound FX were the most impressive technical feature used in Dead End. Distant screams and ghost-like noises gave it some pretty good atmosphere and a somewhat creepy feel. They managed to make me jump a couple times even though the movie isn't scary at all, good job with the jump noises. The entire movie was really dark and that also created a pretty eerie feel. The music used was awful though. It was really distracting and pointless. I was hoping they only used it once, but they used it at least 3-4 times throughout. The editing and shots were average. I would have loved to see a lot more creativity here..

Acting 7/10: Overall the group was pretty solid and consistent.

Ray Wise: Played the father Frank. He did a pretty good job as usual. He was probably the strongest of the group and had the most in-depth part.

Alexandra Holden: Played the daughter, Marion. She didn't really have a tough role to play. Basically just act freaked out and be the most normal out of the bunch. She did it perfectly! She has been extremely busy in 02-03. I hope she gets more jobs because I sure like her a lot. Really cute too.

Lin Shaye: Played the wacked out mother Laura. Until the end I thought she was doing a really good job. Her character changed a lot and I don't quite think she made the best transition. Not too bad though. Look out for her in 2001 maniacs and the Hillside Strangler.

Mick Cain: Played the annoying little brother Richard. He actually made me laugh a lot at the beginning. He is definately the comic relief, and does a pretty good job at it. I could definately see a lot of people hating him as well though.

Final Thoughts: I'm sure most of you have seen the Twilight Zone before. If you dig those types of movies, then I think you should watch this. I've seen TONS of mixed reviews for this, but I assure you it's worth a viewing. It's not exactly horror, though, think of it more as a thriller/mystery with dark comedy combined throughout. It came to my attention that a lot of the people who reviewed this didn't quite get it AT ALL. This does not turn out to be just a dream. The biggest problem was the lack of creativity technically, and the story could have used a little more variety. Anyways, the movie is a little above average and though the pace is a little slow...I think it's worth a couple viewings.

NOTE: This is an admirable directing debut from Jean-Baptiste Andrea and
Fabrice Canepa. I'd love to see some more in the future.

Final Score 6.5/10

[Romero&Juliet]

edit: i'm a meathead!

[dellamorte dellamore]

This guy is going to be doing the rmake of Hilla Have Eyes , love to see what he will do with that , because Dead End is great .

[saintofscars]

I really enjoyed Dead End. The performances were great and the setting was awesome! The thought of driving along an endless, dark road is quite eerie. Anyone who wanted to see more Ray Wise after Jeepers Creepers 2 should definately get this, the guy kicks ass!:cool:

[the dead one]

Havent seen it yet DAMNIT!!! I am dying to get a copy of this!

[GoldenGhost]

It was nothing special. I think I gave it a 5/10. The films main problem was that it couldn't decide what it wanted to be, when it could have been something if the material was handled properly. Some unnecessary stuff in there too i.e. the wanking scene.

[the dead one]

Yeah...But I have to see my boy Ray Wise!
If there is a film that features him as the main character, than it's an absolute must with me!

I feel that Ray is one of the more overlooked talents in the biz...IMHO~

[Horror]

Actually Alexandre Aja is doing the remake of The Hill Have Eyes. Aja is the French director behind Haute Tension.

[dellamorte dellamore]

Yeah , i pointed that out in my previous post , but spelled it wrong :) .

[Skysaber]

Haute Tension...now THAT is a horror movie.