Dread is one of those weird little films that you just know has something more to its pedigree than initially meets the eye. As it slowly unfolds, slow that is only by the unwritten rules of cinema designed for mass consumption, Dread takes on a downward spiraling plummet into madness that could only point to the hand of one man.
Clive Barker’s ‘Books of Blood’ Page to Screen (Spoilers Ahead)
Clive Barker and his six volume Books of Blood (first published 1984-1986) have now breathed chill into a plethora of cinematic interpretations. These have ultimately proved a mixed bag though Barker’s keen focus on his particular brand of simmering psychosis is always evident and never far from the surface. To date six of the collected short stories have made it to the screen: Rawhead Rex (1986), The Forbidden as Candyman (1992), The Last Illusion as Lord of Illusions (1995), The Body Politic as Quicksilver Highway (1997), The Midnight Meat Train (2008), The Book of Blood and On Jerusalem Street (a postscript) as Book of Blood (2008) and now finally Dread (2009).
Director Anthony DiBlasi Impresses
In his first outing as director Anthony DiBlasi does away with most all the conventional eye candy associated with this particular style of horror (see college slasher) and instead burrows his story deep into a reality toward which can all relate. Following along the same fault lines so chillingly explored by Barker, DiBlasi revels in revealing his characters innermost nightmares. Acting as executive producer on both Book of Blood and The Midnight Meat Train he has now proven his mettle in a solo effort that stays with its viewer long after the final frame.
Dread: Brief Synopsis
Dread is a tale of repression and fear. It centres on a group of college students as they work to create a video project designed to peel back its participant’s outermost layers. To thereby reveal the true and intimate fears that skulk dark within us all.
Twilight’s legions will surely notice Jackson Rathbone here as the intense and far to meddling Stephen Grace. His relentless passion to reach the very core of fear opens doors and drags him onto pathways that will prove best left slammed shut. Along with newly acquired friend Quaid (Shaun Evans) Stephen pushes the boundaries of his social experiment to a point where his test subjects are actually confronted with the very substance of that they dread the most. This is at once voyeuristically chilling and brutally sad as the film unapologetically plumbs humanity’s basest extremes.
A fine performance by Laura Donelly (The Adventures of Merlin) as the socially maligned Abby stands out within a cast crackling with secrets unknown. Large expanses of her face and body are taken up by a birthmark that she here uses to convince herself that she is a lessor person. Her wretched portrayal of the bottom of her own personal spiral is one that effectively stamps the production with an indelible mark of its own. It fills the viewer with guilt and works exceedingly well adding to the films very human center. A fittingly bleak and bitter ending echoes this sentiment and leaves Dread as a worthy and intelligent chapter within the mine of horror that is Clive Barkers Books of Blood. 4/5
Dread
Tagline: Your Time Will Come
- Director: Anthony DiBlasi (Cassadaga)
- Starring: Jackson Rathbone, Shaun Evans, Hanne Steen, Laura Donnelly, Jonathan Readwin, Vivian Gray
- DVD Release Date: March 23, 2010
- 108 minutes
- United States
Hari Navarro - Hari Navarro is Topic Editor for Suite 101's Horror Film section and Editor/ Writer at online horror review site, The Hell Street ...
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