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Dead End Counterpoint...

post #1 of 14
6/8/04 at 6:15pm
Thread Starter 
I don't know why everyone is raving about Dead End.

I read the reviews, dug the raves on the corner, and was all hopped up to get my fingers on a copy, and I did this week-end. Saturday night, I plunked my ass down couchside eager for some thrills after lo-tech telesyning some footage all day.

I shoulda just popped in Jacob's Ladder. Dead End is the perfect title for this movie 'cuz that's where it stays. This movie sucked balls. The acting was shit. Almost the entire movie takes place in a car. You know, one of those boring trips to your grandparents place for a thankless holiday, on an endless road. All the characters are idiots. They all do the total horror cliche of wandering off into seperate directions at the worst movie moments, one even wanders off into the woods to wax his pole. Fucking stupid. I understand they're having fun with this, and the teenage son has the best dialogue, but this movie goes nowhere real slow. Anyone can spot the ending coming a mile away. The gore, well, this is one of those "less is more" kind of movies, or they didn't have the money for good gore, which would have helped this dog run.

This movie rips off Jacobs Ladder endlessly, from it's premise right down to the shot of a guy screaming against a window as a mysterious vehicle pulls away. The only thing redeemable about this movie is how mean spirited the characters are to each other. There is some crackling dialogue skewering the usual nice nice of families in the movies, moments when the people really dig into the gutter like in a good Neil LaBute movie, but it's not enough to carry the film.

I was left really, really, really fucking dissappointed. Me and the wife couldn't believe this movie was any kind of a sensation to anyone but people who haven't seen the movies being ripped off. I'm not slamming the corner, I just don't know why you guys liked it so much. I feel like we didn't watch the same movie.

But, if it's yer chuckle, you go laugh away and enjoy yourself, just don't say I didn't warn ya. I highly urge folks to rent and watch this, not blind buy it.
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post #2 of 14
6/8/04 at 8:15pm
Let me be Johnny Butane for a minute (an old dream ) and remind you that there's another thread...

Now to reply in a few words, it always comes down to the same old dilemma: if you don't talk enough about an independent movie no one will see it; and if you do, expectations will be very high and you're bound to leave some people disappointed however brilliant the movie is, because you just can't please everyone. HDF's post illustrates it perfectly.
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post #3 of 14
6/8/04 at 8:43pm
Thread Starter 
I did come in with high hopes, but not crazy high hopes. I just thought, "oh cool, another indie pic I gotta go check out", I didn't think it was the second comming of Carpenter.

And I love Ray Wise, he is awesome, and I thought the wife was good also, but the daughter, she was horrible, the boyfriend was adequate, and the teen age son had flashes, but no way did I buy him as a teen.

And no matter which way you look at it, this movie swipes from Jacob's ladder big time. Dead End is an okay cable movie. Nothing I'd go to the theater to see, but if I was flipping channels I'd watch it. But I do understand in the world of film, some folks like air popped, some like lots of butter and some folks want their popcorn screaming for mercy.
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post #4 of 14
6/8/04 at 8:51pm
Quote:
Originally posted by alice's girl (chucky's ex)
Let me be Johnny Butane for a minute (an old dream )
I imagine you're nicer to look at... No offense, Johnny!
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post #5 of 14
6/12/04 at 2:56pm
I finally saw it last weekend. Very enjoyable, but the ending ruined it for me.
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post #6 of 14
6/14/04 at 1:35pm
I gotta say guys, I've been reading about Dead End on this board for a while now. For every negative review, there seems to be ten positives. And with all the clamoring for a theatrical run, it seemed like a can't miss.

What movie did you guys see???

Watched it last night and...seriously...that's it??? The dialogue... Oh my God...atrocious. Seriously, we're talking high school level dialogue. And then the twist. If you've ever seen a Twilight Zone episode, you know the twist within the first 5 minutes. And ANYONE knows the twist by the midway point.

Yeah, Wise was pretty good and some of it was humorous and campy and goofy, but a good film does not one or two good jokes make.

Seriously, guys...THIS is the great movie I've been hearing about the last few months??? C'mon...
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post #7 of 14
6/14/04 at 3:52pm

MightyBikkit

Funny, your post is the exact replica of the first one posted here...
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post #8 of 14
6/14/04 at 3:57pm
No offense to all y'all who liked the film but didn't you think the ending was like the twist of a thousand secondary school English short stories?

And then she woke up... In the words of Ross Mackenzie,

'Eh, no.'
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post #9 of 14
6/14/04 at 3:59pm
It truly DOES disturb me to no end that Hart and I seem to have exactly the same tastes in movies....

His is pretty much the same post that I had after watching it 2 weeks ago...Just alot more...um...colorful...

And after checking out the infamous "final scene" this weekend (that I seemed to miss first time around as I just turned off the movie in disappointment) and all it did is the "oooh it MIGHT have been real" kind of twist...

Yeah - Saw it before...In the "Thriller" Video..and it worked alot better in that, than it did in this movie...

