Dir.
Jean-Baptiste Andrea & Fabrice Canepa
Cast:
Ray Wise, Alexandra Holden, Lin Shaye, Mick Cain, Billy Asher, Amber Smith
It's Christmas Eve and the Harrington family are embarking on their usual journey to the in-laws in time for Christmas Day. Only this year Dad (Wise) has decided to take a short cut - through the woods - much to the annoyance of his wife, (Shaye). It doesn't help that siblings Richard (Cain) and Marion (Holden) are squabbling in the back while Marion's boyfriend Brad (Asher) comforts his girlfriend's travel sickness and endures Richard's constant childish jibes.
But everything changes when a woman in white (Smith) appears on the roadside cradling a baby. You know that trouble is imminent when the family offer her a lift - would you? And when the family leave her alone in the car with Brad, all hell breaks loose as he discovers a little more than he bargained for. And so the nightmare begins. A mysterious hearse appears each time something awful happens, the driver faceless, destination and motives unknown. Chilling stuff, you would think.
But Dead End is black comedy at its blackest. The Harringtons break every rule in the common sense book - taking short cuts in the middle of the night without a map, giving lifts to strangers, getting out of the car when murder is in the air, people going off on their own despite the gruesome goings-ons.
As the family drive on through the night, it seems they are on the road to nowhere, as opposed to a dead end. The same town is continually signposted and each time, the father reassures himself that they are getting nearer - when you know they are going round in circles. What makes the humour so black, is that there is no explanation for the murders or the murderer - no psycho element, no behavioural problems, no revenge theory.
Instead, the film focuses on the family relationships and their breakdown under strained circumstances. In times of tensions, words are spoken in haste and secrets are spilled - the Harringtons certainly learn a thing or two about each other and themselves. The characters are stereotypes and are played to effect by the talented actors - the annoying adolescent, the high school jock, fussy mother - they're all here in their element. And when the mother goes loony midway through, it's up to father and daughter to work out a solution. But will the White Lady beat them to it? Or will you have already guessed the ending?
Dead End entertainingly combines black comedy with grisly murders to create a very watchable, albeit not too challenging, horror flick. Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Fabrice Canepa do a decent job with the script, albeit with some very corny lines and some rather inexplicable moments, but the directing is solid and maximises the actors and the surrounding. What lets the film down is the rather predictable ending with its insatiable need to spell out the film's intention - especially as it's done in a rather unsophisticated manner.
Dead End is certainly jumpy enough although it seems to steer clear of showing gore, sex and violence - except for the odd mangled body part. Whether this is good or bad depends on your point of view. More of a cinema filler than a true cinema chiller, Dead End still plays out the family dynamics in an interesting way, it's full of tension and its black comedy element provides enough entertainment for 85 minutes.
Meera Dattani
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