Dread (2009) Online

A chance meeting between smart, sensitive Stephen Grace (Jackson Rathbone) and charming, mysterious Quaid (Shaun Evans) results in a college project to study the intimate fears which people have. With the help of fellow student Abby (Hanne Steen), the advert is placed and the camera begins to roll on a series of interviews as the trio start to document their findings. However, each of the three has their own fears to deal with, not least of all Quaid whose childhood is stained by a terrible trauma...

Having never read the original short story by Clive Barker ("Hellraiser", "Lord Of Illusions") that "Dread" is based upon, i wasn't certain what to expect from this movie. Last year we were given the impressive (and criminally overlooked) "Midnight Meat Train" also based upon a Clive Barker story, and "Dread" continues the trend of incredible horror movies adapted from his work.

"Dread" takes its time setting up its premise but i hesitate to call it slow-moving. Every scene is important to the story, and the chemistry between the three leads ensures that you keep watching. There is a real tension in "Dread" as Quaid's behaviour becomes more erratic whilst his obsession with the project starts to grow to dangerous levels. By the point at which the taped confessions are no longer enough for him, the audience has spent enough time with the characters to feel uncomfortable at what might occur next. It's rare to find a horror movie where you feel genuinely sorry for the victims.

It's also good to see a movie about students which appears to be set in the real world rather than a stylised Hollywood version of it; these are multi-dimensional young adults rather than catalogue models reciting hip dialogue to one another. The cast is excellent without a bad performance to be found. Evans impresses as a character who is capable of moving from charming to dangerous without blinking, but the stand-out would have to be Laura Donelly who plays a girl with a gigantic birthmark covering one side of her body. Although initially brimming with confidence, her heartbreaking vulnerability gradually rises to the surface and you can't help but emphasise with her. Jonathon Readwin is also fantastic in a smaller role as one of the trio's interviewees.

Don't be fooled into thinking that "Dread" will be your average teen-stalker horror movie. Sure, there is blood and death but this a more cerebral effort than usual; a bone-chilling descent into madness and obsession with a careful and deliberate pace. There are no sudden scares to be found here; only a creeping sense of foreboding and a third act that will stay with you long after the credits have finished rolling. Make no mistake; the final scenes in this movie are ruthless and nasty, but they are also very well-written.

"Dread" is a solid effort. If you are a serious horror fan, this is certainly worth your time.

"Dread" is a work that will remain in your mind for some time after watching the movie. The movie will make you feel sick in your stomach, just like "Saw" and "Hostel", but what separates "Dread" from other movies in the same genre is the level of intellectual incorporated into this movie. Yes, I am talking about intellectual that is very sick, but again, there is no limit to humans intellectual.

Cast wise, I don't know anyone. I have no idea whether they are small timers or novice at all, but all of them did a very good job. I have seen low budget independent movies starring actors who don't even know the basics of acting, just pretty faces. But "Dread" steers itself clear by its cast, which does a very good job.

The best thing(or rather, sick thing) about this movie is that even though it lacks the blood, gore and violence of "Saw" or "Hostel" or "Texas Chainsaw", you still feel sick by the events in the movie. Cause, "Dread" showcase human's limit, when faced with the thing they most fear, in a very naturalistic way. The dark setting throughout the movie greatly adds to the overall sordid atmosphere.

Overall, watch this movie. But one thing, it's not for faint hearted. Even though it's not a horror movie with creepy creatures and gore, it will disgust you for sure.

My Verdict: 7/10

Having watched around 600 horror and thriller movies over the course of the last 20 years. I have rarely come across a horror flick that has the intellectual prowess of "Dread". This is a very well done adaptation of Barkers short story, and has kept the dark and ominous feel of the original.

The cinematography is masterfully done while keeping an almost home movie feel. The flickering lights and dark sets lend an eerily dreamlike feel to the bulk of the movie so that when the brighter scenes appear the contrast is quite stark.To say this movie is disturbing would be an understatement. The decent into madness depicted here is powerfully dramatic and quite intense. Not only is there violence, gore, and blood, but a realistic view of trauma inflicted psychosis becoming complete madness.

