There are surprisingly few horror films that actually manage to instil fear in the viewer. The ones that do are rightly credited as classics of the genre. Films like The Shining, Don’t Look Now or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre all use a minimal amount of gore and shock effects in conjunction with a well written script and effective direction to create truly unsettling films which resonate in the mind long after the end credits have rolled (especially on sleepless nights when you’re alone in the house). While not quite achieving the queasy heights of these films, Dead End is a wonderfully creepy little movie which achieves that rare task of arousing a genuine sense of dread in the viewer.

Where most low budget directors fight against their lack of funds to bring the script to the screen Andrea and Canepa (the film’s writers and directors) have rolled with the punches and used the problem to their own advantage. The script is perfect for low budget film making and makes what is basically one location seem like many different points along the vast and endless road the protagonists find themselves on. There are a few well placed visual effects scattered strategically throughout which work very well, even if the creepy face at the car window is a straight lift from Jacob’s Ladder. What works better however are the places where the viewer is not shown the carnage that the characters can see. This is particularly effective in the scene where one of the characters draws a stick figure picture of the fate of one of her more unfortunate relatives. The simple line drawing of a dismembered cartoon man is more horrific than any amount of blood and fake severed limbs could ever be. Much is also made of simple props – it is amazing just how disconcerting an antique baby carriage in the middle of the road can be.

An uneasy atmosphere is established from the very beginning of the film and kudos must go to the directors for their ability to not only maintain it but to steadily crank it up. By the second act, any time the characters leave the dubious safety of their car you will be tearing holes in the arm of your sofa (or partner!) and urging them to get back in the goddam car! Tribute should also be paid to the cast in this aspect all of whom give solid and credible performances, perhaps with the exception of Mick Cain who though pretty funny at times is just a little too old to convince as a teenage high-schooler. Ray Wise of course gives a great performance as the steadily unravelling patriarch of the family while Lin Shaye is perhaps even better as his completely unravelled wife.

Dead End does have its flaws and most of them are fairly easy to forgive script contrivances like the kid going for a quick woodland whack-off while members of his family are dying and going crazy all around him. The most damaging of these flaws however is the actual crux of the story itself, it is just too obviously telegraphed and as such, the ending loses much of its impact. This is not to say that it is ruined, it just means that the journey is more important than the destination – a fitting enough analogy for a film set almost entirely on an endless road.

It is testament to Dead End’s overall quality that its flaws are so easily ignored. It is an unusual film which treads perilously close to genre clichés but ultimately earns its place amongst that elite group of horror films that can actually scare.

Rating 8/10

Review By Matt Compton