DEAD END
US, 2004, 85 minutes, Colour.
Ray Wise, Lin Shaye, Alexandra Holden.
Directed by Jean- Baptiste Andrea, Fabrice Canepa.
What would two young Frenchman who had made short films in France do when offered their first feature film? One would guess, stay at home and mark their mark. However, like the Australian makers of the terror-drama, Saw, they went to Hollywood. And they made another horror road movie, the kind that is full of shouting, some crass sexual touches, some gore and is destined for the video/DVD market.
There is a twist at the end that the knowledgible in these matters might pick up. It makes a bit of a difference to interpreting what has gone on in the preceding hour and a quarter but does not quite make up for it. It is a generally ugly film with definitely ugly characters.
Press comments by the makers suggest that they are presenting an ideal American family. God help us - and them. They bicker and bitch from the first moment. Dad is a control freak (and is played by Ray Wise who, after Twin Peaks and other like dramas, is used to this kind of thing and perpetually complaining (while giving ample cause for everyone else to complain after he has taken a Christmas Eve shortcut that gets them lost in more ways than one). Lin Shaye (best known for some grossout comic roles like that in There's Something about Mary) seems normal till she starts revealing her secrets. The son is sex-obsessed, with a nasty sense of humour and does not get killed off early enough! The daughter is the nicest of them all, though she reveals she is pregnant - her boyfriend is the first to go.
So, now you know.
1. The background of the film, French filmmakers, in the US? Making an American horror film? The talent, use of conventions?
2. The American setting, winter, the drive, the night, the dark, the forest? The scenes in the interior of the car? Outside? The lady, the driverless car…? The musical score?
3. The title, a road movie, the family travelling for the Christmas reunion? The shortcut, the road signs, not leading to destinations, the family lost?
4. Frank Harrington, the presence of Ray Wise, going to see his mother-in-law, his wife, children, the son-in-law? The seeming American family? His decision to take the shortcut?
5. The characters of the family, each irritating the other, the wife and her manner, the son and his sex preoccupation, the daughter, quiet, the revelation that she was pregnant, the son-in-law bickering with the son?
6. The beginning of the mysterious factors, the lady, in white, the influence, the deaths?
7. The black car, the driver, not visible, carrying the passengers, survivors?
8. The growing panic? The wife, the family secrets, the revelations and their effect?
9. A final twist, dreams and nightmares, reality and imagination?