The bottom line is this. The ability to suspend disbelief is the cornerstone of any good story and this one delivers in buckets.

The outcast cinema student Stephen Grace (Jackson Rathbone) does not drive cars due to the trauma of losing his brother in a car accident. When he meets the lonely Quaid (Shaun Evans), who has dreadful nightmares and daydreams with the death of his parents that were slaughtered by a unknown man with his father's ax when he was a six year-old boy, they befriend each other and Quaid proposes a research about the innermost fear that each individual has. Stephen sees the chance of developing an original thesis for the college and invites his friend Cheryl Fromm (Hanne Steen) to work with them in the interview and in the edition. Among the interviewees, Stephen talks to his colleague Abby (Laura Donnelly) that works with him in the library and has a great complex due to the large mole she has in her face and body. When the work is almost ready, Quaid has an outburst against one interviewee that is providing fake information and destroys the camera and edition equipment; however, he sends one copy to the college and Stephen succeeds in his project. Then the disturbed Quaid meets Stephen again and the student sees that his friend is actually beginning his personal fear research driving people to the edge.

"Dread" is a gruesome horror movie surprisingly great, with an excellent development of the four lead characters – Stephen, Quaid, Cheryl and Abby. The beginning is disclosed in slow pace and the last part is horrific; I almost vomited with the scene of Cherryl and the rotten steak. My only remark in this story is the complete absence of police after the disappearance of people and discovery of the harmed teenagers. The unexpected gloomy conclusion is one of the best I have recently seen in a horror movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Lentes do Mal" ("Lens of the Evil")

Based on the Clive Barker short story, Dread, which made its world premiere at the 2009 edition of Montreal's Fantasia film festival, is remarkable on two fronts: Barker's striking departure from his traditional macabre story lines, and Anthony DiBlasi's impressive directorial debut.

The story unfolds with two college students, Steve (Twilight's Jackson Rathbone) and Quaid (Shaun Evans), agreeing to work together to create a documentary of people's innermost fears. The two put out a call for candidates and document their interviews on video.

An expert manipulator, Quaid is able to coax these troubled souls into revealing their innermost demons; deeply personal revelations they would otherwise never dream of discussing in public, much less on camera. Meanwhile Quaid harbors deep seated psychological scars of his own, having been a childhood survivor of the brutal home invasion axe slaying of his parents at the hands of a mysterious psycho.

Espousing the belief that by confronting one's ultimate fear an individual will either overcome their phobia or be consumed by it, Quaid convinces the more demure Steve, and friends Cheryl and Abby to participate in the study. Unknown to everyone involved, however, is Quaid's desire to take things to the next level, progressing beyond mere interviews to the actual physical and psychological nightmare of tackling their fears head on.

DiBlasi displays a remarkably talented hand at spinning a yarn that incorporates introspective, character-driven drama and some spectacularly jolting and emotionally moving sequences. While deviating out of necessity from the plot structure of Barker's original story, which didn't provide much "meat" for a feature length film, Barker equally deserves kudos for providing DiBlasi with a twisted tale that is firmly rooted in the real world, where human cruelty is infinitely more tangible and terrifying than anything the supernatural can invoke.

Led by Rathbone and Evans, the young cast turns in uniformly strong, nuanced and intensely emotional performances not typically found in this genre. Among the standouts is Hanne Steen, who plays Cheryl, a friend infatuated with Steve who bears the curse of a disfiguring skin pigmentation that covers a third of her face and body. Steen deftly manages to convey her character's sensitivity and long held pain in a manner that the viewer can readily attune to, earmarking her as a future talent to watch.

As debuts go DiBlasi's Dread is as solid, slick, engaging and thought provoking as it is terrifying, making this a must see, not merely for fans of the genre, but anyone with untold skeletons in their closet.

While I disagree with your review, I respect your opinion. However, the last line you wrote makes no sense.

You wrote, "We all know already what humans can do to fellow human beings. We don't need to watch it over and over again." Why watch anything then? We all know humans fall in love, so why watch Romantic Comedies? We all know cops bust criminals, so why watch Action films? And Dramas are full of the things we all do as humans, so why watch those?

