Dread (2009) Review

I was able to see Dread last fall, but for some reason, it just slipped my mind. Thankfully, After Dark Films picked it up for their fourth annual Horrorfest. Say what you want about the "8 Films To Die For" series, but each year the lineup has gotten significantly better, and this year was the best so far.

Dread follows a group of college students as they do a study of fear for their thesis. The idea, at least as it was begun, is to learn the cause of fear for most people. As it spirals out of control, it becomes a quest to confront the beast that is "Dread" and hopefully come out on top.

Dread is a Clive Barker adaptations, and honestly one of the best. I was a huge fan of "The Midnight Meat Train" when it was finally released, but not so much a fan of "Book Of Blood". "Dread" kind of redeemed Barker adaptations for me. I wasn't expecting much, and I was given a hell of a surprise.

First of all, the overwhelming sense of.... well... dread in the film is outstanding. The atmosphere created is tense right from the start. You don't know exactly what is going to happen, but you know it's not going to be good. I think that's one of the things that makes this such a good film, it's unique.  It's not a remake, or a retelling, or a reboot, or whatever you want to call cashing in on name recognition. It's not your standard run of the mill slasher. "Dread" is a thinking man's horror flick, which is an endangered species these days.





The cinematography is beautiful. The opening scene of the movie features some of the best POV shots I've seen since Scotty Spiegel's "Intruder". The camera, focuses on an axe as it enters a person's head, and then once again as it's dragged up the stairs, bouncing on each step. As soon as I saw that, I let out a sigh of relief, as I knew I was going to be in good hands for the next 90 minutes or so.

This isn't an overly gory flick, though there are several scenes of highly visceral violence that are handled with some beautiful practical FX. The opening scene kind of reminded me of High Tension for some reason, but it can be a bit misleading. When you start the film, you may think you're in for a slasher film, and then what follows is a dark and gritty psychological thriller that happens to be oozing with beautiful looking blood. Some of the topics touched on are really morbid and disturbing.





I'm kind of surprised that nobody picked "Dread" up before After Dark Films did. This could have gone with a wider theatrical release than it got. I wish more studios were willing to do what After Dark is doing for independent horror.

The acting is superb across the board. Jackson Rathborne, who is unfortunately part of the brain dead "Twilight" series actually does a good job. Amazing how well an actor can do when there's an actual script involved. The real star of the show though is Shaun Evans as Quaid. He's a disturbed guy, and takes a lot of medication to get through the day. There's a scene where he dumps all of his meds, and from that point on, you can visually see his descent into madness.





If you're like me, and you're always on the lookout for something different, "Dread" really hits the spot. It's been out on DVD for a little while now thanks to After Dark, and it's well worth the purchase price. If you've had bad experiences with the ADHF in the past, give it a go, I promise you that have gotten better each year, and this is one of the best in the entire series.

8/10