Review of Dread (2009) by Newt C — 02 Apr 2010

First of all, Flixter has that date totally wrong. It should be 2009, not 1999. And the director is Anthony Diblasi. Anyway... REALLY solid adaptation of the Clive Barker short story. In fact, I'd say this is about equal to Candyman as far as quality of material adapted FROM and added TO the original story.

A little slow, but there's enough interesting character interaction to prevent boredom. In fact, I'd say one of the reasons this (and Candyman) succeeds is because the writer/director focused on character over gore.

The result feels far less exploitative than Book of Blood or Midnight Meat Train, two other recent Barker adaptations that left me awfully disappointed. The performances are all solid with particular credit going to Shaun Evans as the relatable but twisted Quaid.

He packs in the charm and the creep necessary to keep that character both a protagonist and an antagonist throughout the movie. Jackson Rathbone proves he can move past the Twilight stigmata if given a chance.

Laura Donnelly breaks the heart in a supporting role that could have been easily mishandled. A warning, though: this is not a shockfest nor a jump-scare movie. These are more philosophical waters and even the gore and the gross-out elements are used as points of conversation.

In the end, that may be what impressed me most about this: it's a thoughtful movie that eschews the cheap theatrics of torture porn or a slasher flick yet remains firmly entrenched in reality. Word is that Diblasi is in line to adapt Pig Blood Blues and as of this film I'm 100% behind giving the reins of future Barker adaptations to the man.