Dead End
Wow. I never thought that I'd be creeped out by someone singing Jingle Bells. This right here folks is a great, scary, intelligent horror flick. Ray Wise always does a great job, and this time he headed up a whole cast of above-average actors. The characters were pretty good, though I'll admit that Richard AKA "Comic Relief Jackass" got on my nerves pretty quick. The plot was very, very good...borrowed a bit from other movies, but overall it was pretty original. There were some very tense moments, and I will admit to being more than a bit freaked out near the end. The twist at the end wasn't too hard to see coming, but it was still very well done and leaves a lot up to your imagination. There was one thing that bothered me though. Films such as the original Amityville, Blair Witch Project, or even the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre profited from not showing the viewer everything they wanted to see. In those films, it was done very well and created a lot of tension. That doesn't work for this film though...at one point, they're all standing around something commenting on how disgusting it is. The camera is looking up at the family from the "thing"'s point of view while they all stare at it, not done well at all. That wasn't a huge problem though, it didn't happen too often. One thing that didn't bother me, but would bother a lot of people was the pacing. This movie is VERY slow in parts, however it needed to be. If you don't like slow movies, this might not be for you. Overall though, this is a very creepy and atmospheric movie that comes highly recommended by me. Check it out!
9/10