Psychological horror based on a Clive Barker short story. Two college students – outcast Steve (Jackson Rathbone) and charming, mysterious Quaid (Shaun Evans) – embark on a college project to record and study people’s innermost fears. Enlisting the help of fellow student Abby (Hanne Steen), they advertise for interviewees and set the camera rolling as their subjects begin to reveal the demons that haunt them. As the project gains momentum, however, it becomes apparent that the three must now face up to the traumatic events of their own pasts and finally confront their darkest fears.
Starring: Jackson Rathbone, Hanne Steen, Laura Donnelly, Jonathan Readwin, Shaun Evans
Directed by: Anthony DiBlasi
Runtime: 108 minutes
Studio: Lions Gate
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I sincerely doubt there has ever been anyone in history that hasn’t been afraid of something. Anthony DiBlasi’s Dread, based on a story by horror master, Clive Barker, is a gritty exploration of fear, getting to the heart of what a group of people are truly afraid of and seeing if they can face up to their worst fears.
The film focuses on a film student Stephen (Jackson Rathbone) and his friend Quaid (Shaun Evans). Both have fears from their pasts. Quaid saw his parents murdered when he was just a boy while Stephen was in a car crash that killed his brother who was behind the wheel and drunk. The two friends begin a study of fear as part of a school project, inviting fellow students to share their fears but Quaid is more interested in taking the project to an extreme level, one that unleashes violence and suffering on participants in the project.
We are given a small group of characters who share their fears and are made to suffer because of them. As well as Quaid and Stephen, the other characters involved are Cheryl (Hanne Steen), Abby (Laura Donnelly) and Joshua (Jonathan Readwin). Cheryl has a fear instigated by the smell of meat which takes her back to an awful childhood where she was molested by her father who worked at a slaughterhouse. Abby, a friend of Stephen’s, has a birth mark that covers half of her face and her body, leading to a lifetime of cruel ridicule and her appearance makes her afraid every day of being judged by others. Finally, there is Joshua who is afraid of being deaf having lost his hearing for a time in his childhood after an accident.
Dread has an interesting storyline and the ending hits very hard. You’ll struggle to predict who comes through their fears by the final credits. This does get very unpleasant as it goes on and that may prove too much for some people but if you made it through films like Saw and Hostel then this one should be no problem.
Dread is a good, dark and twisted exploration of fear, almost like an extension of Room 101 from Orwell’s 1984. It raises the questions about how hard we can be pushed with our fears and whether we can overcome them. Some of the characters do get stronger in the film for their experience but for others the journey is worse than they ever could have imagined.
Verdict: 4/5
(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)
Film Review: Dread | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