This film is a solid effort and one of the better Barker adaptations to date. It contains all of the elements of classic Clive; sex, revenge, desire and, of course, blood and bodily harm.

Keep those Books of Blood coming!

I'm going to start off this review by saying that you should see this movie right away because it will not disappoint you and that this movie is just not given a lot of credit. Really people? A 5.6? This movie deserves at least a 7 hands down and I will tell you why.

First of the acting was surprising good and since I've only ever watched Jackson Rathbone in the two Twilight, where he doesn't talk barely at all, I was really excited to see this guy as a man actor in a movie with more than 2 lines of dialogue. Let me tell you folks he did not fail to amaze me with his acting ability. I thought at the beginning I would only be seeing an alone, depressing/laughable, personality, but throughout the movie he grew into a serious role that helped carry the movie further.

I do not think there is a point of summarizing this movie because that's what the internet, and of the back of the movie case, is for but basically it's a school project based on people's worst fears and the **** hits the fan in the middle of the film, which is good. It's quite original and the cinematography and editing is definitely something I admire, especially since I go to school for this stuff.

All I can say is that you should see this film once you get the chance and you most will definitely appreciate it because it is most likely one of the best horror movies I have ever watched.

A loser film student, Grace, is befriended by some aggressive, arrogant, and annoying guy named Quaid. He convinces the loser to write his thesis about dread. For the thesis they, with the help of an editor friend of Grace's, interview students about fear, nightmares and so on. Nothing impresses Quaid, except some kid who lost his hearing for a while. Grace has some mild fear of cars because his brother died in a car crash. The editor girl is a vegetarian because her dad used to work at a slaughterhouse and used to molest her after coming home from work. A girl Grace works with has a giant birthmark that covers half of her body. But it's Quiad's fear and panic that has the greater impact. He witnessed his parents being butchered by some maniac who was never found. He has nightmares and visions about it.

As time goes by Quaid's behavior gets more aggressive, manipulative, bizarre and even violent. He attacks an interview who was just acting. He aims to confront his new friends with their fears in most brutal ways, hoping they will meet the monster.

While one expects his story to take a turn, and there is a confrontation, it turns out it's the vegetarian girl whose story is the most surprising and twisted. This being a Clive Barker story the turn the story will take is just brilliant. The problem however is with the movie. There is no doubt it's quite effective. You end up despising the villain more than any other villain in recent movies. Perhaps even the movie will sicken you. But this is achieved by sheer ugliness and by wearing you down. And this movie is ugly. The actors are unattractive and once you are caught up in Quaid's obsession, there is nothing nice anywhere in the movie, except for a few minutes of romance between Grace and the editor girl. The movie also looks ugly, everything is a tone of brown. The pace is awfully slow even though it's not particularly long and that's what gets you. You're slowly dragged into a world of ugliness with no respite. All that nastiness almost detracts from the great story. I wouldn't mind seeing this story filmed by a different crew and a different cast. There is potential here. On the positive note, the violence and gore are terrific. The gore is surprising and well made. The special features include an interesting conversation between the man himself, Clive Barker, and the director.

This movie was a real positive surprise. It felt both original and well done. Simply a real good movie to watch.

It's perhaps hard to place this movie in any particular genre. Psychological-horror would be the best way to describe this movie. It plays on the deep rooted fears of people but please don't expect from this movie to give you plenty of scare moments, or anything of that sort. It's not really an horror in the classic most common sense of the word. The drama plays an important part as well, which only strengthens the movie its psychological-horror aspects. In that regard alone this movie already works out as an original and interesting one.

But above all things, it's also a really well done film. It has a good build up and narrative, some fine actors and the movie has a good look over it as well. It's not a big budget movie that had a big cinematic release anywhere but you can't really tell that, judging by the movie its looks or just overall greatness. Actually hard to believe that this was the first ever movie for director Anthony DiBlasi, who was also rumored to direct the new Hellraiser movie for a while. He would had certainly been capable of it and he had worked with Clive Barker, the creator of the Hellraiser franchise, before, which was on this movie actually, that got based on a short story by Clive Barker. His approach of the horror and more serious story aspects, which he shows that he is capable off with this movie, would had been great for a new Hellraiser movie.

