Review of Dread (2009) by James C — 27 Jan 2013

When three friends undertake a school video project exploring how dread manifests itself in other people, things are taken to a level that is far beyond what was intended.

Here we have a indie horror movie based on a short story by Clive Barker dealing with his trademark vision of the darker side of human psyche. The storyline starts off very strongly as it investigates the three main characters and the people they come in contact with, but as the movie comes to it's finale it begins to become quite 'in your face' and reminded this viewer of the short lived torture porn genre of a few years back, which is a shame as a lot of the unsettling atmosphere was lost. The young actors all play their roles well, but it is all the other people being interviewed that end up being the most interesting characters. The production values are high, and small main cast and limited use of sets work well together. The gore is saved until the last part of the movie, and as I mentioned above, even though it is well produced (and quite nasty in some places), it does detract a little from the more psychological feel of the the first part of the movie. All in all this is quite an enjoyable film, but one feels that it could have had a little more substance.