Dead End (2003)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Robert C

  
  Ray Wise = "I'm in!" This is another one that felt like a made for TV film, some good suspense but could have benefited from more scares and on screen kills. Though as a Lynch fan I couldn't help but chuckle when "Frank's" (Ray Wise) son finds a… More
  Ray Wise = "I'm in!" This is another one that felt like a made for TV film, some good suspense but could have benefited from more scares and on screen kills. Though as a Lynch fan I couldn't help but chuckle when "Frank's" (Ray Wise) son finds a cellphone with an ear attached and hearing "Frank" calling into the night for "Laura!!!" (his wife this time around) brought back some great memories as well. Not horrible...a little campy a few scares a teeny bit of blood, but nothing real schocking.

• Eric S

  
  Feels like I've been here before, or sometimes maybe never was.... Well, this little film drags you in different directions other than a depicted family's that seem to drive in the same direction over and over for reasons unknown yet all so clear to a certain fate. No one is… More
  Feels like I've been here before, or sometimes maybe never was.... Well, this little film drags you in different directions other than a depicted family's that seem to drive in the same direction over and over for reasons unknown yet all so clear to a certain fate. No one is devoid of this, but when it's laid out in a fashion of what could've been or what may be, all bets are off. In this one, a family is on their way to a Christmastime celebration with more family on a route that begs to differ with a sense of reason or clarity. The pent-up feeling of frustration and fear of being lost combines with other horrific events making this truly a holiday season this family will never forget; or never remember for that matter.

• Aditya G

  
  In a genre gone stale, with repetitive plot elements, cheap thrills, gimmicks and make-up effects and in most cases the entire meaning of the word "horror" changed with the emergence of countless, boring slasher-horror flicks and torture-porn horror, once in a while we come… More
  In a genre gone stale, with repetitive plot elements, cheap thrills, gimmicks and make-up effects and in most cases the entire meaning of the word "horror" changed with the emergence of countless, boring slasher-horror flicks and torture-porn horror, once in a while we come across noteworthy gems like "Dead End", that give us some welcome relief from the sameness! This film is a little hidden indie gem that resurrects good old fashioned 'atmospheric' horror. So what we have is a premise that is a blend of some classic ghost stories (the kind your grandma may have narrated to you in your childhood and passed it off as a "true story" to scare the living daylights out of you), with a little garnishing of modern horror, but one that relies on atmosphere and the gravity of the predicament that the lead characters are in rather than resorting to excessive gore that only invokes a feeling of disgust or guilty pleasure rather than true horror. "Dead End" tells the nightmarish story of the Harrington family (Mr and Mrs Harrington along with their son, daughter and would-be-son-in-law) who are on their way to Mrs Harrington's mother's place to celebrate Christmas. Their journey is a long one, a road trip and for some reason they prefer to keep traveling by night (probably for the sake of the story). The road is dreadfully lonely but it is seemingly normal, 'cause it's Christmas and everyone is spending time with their families at home. Very soon the Harringtons start encountering strange happenings which seem to have neither any explanation nor any end.... In "Dead End", directors and screenwriters Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Fabrice Canepa try to keep the jump-scare and gore quotient to the minimum and rely on the tense situation of a family trapped in an unfortunate series of events in a lonesome car journey on a frighteningly empty road. "Dead End" is not entirely devoid of the jack-in-the-box scares and the bloodshed, but they are restrained and very few and far between which makes this film more watchable than other newfangled horror flicks. The directors duo also keep the length of the film considerably short, at about 80 minutes. They also throw in some subtle twists in the narrative to prevent it from slipping into monotony. These twists are in no way forced or exaggerated and are smoothly interspersed in the story right up to its unforgettable ending. Moreover, the characters they have created are very real and someone you can relate to; so you really feel for them and their harrowing experience during that fateful night. This could very well be a typical family living right next door to you. The acting from all of the cast is amazing and they do a very convincing job. Mick Cain plays the bratty teenage boy with ease. Alexandra Holden is excellent as Marion, his sister who also happens to be a student psychiatrist. Lin Shaye delivers a superb performance as the mother of the kids. Steve Valentine, Amber Smith and Billy Asher appear briefly and don't have much to do. The acting department is ruled by Ray Wise though. Anyone familiar with David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" would know what a fine performer he is. In this film he is no less in terms of sheer quality of acting and outshines them all. Alexander Buono's cinematography is excellent. Some of the scenes are breathtakingly shot, particularly the aerial view of the car traveling on a road flanked entirely by deep, dark woods. The moving car in the center is visible only because of the long range of its headlights. The original music by Greg De Belles invokes that unnerving feeling of doom and fits beautifully as it switches between 'ghostly' and melancholic! The sound effects design is done extremely well and complements the chilling feel of the silent, deadly night. But Jean-Baptiste's film isn't entirely perfect. On a couple of occasions, he manages to ruin some of the more tense scenes by including some stupid dialog! This considerably mars the intended effect and these moments come off as unintentionally funny. Then there is some unnecessary and lame humour sprinkled about, probably for comic relief but it doesn't really help and just wasn't required. Then there is that other signature con of any horror film where the characters have to take the stupidest decisions ever in moments of crisis instead of choosing the more practical one. Minor hiccups apart, as far as recent horror films are concerned, "Dead End" is certainly a good watch and definitely a cut above what has now become "conventional" horror. For best effect, watch it alone, at night, in the dark...