The movie has a story that steadily but slowly progresses. Yet the movie becomes never a boring or dragging one because it is capable of getting you involved with the characters and their stories. It's a real intriguing movie to watch and because it's being so original, you also can't really predict all the time what is going to happen next in it. No, not everything works convincing or works out as strong and effective as it could had but still this movie feels like a breath a fresh air and is perfectly watchable.

A nice, original, well done little film.

7/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Slow-moving, genuinely unsettling film, based on a Clive Barker story, written by the director, about an obsessive sadist, Quaid(Shaun Evans, whose character is truly a creepy, demented soul)who starts up a friendship with a wannabe filmmaker/student, Stephen(Jackson Rathbone)talking him into basing his thesis on fear, interviewing a plethora of subjects, observing their moments of dread. Stephen partners with Cheryl(Hanne Steen), an editor, and the trio compile the thesis, but Quaid wants more truth and trauma..it's all part of Quaid's ultimate goal to understand fear through others' dread so he can be freed from the monster that lurks in his nightmares, a hooded killer who used an ax to butcher his parents right before his eyes. Such a devastating experience is certain to warp a young child's mind and so he seeks total gratification by inducing trauma through any means necessary by pitting the worst fears against his chosen victims. This movie is a dark, dark tale, with quite a disturbing conclusion. The heralded "meat" sequence, regarding Cheryl's torment at the hands of Quaid who uses her worst fear against her, a past of molestation by her father who worked at a slaughterhouse brought back to the surface in a most unfortunate way, packs a wallop. The entire cast is excellent, every important role, especially Evans and Laura Donnelly(as Abby, whose face and body is inflicted with discolored skin pigmentation which is the source of her misery, despite the fact that she is a sweetheart, taken advantage of by Quaid who preys on her vulnerability)is handled effectively. Quaid is quite a memorable character, he's such a cold-hearted sociopath willing to go to any lengths to not only "face the beast", but "touch the beast". In regards to the violence, it's stylishly presented, in particular the way director Anthony DiBlasi uses camera angles with the ax as the killer moves up the stairs(and how it buries into the face of Quaid's mother, and into another victim's torso). But, the starvation of a victim, who eventually eats rotted meat in the hopes of getting out of her temporary prison, is just as potent and shocking as any amount of grue. The most amusing scene, while quite eye-popping, is when Quaid sees a stripper opened up with various imaginary slices of the skin, not long after flushing all his meds, a hallucination that expresses just how far gone he is. How Abby responds to a cruel act from Quaid, embarrassed because she was baring her heart and soul to Stephen, is really blood-curdling in how it pertains to her attempt to "clean herself" of her current affliction. I imagine this kind of movie leaves one with a bad taste in their mouth due to it's unnerving close. What Quaid does to a kid, who suffered a period of deafness after being hit by a car, will be certain to appall. This film has some graphic scenes involving Quaid's love making to Abby and his oral pleasure to a girl he picks up at a club..just a word of warning if such things repulse you(as if the subject matter itself isn't enough).

I'm a horror movie fan, and lately I've been very sick of the dredge coming out of Hollywood with very a loosely interpreted genre of "horror".

I initially only watched this because Jackson Rathbone stars in it and I love him as an actor and have enjoyed many of his films. In this movie as well as others he brings a special depth and quirky charm to his characters.

This movie starts rather slow - however the build up is definitely worth the wait in the end. The plot is entirely believable and the acting genuine. Not to mention that there were some moments in this film that I personally thought topped even the most squeamish moments in the "Saw" franchise. This is NOT a movie to watch if you are faint of heart or get grossed out easily.

However this is a completely unique story and I've never seen anything like it before. I love Clive Barker yet I've not read the story on which this movie is based (am definitely putting it on my "to read" list!). As a horror movie it stands out above the crowd as one of the best in years if you've got the stomach for it!

I actually have to get some Clive Barker books and read some of his stories. This is again one of the adaptations of one his stories and it's a pretty decent effort. The idea behind the story/movie is pretty great and has to do with human behavior/fear. While other movies might have exploited the "torture" part of that more, this movie is more subtle.