Not looking to start a flame war about it... I explained it all in my last post on this film...

Just expected alot more from something that was so widely praised on this board.

And I totally agree that indies NEED to be talked about to get the word out...

But like I said to Alices Girl regarding recommendations from this board- to each their own...

Some are hits(Shaun of the Dead, Darkness, Haute Tension) and some (Dead End, Jeepers Creepers 2, Dark Water) are misses.

Later
Tony D
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post #10 of 14
6/14/04 at 4:26pm
Quote:
Originally posted by liamE
No offense to all y'all who liked the film but didn't you think the ending was like the twist of a thousand secondary school English short stories?

And then she woke up... In the words of Ross Mackenzie,

'Eh, no.'
The ending is ok. It doesn't really bring much to the movie, and it doesn't make it less enjoyable either.
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post #11 of 14
6/15/04 at 8:14am
This is Jean-Baptiste Andrea & Fabrice Canepa's first picture isn't it ? Like, thier low budget debut ? How many recent truly low budget debut features have looked this good ? Had that amount of fine performances ? Had been that confidently directed ? Cabin Fever and Donnie Darko are the two that spring to mind. And they had the benefit of their creators and crews having a whole heap of experience. And they, unsurprisingly, divide viewers equally (I happen to think all three are excellent, just for full disclosure -- as I think all of the pictures Tony mentioned there I think are too...)

These crazy french fells did exactly what they should have done for their debut feature: they kept it tight, small, sharp and honed. They didn't exceed their grasp and they created a very professional picture. A throw back ? Sure. Hoary even. Butn so were dozens of old school Corman picture that coast on gaudy gothis charm and nostalgia rather than fine performances and heady production

I mean, compare Dead End to something like The Dead Hate The Living or even -- and this is a picture I love -- The Convent. It's leagues above either of those two fan favourites. Leagues. Sure, if this had been the latest John Carpenter picture or Romero picture, you might feel free to be a little underwhelmed. But as the product of two neophyte voices in horror cinema, I'd say the genre is in another pair of very astute and adept hands. A lesser talent may have felt the need to rely on gore to drag it along, if it needed it. But fortunately, this picture wasn't the output of a undeveloped adolescent sensibility that feels the need to shoe horn in ladels of red stuff to tell a story.

To me it's like the Mario Bava pic Rabid Dogs taken to another slightly more throw back dimension. And I loved it because of that.

Scariness is entirely subjective unfortunately so you can't berate something on those grounds to any real extent.

It may not be perfect, but I still love this picture. And welcome anything these two put their hands to next.
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post #12 of 14
6/15/04 at 8:21am
As usual, opinions are based on formulated expectations. Always gonna be a problem.

I still love the flick, though.
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post #13 of 14
6/15/04 at 9:57am
Tp quote Frank Booth from Blue Velvet...

Suave...God Damn you are one SUAVE mother fucker Strax...

Well put (as usual) and yes, taking it into consideration that it WAS their first film- it was head and shoulders above most of the other drek that is out there as far as production values go and in the fact that they had Ray Wise (the MAN!) in it.

But it just (unfortunatly) did not do it for me...

There was an indie movie out about 2 years ago called "Urban Ghost Story". It was listed in the Boston Film Festival as a horror movie abotu a 13 year old girl who is involved in a car crash and may have brought something back with her...Well as you sit through this movie full of female teen angst (something I seriously cannot relate to- but the film "Thirteen" did hit a bit too close to home) what she brought back with her from the verge of death was guilt that her friend died and puberty.. It was a freakin coming of age film shot in a way that you thought there were ghosts- when in all actuallity it was just her repressed inner feelings coming out...

Well to say i was pissed walking out of that movie was an understatement...

Same thing here...I cannot stand when things are billed as one thing and then turn out to be something completely different...

Did this have horror elements in it as Alices Girl stated..Yup. But So did the movie "Ghost"-

Maybe it is just because I hold ghost movies very close to my heart and expect some genuine scares out of them -
I am a bit more critical of THEM than I would -say ANOTHER slasher movie that I would be willing to forgive for sending ANOTHER woman out into ANOTHER woods with nothing but a flashlight.

I can see why people liked it- Just not me.

So I guess I'll just be at home watching the Changling again...

Call me when it's time for dinner...

Later
Tony D
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post #14 of 14
6/15/04 at 10:24am
Always happy to oblige, Mr Tony...

Bizarrely, Urban Ghost Story is actually the third picture (maybe second) from Chris Jones the director of White Angel -- a shitty british serial killer drama from the mid nineties starring Peter whatshisface, the lead from Lifeforce. Third. They should have known better.

The best thing Jones did was write The Guerilla Filmmakers Handbook -- ironically freeing up hundreds of other budding British hopefuls of varying talent to make pictures on the cheap with the same lackluster results. Which is harsh, but fair.

I guess, considering how much dreck I have to sit through daily/weekly, something like this is just manna and a pleasure to watch...
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