• familiar s

  
  Except for its ambiguous ending, the whole movie was a typical horror story that has been done so many times. A man, along with his family, is going to his mother-in-law for celebrating Christmas, gives lift to a lady dressed in white. And after that the nightmare follows for the… More
  Except for its ambiguous ending, the whole movie was a typical horror story that has been done so many times. A man, along with his family, is going to his mother-in-law for celebrating Christmas, gives lift to a lady dressed in white. And after that the nightmare follows for the family. It was kinda 'being there, seen it all' type except for it's ending. Having said that, I gotta confess that I wasn't bored by it. It was relatively watchable. Check it out if you get a chance.

• _kelly .

  
  Nobody yells, "Laura!" like Ray Wise, but unfortunately that's the most powerful thing in this movie. It's also cool to watch a character play with their own exposed brain, and I want whatever kind of weed that makes you so high you don't notice when a ghost… More
  Nobody yells, "Laura!" like Ray Wise, but unfortunately that's the most powerful thing in this movie. It's also cool to watch a character play with their own exposed brain, and I want whatever kind of weed that makes you so high you don't notice when a ghost bites your lower lip off. The actors give their best, but this is just a mostly crap script with no special effects to make it tolerable. A very mild horror, suitable for family viewing during the holidays, but genuine horror fans should avoid unless you're looking for crappy horror to share with loved ones instead of reruns of "It's a Wonderful Life". Very predictable ending. One other positive point: the credits include a thank-you at the ending for sticking through the credits (more films should do this). Moral of the story: don't take shortcuts on road trips because whichever family members don't die will start confessing things better left as secrets.

• Creep F

  
  Excellent Christmas horror movie. The atmosphere here is what really steals the show. But this movie is still eerie with the story alone as well(and that damn lady in the white dress...what a creepy bitch!) lol...and sexy too :) Dead End is chillingly saturated in dark spooky… More
  Excellent Christmas horror movie. The atmosphere here is what really steals the show. But this movie is still eerie with the story alone as well(and that damn lady in the white dress...what a creepy bitch!) lol...and sexy too :) Dead End is chillingly saturated in dark spooky atmosphere. The long stretched road of death, in which the supernatural await in every corner of the shadowy, cold, and dreary woods that surround around it. As the Harrington family drive to Frank's in-laws house for the Christmas season, Frank takes a shortcut that will lead the family on a detour to hell! Suddenly, the road never ends. They always end up back where they started. And to top it all off, they're being harassed by seemingly evil entities, and a mysterious black Cadillac hearse. Can the Harrington family bind together, keep their sanity, and be able to survive the horrors in the town of Marcott?? Dead End is creepy, funny, and one hell of a little thrill ride! Ghoulishly, and mystifying, dark cinematography. Good enough acting for what it is(better than most DVD premieres of it's kind), and never becomes distracting from telling it's own story(an amazing story by the way). The twists that come at the end totally blow the top off of it's roof. It's well executed and thoroughly thought out and planned(kudos to the great screenwriters!) Watch Dead End and see if you can guess what's coming next!? lol Good stuff! Dead End plays off like a made for TV horror movie, but a better one than that. It plays off like a TV horror movie on a spin off of some kind of creepy Twilight Zone episode. That's what Dead End is exactly like! It's like one long Twilight Zone episode...but one that's in color...oh, and one that's rated R! Just in time for Christmas! AND Dead End is a perfect little Christmas horror movie. A great ghost story to watch on a cold and snowy night, snuggled under the blankets. And although it has it's flaws, Dead End still is a unique little horror film, and never becomes anything less than just simple, spooky, fun entertainment. It's a precious little gem and I highly recommend this movie! <img src="http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm89/JDHallowEEn/DeadEnd.jpg"> "Dead End wound up being a quality filled, cleverly humorous, classy and spine-tingling road trip to hell that should be seen by all." - Arrow in the Head "Here's a movie that deserves Black Christmas tagline; If this doesn't make your skin crawl...it's on too tight. Dead End is simply a masterpiece of horror, don't listen to the bad reviews, I have no idea how true horror fans can hate this." - Slasherpool "Dead End is a refreshing horror film." - Popcorn Picture Reviews "Dead End takes a turn off the page of classic horror cinema by mixing a bizarre sequence of events with terrifying imagery and a simple story, while maintaining it's integrity throughout the entire film." - Bloody-Disgusting "Dead End is one of my favorite films of any genre of the last 5 years. I knew I wanted to write a review of something good for this site, for a change, so I knew Dead End had to be it." - Horror's Not Dead "Will hopefully remind you what it's like to be scared by a good story, excellent characters, and a very simple premise." - Dread Central "Well Dead End is a crazy tale, kind of similar to the Blair Witch Project story wise, not production wise mind you. With a great cast and an odd tale Dead End holds up it's own, it's creepy and the believable acting are what make this film." - The Horror Review "Dead End was one heck of a freakishly strange and wild ride. At times throughout the movie I thought I had it all figured out - and I did, to a point." - FearScene "Dead End is a very unique, interesting, character driven film that puts the viewer on this back road in the middle of no where, stranded in the dark on Christmas Eve night right there along with the Harrington Family." - Killer Reviews