Of course you could see this as a bad thing, but I quite liked the movie. Even/despite characters, that are all more or less not likable. You are not really rooting for one of the characters that much, they are all human, with flaws (some psychological, some physiological). The good thing is, that the movie does stir away from the books ending. Some saw it as something bad, but I like when the movie takes a chance (and succeeds in my opinion)!

This little film is meant to be done well, I think, with the small budget it had - I suppose. If it was stand alone movie, not based on a popular work of fiction of a popular writer/director, it would be OK, maybe. Yet considering all this and comparing it to original story it fails terribly. OK, I agree, that a motion picture should not necessarily follow to what is written in the story, and sometimes it makes it even better if movie differs from the original story or has a unexpected twist at the ending, yet this is not the case, in my opinion, this time I must disagree, because this movie, in my humble opinion, messed up the story, the idea and the most important - the build up of the story.

Yes it is watchable at the start, but close to the half of the film, at least the fans of the original story, like me, will slowly start to get pi**ed off, and in the end, at least for me, it becomes just another teenage slasher movie.

I am a very big fan of Clive Barker, and I think that "Dread" is one of his best works. And in my eyes this movie does not do justice to his original story.

Maybe it's because I had such a high hopes for it because at least from the first two volumes of "Books Of Blood" this was the only psychological thriller/horror, not just slasher.

Yet it is only my opinion (and yes I like C.B., I like low budget films, and I like horror films (especially early Italian classics)), but this movie disappointed me greatly (even more than "Hellraiser: Hellworld") and made even "Midnight Meat Train" look like some Oscar contender.

A couple of stars for young actors and to the filmmakers that tried. But Failed (in my eyes).

Still I am eagerly awaiting for the next adaption from the "Books Of Blood" and hope it will do better

Jackson Rathbone may be in the starring role and does it fairly well, but I actually watched this because of the actor Shaun Evans who was brilliant in Martina Cole's "The Take".

Anyway, good news first, there are some very good camera shots/angles used like the following the axe upstairs, I thought really gave these scenes an edge and for maybe the first half hour I was a bit tense expecting a slow build up and raucous end.

But no.

Nothing really happened in the film at all, the best parts are the ones with either flashbacks of Quaid's horror filled night or the present views into his madness, with the strip club being a good point!

For a film centered around fear, where was it? Stephens brother died in a car crash while drunk...so Quaid buys the same type car, drives Stephen and then takes a sip of whatever to scare him? Makes no sense...

Cheryl's Dad stank of meat but would she really be scared of meat? And Abbeys video wasn't about fear, more humiliation for her birthmark.

I could go on but I'll finish by saying save yourself 1.5 hours and watch something with substance.

Three students decide to study people's fears for a video documentary college class as sort of a "fear study". Initially they simply interview their subjects but then one of the students progresses to setting up situations where the subjects are forced to confront their fears.

Pretty much universally positive reviews from horror magazines and websites were given to this film, and I feel bad that I cannot be as supportive. While I think this film has a lot of strengths, and may be better than the average film, it also has some weak points, too.

I have to say the film is very admirable with regards to the gore on the topless dancer, and the dismembered girl in the bed. Other gore scenes were also decent, and there is no short supply of blood, and a special effects that shines beyond the budget. I also enjoyed the gritty sex scene, reminiscent of the style of "Derailed" (though the sex scenes are quite different).

The film as a whole has a lot of sexuality to it, which I find to be a flaw. I liked the painting of nude woman, with the addition of her blue hair, but soon realized it was just he first step towards more and more nudity. Usually, I am the last one to frown on nudity, gratuitous or otherwise. But I felt this film was using it as a crutch, that despite having a strong story, they felt they could not get by on merit alone. And that is a shame.

As far as being compared to recent Clive Barker films, this one is clearly better than "Book of Blood" (which was just boring), and on par with "Midnight Meat Train". I may like "Train" slightly better, but both have their strong and weak points. Barker's original story is roughly 40 pages, including some casual references to Kant and Bentham (and unfortunately Dickens). The film tends to ignore these intellectual touchstones and veers off into more pornographic territory. They do, however, take the "fear of meat" to a new height.

