Dead End

This movie was a nice surprise.I had never heard of it but it was one of those DVD boxes that catches your eye when you go to rent something.It turned out to be a great little movie.I call it "little" because it doesn't have a cast of thousands or ten bazillion special effects.But the cast is excellent and the effects simple but very effectively done.

This is a road trip from hell movie.5 people set out on Xmas eve for their relatives house and spend the night caught up in a nightmare that wont end.This movie gets right to it,no 20 minutes wasted on the setup.The family is in the car and on the road as the movie begins and it doesn't look back.I can't speak too much of the plot or it will give the whole movie away.Suffice to say the plot is sort of mind bending once it becomes clear to you.

This movie proves you don't need a computer to generate your movie and 100 million dollars to make a good one.See this movie.Its a keeper!

On the Christmas Eve, Frank (Ray Wise) is driving with his family, composed by his wife Laura (Lin Shaye), his son Richard (Mick Cain) and his daughter Marion (Alexandra Holden) and her boyfriend Brad (Billy Asher), to have the Christmas dinner at the home of Frank's mother-in-law. Frank, asleep, decides to drive through an unknown shortcut using a secondary road, where the weirdest things happen with his family and him. This low budget movie is terrific: although the story passes basically in a car and on an empty road, it is tense, scary, having a dreadful atmosphere, being certainly on of the best in the genre. The screenplay is excellent, having many ironic lines, the direction is tight and the cast is very sharp, alternating funny and frightening situations. This film is highly indicated for fans of `The Twilight Zone', `The Others', `Abra los Ojos', `El Espinazo del Diablo' and `X-Files'. The situation of Frank's family on the road without finding their destination or even an exit recalls Paul Hackett unsuccessfully trying to get home in `After Hours'. I saw on the cover of the DVD that this movie was awarded with many prizes in minor Festivals. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): `Rota da Morte' (`Route of the Death')

This movie was so awesome! I have rented so many B- movies in my life, I can't even count them. I thought this was going to be another lame, stupid movie that looked like it was filmed in my backyard but it wasn't. It was totally scary. This movie kept me thinking and thinking way after the credits were done rolling. I have rented it twice and still love it. The acting is awesome, the plot rocks, the twists are cool, and the filing (thank god!) is good! If you ever have the chance, you have to see this movie! I promise that you will get a scary, suspenseful movie! There is one nasty scene which should have never been put into this movie in the first place because it has nothing to do with the plot, but ignore it and keep on watching!

My Take out of 5 *'s

*****

I liked a lot of things in this, the acting was quite good, there were some really decent moments, the story keeps you engaged.

The biggest problem thought was the ending, the first reveal was what i think 95% of people watching would have expected from the first 15 minutes of the movie, the last 'reveal' was just a bit odd.. I like the idea of it, but practically couldn't have happened, it's impossible. so seems like it was just thrown in at the last minute to keep people guessing.

I was after a christmas horror movie with a bit of cheese, and this ticked the boxes, if your after the same worth a watch

i don't know what it was about this movie but it scared the living crap out of me. i was thinking about it for weeks. it's weird because this movie has NO GORE and it NEVER SHOWS you anything really abnormal. just small stuff like abandoned baby carriages in the middle of the road. you don't even get to see any dead bodies. but you do see the expression of the people that find the bodies. so if you have a kick ass imagination, watch this movie. i think it's your own imagination and not anything from the movie that will really scare you. but if you'd rather turn your brain off and let the movie do the work for you, don't bother with this one.