Dead End

This movie was so awesome! I have rented so many B- movies in my life, I can't even count them. I thought this was going to be another lame, stupid movie that looked like it was filmed in my backyard but it wasn't. It was totally scary. This movie kept me thinking and thinking way after the credits were done rolling. I have rented it twice and still love it. The acting is awesome, the plot rocks, the twists are cool, and the filing (thank god!) is good! If you ever have the chance, you have to see this movie! I promise that you will get a scary, suspenseful movie! There is one nasty scene which should have never been put into this movie in the first place because it has nothing to do with the plot, but ignore it and keep on watching!

My Take out of 5 *'s

*****

When this movie started my heart sank a little. It's going to be another of those, "People in car take a wrong turn, encounter one sort of slasher or other." How wrong I was, and what a little gem this film is. True, the occupants of the car do take a wrong turn, Frank Harrington is taking his family and his daughter's boyfriend to spend Christmas with his in-laws, but there this movie parts company with your average gore-fest. This, I believe, is for three reasons. The writers gave the cast great lines to read; the blood content is actually very low for such a film, and finally, it was inspired not to fill the car with swinging teens, but use a mixture of youngsters and, shall we say, more mature citizens. I'll not go into plot lines, but if you're like me, this movie will leave you with a satisfied grin on your face.

Frank Harrington (Ray Wise), wife Laura (Lin Shaye), son Richard (Mick Cain), daughter Marion (Alexandra Holden), and her boyfriend Brad Miller are going to the hated family Christmas hosted by Laura's mother. Frank falls asleep and nearly crashes the car. He had taken a short cut despite 20 years of driving on the same main road. The road is empty and all the clocks stopped at 7:30. They encounter a Lady in White (Amber Smith).

The son is an annoying brat. The father is a control freak. I love Ray Wise and Lin Shaye does a fun crazy. They're not the nicest or quietest family but it's very relatable especially for a Christmas movie. It's a nice Twilight Zone episode. It's obvious what happened after noticing the clocks. I'm willing to let the characters be stupid since no one would actually want to consider the truth of their situation. The father's explanation is both desperate and unrealistic which actually fits him and their situation. This is a very nice ghost story one tells around a campfire.

This movie was a nice surprise.I had never heard of it but it was one of those DVD boxes that catches your eye when you go to rent something.It turned out to be a great little movie.I call it "little" because it doesn't have a cast of thousands or ten bazillion special effects.But the cast is excellent and the effects simple but very effectively done.

This is a road trip from hell movie.5 people set out on Xmas eve for their relatives house and spend the night caught up in a nightmare that wont end.This movie gets right to it,no 20 minutes wasted on the setup.The family is in the car and on the road as the movie begins and it doesn't look back.I can't speak too much of the plot or it will give the whole movie away.Suffice to say the plot is sort of mind bending once it becomes clear to you.

This movie proves you don't need a computer to generate your movie and 100 million dollars to make a good one.See this movie.Its a keeper!

Very hammy characters/performances, lots of laugh-out-loud moments where people say/do things that are utterly ridiculous or over the top.

I wouldn't say it's quite 'so bad it's good', because it's not an incompetently made film, it's just got quite a bit of melodrama and campiness to it. It's unclear to me how much of the comedy is intended but I think it's certainly 'some of it'.

There are a few scenes that are genuinely unsettling and one fairly gnarly bit of gore, but don't go into this expecting to be really frightened.

All in all this was a great surprise - I went in expecting a fairly mediocre horror/thriller but it had just the right level of goofiness to elevate it into something solidly entertaining, without feeling like it was trying too hard. I found it very charming.

I will say, part of my reaction is probably because I watch a lot of horror movies. I'm not sure if people less accustomed to the genre would be as tickled by it as I was. Other reviews suggest a number of people found this movie quite scary, so your mileage may vary.