"Dread" was chosen as the 2010 horror film of the year by HorrorHound contributor Dave Kosanke (with Jon Kitley agreeing). Kosanke thinks the film is "primordial and raw" and "even manages to one-up the story". Another HorrorHound contributor, Aaron Christensen, disagreed and felt the film was too long and would work best as an anthology coupled with one or two other Barker stories. Incidentally, he chose "Black Swan" as the year's best.

Thankfully, none of them picked "Harpoon" like Aaron Crowell did (that film had few things right going for it). And I have to agree with Christensen that "Black Swan" easily trumps "Dread" (though I think Adam Green's "Frozen" was also a worthy contender). I would not put "Dread" in my top three for 2010.

I would, though, not necessarily endorse Christensen's idea that this be squeezed into an anthology. While "Book of Blood" clearly ran over its needed time, this film seemed to go over by mere minutes for me. The writer added enough to the original story to really have it stand on its own two legs. I would say that it could be trimmed five or ten minutes, as some scenes just went on too long for me. But it has enough story and depth to really be its own film.

Ultimately I do not see this being one of the strongest films of recent years. The gore effects are amazing, and I hope the crew behind that goes on to bigger things. The cinematography is also stellar. But beyond that, I do not know. I feel it went on a tad too long, and what should have been a story about "dread" became too exaggerated for me. It pushes the level of realism too hard and enters a surreal stage. And that is not dreadful. Psychologically unstable, maybe, but not scary.

This movie contains an incredible set of performances from a young cast, who create an eerie atmosphere throughout. Clever ideas behind the movie originating from its adaption from a CB short story. Not gory throughout but makes up for it towards end, shocking scenes that show up modern Hollywood slashers as childish. Lingers with the viewer for days afterwards. - Don't watch if very affected by ideas of horror and organ mutilation. Slow build up to climax, but not slow movie with every scene having importance to overall feel of movie and chemistry between characters.

Highly recommend to horror lovers- watch out for these natural horror actors in the future, except possibly Jackson Rathbone who put in a good performance but seems more mainstream than rest of actors.

Great movie

It's hard to rate a movie that makes you want to throw-up, but this is a very well made film. The acting is spot on and the story is quite original. And as for the gore...it gets messy here. The final scene with meat nearly sent me running to the toilet and do not expect any happy endings here. I would have a hard time recommending this to my friends because they would think I was a psychopath if I claimed I liked it. But horror films are made to cause a reaction...sometimes an unpleasant one, and this one delivers dread, horror, and a palpable sense of evil that I have not experienced in quite awhile. So, be warned. This is not kids stuff nor is it teen slasher nonsense. For me this was a truly horrifying experience, and although I would never want to watch it again, I feel it only fair to commend the makers of this film. They did a great job. Oh but that meat!!! Yuck!

The general description(s) of this movie sounded interesting, so I decided to give it a try, especially since the theme of the movie - fear, anxiety, dread - is something that concerns everybody. But I was extremely disappointed and had the feeling afterwards that I wasted two hours of my life on this bad thing. What especially annoyed me about this movie were three things: a) The verbal contents: what first seemed to having a good start – some smart phrases about fear and our human relation to it – did not go much further and remained, all in all, at the surface of this theme. Shallow, I would say. b) The gore stuff: there is some needless display of extreme violence, which could have been easily avoided, contributing by avoidance to the atmosphere of this movie. But by displaying senseless moments of blood-happy gore-feast the movie lost much if not all. c) The overall meaningfulness as dimension of a movie in this one is quite low. It appears to be just another splatter-ridden trash movie, "enriched" with some common phrases about fear, anxiety or dread. In my mind this movie is almost totally meaningless. So what is the point of this movie, if there is one at all, and what was the point of making it? My impression was, that someone turned-on by pointless violence has lived-out once again his own lecherousness about human suffering. I presume that already the producers must be persons who love to see other human beings tortured, which speaks for the sado-masochistic basic trend or underlying core-current of this movie. If someone never thought deeper than the common surface of fear, anxiety or dread he might find the shallow words put into this film maybe interesting, which rather serve as disguise for the real motives or justification for making the movie. And if someone also loves bloody gore, senseless violence and humans being tormented and tortured by other human beings, then he might actually like this movie. Since I am though neither sadistic nor masochistic, I truly disliked and despise this movie. We all know already what humans can do to fellow human beings. We don't need to watch it over and over again.