• Dr Blood  

  
  A very predictable and cop-out ending spoils an otherwise intriguing film with lots of gory shocks along the way.

• Dean !

  
  This is a strange film, very creepy and has a twist that you either saw coming or will hit you for six!

• Luke B

  
  A creepy horror with a brilliant sense of dark humour. A nice cast and solid script keep the film from failing like so many other horror films. That is until the end carries on and explains too many things for us.

• Jacob P

  
  Not that great of a movie, actually. I thought the acting was stiff and that they could've done a better job.

• Daniel P

  
  A weirdly funny horror rather than a scary or particularly interesting one, <i>Dead End</i> has ambitions above the ability of its cast (who, bar Lin Shaye, are mediocre at best) and its production values. <p>There's a good deal of atmosphere building at the… More
  A weirdly funny horror rather than a scary or particularly interesting one, <i>Dead End</i> has ambitions above the ability of its cast (who, bar Lin Shaye, are mediocre at best) and its production values. <p>There's a good deal of atmosphere building at the beginning which unfortunately isn't paid off properly, whilst some of the most blackly funny scenes aren't followed through convincingly enough to make this a cult flick. <p>The twist is genuinely clever - it both avoids cheating and gives you an "oh, of course!" moment, but makes a lot of what has come before seem irrelevant and padded out. There is real talent behind the camera here and hopefully subsequent features from the writer/director duo will be more focused and better cast. As for <i>Dead End</i>, it would really have worked far better as a 45 minute made for TV episode in an anthology show.

• John M

  
  Good horror/suspense flick that combines comedy with creepiness made it thoroughly enjoyable. The cast and the dark atmosphere add another plus.

• Lauren D

  
  Ok, it actually has a rating above .5 for two reasons: 1) there were a couple of almost creepy parts and 2) Ray Wise every time he said "LAURA!". The acting was horrible. It was so so bad, I can't even describe. Especially the son. The dialogue and characters were… More
  Ok, it actually has a rating above .5 for two reasons: 1) there were a couple of almost creepy parts and 2) Ray Wise every time he said "LAURA!". The acting was horrible. It was so so bad, I can't even describe. Especially the son. The dialogue and characters were horrible too. The plot was interesting enough, but I guessed the ending within the first 5 minutes. The music was also extremely annoying, except for the little bit of Pet Sematary music about 20 minutes in (well, it sounded like it anyway). For some reason this has a 7/10 rating on IMDb and a 3/5 rating on here. I can't believe that anybody actually likes this. There is nothing good about it. It's predictable, poorly written, poorly acted, yet there are so many people who praise this film. All I can say is, they obviously haven't seen many movies. Sometimes I do like bad movies, such as Basket Case and the like, but this one was so bad that it's impossible to like. The part where the mother is 'touching' her brain was the only part I liked, purely because it was totally random and odd. There are three things to look for in a horror movie: 1) Gore, 2) atmosphere and 3) ZOMBIES. This had none. I happen to like zombies a whole lot, but this isn't a zombie movie so no-one cares. You get a quick view of a brain and that's about it. There is no atmosphere, just horrible acting and dialogue and if you can honestly say you watched this, enjoyed it and didn't want to turn it off at all, WATCH MORE MOVIES or just kill yourself, seriously.

• alan j

  
  Simple, low budget movie done well..veteran Ray Wise is terrific, and as the strangeness of their circumstance intensifies, so does the viewer's interest. A nice twist at the end; if you did not see it coming, it will hit you like a ton of bricks...nonetheless, enjoyable for… More
  Simple, low budget movie done well..veteran Ray Wise is terrific, and as the strangeness of their circumstance intensifies, so does the viewer's interest. A nice twist at the end; if you did not see it coming, it will hit you like a ton of bricks...nonetheless, enjoyable for horror fans who enjoy some plot with their gore...recommended!

• Matthew A

  
  This film was very interesting to watch. It kept me interested since the very beginning and until very end and twist at the end was amazing. If you like horror films set in dark woods then this one is definitely for you.

Read all 15 featured audience ratings