As a child Quaid (Shaun Evans) witnessed his parents murdered with an ax as a child. He has nightmares and hallucinations about it. In college he gets together with two other students, Steven (Jackson Rathbone) and Cheryl (Hanne Steen) to do a study about fear and dread. Once the interview stage is complete, Quaid wants to take his study to the next level by making people face their fears.

The film has all the elements of a good horror slasher: decent build-up, characters, nudity, cute ending, and some originality. For some reason it didn't grab me like it should have. Perhaps it was the non-likeability of Quaid, or the softness of Steven's character.

F-bomb, sex, nudity (Erin Gavin, Laura Donnelly + others)

Taking a glance at the cover in the video store, I almost arrogantly assumed it would be a terrible slasher flick, due to it's title and the lack of pictures, and also due to the fact that it went out of it's way to mention that Jackson Rathbone, "Star of the Twilight Saga", was in this film. I felt a little uncomfortable until I glanced a bit longer and noticed that it was "From the mind of Clive Barker". But alas, this is a review of it's content and not it's cover.

I'm glad I did pick it up however because it turned out to be a decent psychological thriller, more so than it was a horror film. The characters are convincing, in particular Quaid, the protagonist bad guy, who we feel isn't all right from the very beginning of the film. I feel as if I was led to question whether the motives of Quaid were inherently bad or environmental, due to a childhood of significant psychological torment. When an audience is opened up to the possibility of these influences, immediately it changes from a horror film to an intellectual psychological thriller, that borders existential exploration of the human psyche. I couldn't help but feel as if some scenes of the film kind of reminded me of Fight Club, as Quaid attempted to groom Stephen in to his mode of thinking, but unlike Fight Club, this was unsuccessful and we saw the further polarisation of the characters involved in the college project from Quaid.

All in all, Dread is a film which won't cater to your grisly, sleazy gore driven desires, mostly due to the fact that a lot of the gore is paced out through the film and used tactically in order to keep it relative to the conceptual element of the film, and also to keep the suspense. For those who enjoy psychological thrillers, college sociopathic sadists and existentially driven plots, will enjoy Dread. Fans of Clive Barker can rest assured that Anthony DiBlasi has effectively captured Clive Barker's depiction of the story and doesn't buck to the sleazy needs of Hollywood gore and torture-without-reason films (Saw) and manages to effectively convey the terror, torment and disorientation of Dread.

Dread is taken from a story that was originally published in the mid- 80's from volume 2 of Clive Barker's Book of Blood. The story concerns a group of college students who decide to embark on a psychological study of an individual's fear and how certain defense mechanisms develop. Jackson Rathbone plays the lead character in this twisted affair - he is most recognizable as Jasper in the Twilight series. Although associated with that GQ image of sparkling vampires, Rathbone dives into the role of a student who's placed in a difficult situation that helps shape Barker's usual sinister outcome.

This film does not execute much in the way of gore...it taps more into the human psyche. The tension is built upon slowly, maybe even too slowly, but eventually gains enough momentum to exist as a tangible force - it is through this process that one realizes Barker's genius. The film's director, Anthony DiBlasi, made his debut with this film...he has prior experience as an executive producer for another Clive Barker inspired film, The Midnight Meat Train which was released in 2008. Clive Barker did produce Dread but when is he going to return to the director's chair? He hasn't directed a film since 1995's Lord of Illusions! We want Clive back!

Clive Barker is a master at writing clever, gore filled horror movies.The screenplay & direction for DREAD is by Anthony DiBlasi,

The small cast by newcomers to film is headed by Jackson Rathbone, & Shaun Evans; Both are very capable &make you pay attention. The are very ably assisted by Hanne Steen & Laura Donnelly. Jonathan Reardon rounds out this cast. Each one has a dread of his own.

It is bloody & at times typically supposedly scary. The cinematography is properly dark & moody,but at all times viewable.

I did not expect a great film BUT wound up quite pleased at what I saw. This had no theatrical release, It did play at various horror film festivals.

I rarely give a no-name cast horror films a much higher rating.

Ratings: **1/2 (out of 4) 66 points (out of 100) IMDb 6 (out of 10)

This movie somehow failed to live up to my expectations, maybe because I heard something about Clive Barker being involved in the project? Anyway, the story has an adequate build up of suspense, but doesn't really deliver. There were some few scenes that were very nice, but something was missing from the entire feel of the movie.

The characters in the movie have good background stories, especially the parts of Abby and Cheryl. The most impressive part about the movie, in my opinion, was Abby's character and her story.

I think the part of Quaid was maybe miscast. I didn't really buy into his acting.

Without giving anything away, there was some nice story twist towards the end of the movie, especially with the main character Stephen.

The good part of the movie is the take on motives and what drives people to do thing. I was expecting it to be horror, but it is more of a psychological thriller.

If this is any indication of the way the fourth After Dark Horrorfest is going to go, then it would be a good job to skip the whole thing. I am not particularly positive but this may be the absolute first time I have ever given a film the lowest grade possible on IMDb. Avoid paying for this film. If you feel you have to see it, find some way to do it for free.

There is really no saving grace for this movie. It starts off very slow. It comes up with an interesting concept. It executes that concept extremely poorly. It ends stupidly.

The idea of doing a study about fear in the way Kinsey studied sex is actually an interesting concept. However, it isn't interesting the way this movie decides to go about it. The interviews the characters do for the movie are boring and give nothing more to the movie.

The relationships seem forced between the characters, as well. There is no reason to think Stephen and Quaid would be friends and there is less reason to think they would remain friends with the awkward way their friendship progresses. Stephen and Cheryl (I hope I am spelling her name right but I don't care enough to check) have a romance which actually surprises me when it comes to light because there was no indication that it was going to develop.

Quaid falling off the deep end is not a shock. In fact, when it happens, the viewer will welcome it because the movie is so abysmally boring up until it happens. However, after it happens, it doesn't get better.

"Dread" ends up being yet another film where nothing good comes out of it. The ending is pretty sick (including Cheryl in both rooms she gets trapped in) and depressing. Not to mention, it's not particularly realistic either. If Cheryl had been gone for so long, their would be people looking for her and they would definitely have gone to the house of someone she recently was making a film with.

It's sad when you hope a movie that takes itself seriously ends with the original ax murderer coming back and taking everyone out. But, the people in this movie are just confused or stupid. "Dread" was a total waste of time and money and so far the worst of the After Dark Horror Fest movies I have seen from all four years.

You know those movies that start with some seemingly innocent and carefree character meeting some shady looking guy who's smoking a cigarette in an alley? Yeah...you know that eventually this will not end well. Fortunately for the viewer the same is true of Dread. While I didn't really grow up watching Clive Barker's movies (still can't stand Hellraiser), I've grown an appreciation for him over the years. Even though he didn't have much to do with the making of the actual movie, I'd like to think it's very much what it would look like if he had.

This film is kind of hard to define. It's not really what you'd call a horror movie in the traditional sense, although it definitely has horror elements. I guess it kind of walks a fine line between a psychological thriller and paranoia horror. Sure, there's a bit of gore here and there, but the film isn't relying on it. There's also some scenes of what some would call torture, but there's more of a point to it than films like Saw or Hostel. So in a way you'll feel like you've seen it before, but you really haven't. I suppose a quick and dirty summary of the plot would be "seemingly normal but slightly eccentric guy slowly becomes crazier than a craphouse rat...hijinks ensue".

All said and done I quite enjoyed it. Not the best thing I've seen from Clive Barker, but far from the worst. I guess in a strange way you could compare Barker to Lovecraft. People will always be trying to turn his stories into movies and they'll probably succeed admirably or fail horribly. Here's to hoping for the best.