Dread - The Movie

"but it's just because I'm fearful... fearful..."

This post contains MASSIVE spoilers/stills for the movie Dread with Jackson Rathbone.

If you don't want to know what happens so you can be surprised on January 29th when the movie hits theaters, then I suggest you run now. If you would like to read about part of it but don't want to know what happens at the end, I will warn again before I post stills of the ending of the film.

Don't get pissed at me if you know the ending after you read my blog! I warned!! ((And I don't spoil EVERYTHING!! You will still be surprised about a lot when you see the film!!)

I was lucky enough to see Dread, starring Jackson Rathbone. After seeing a few stills, the trailer and a behind the scenes of the movie a few months ago, I could not wait to see the movie. It looked different, scary and something that would allow Jackson to have some range and put himself in a different role than he had ever been in.

The story is by Clive Barker, the same guy who is responsible for Hellraiser, so I was expecting genuine, balls-to-the-wall HORROR.

The film is rated R for "strong bloody violence, disturbing sadistic content, graphic sexuality, nudity and language."

Strong bloody violence? Check. (But not until the end.)

Disturbing sadistic content? Check. (Not till about half to 3/4 the way through though.)

Graphic sexuality? Check. (They manage to get that in there pretty quickly.)

Nudity? Check. (At the same time as the graphic sexuality.)

Language? Check. (Jackson's character, Stephen, has a bit of a potty mouth.)

(PLOT SPOILERS, MINOR.)

For those that don't know the plot, let me lay it out for you. Stephen (Jackson Rathbone) is a film major student who works part time at the library with his friend Abby. Abby has a birthmark covering half of her body... Stephen meets Quaid (Shaun Evans) and they decide to do their senior thesis on "dread", what it is about people's fears that keep them from living, that sort of thing. They enlist Stephen's friend Cheryl to edit the film.

The three of them have very diverse backgrounds that lead to their "dread". Quaid's parents were murdered in front of him when he was six and subsequently, he's on medication to keep the nightmares and illusions at bay. Cheryl's dad molested her and worked as a butcher, so she's a vegetarian that can't stand the smell of meat and Stephen's brother drove drunk and got in a car wreck, killing himself when Stephen was only 15.

(PLOT SPOILERS, MODERATE)

As they are interviewing people for their film Cheryl and Stephen hit it off and have a nice little date, make out a little...

but it turns out that Abby likes Stephen more than just a friend. While they're interviewing people for their video, Quaid goes off of his meds and Abby offers to be interviewed, but only if Stephen will do it alone. He goes to her place and interviews her and while the tape is rolling she says that she'll show him what she's not shown many people and she strips down to her underwear. (Major kudos to the makeup department.) She touches his face lightly and kisses him. He kisses her back briefly but then tells her that he can't because, "my heart is in a different place." She goes, "what the fuck does that even mean?" And then she tells him to get out. He leaves the camera, while it's still on, and then asks Quaid later to go pick up the camera.

When Quaid goes to pick up the camera at Abby's place, he seduces her, makes her feel beautiful and they have sex. (Hot, kinky, sex.) Later on, Quaid loses it at his place and breaks all Stephen's camera equipment and Cheryl's computer. Cheryl storms out and Stephen basically tells him he's bat shit crazy and leaves, abandoning the assignment, even though it's near the deadline.

(PLOT SPOILERS, MAJOR)

Turns out that Quaid had a backup on an external hard drive and edited the assignment and turned it in, getting them all a B+. While Stephen is leaving school that night, Quaid pulls up in a car exactly like the one that Stephen's brother had been driving when he died (which Quaid had bought for Stephen off of Craigslist...) and apologizes, tells him he'll replace everything and asks him to get into the car so he can apologize.

Stephen gets in the car and Quaid starts to tell them how he wants to take their film to the next level, he doesn't want to stop it yet. Stephen tells him that he's done with the film, it was just a senior thesis for him and he wants to move forward. Quaid takes out a flask and takes a drink... Stephen is mad... Quaid tells him to think about what it would have been like for his brother to be drinking and driving... what he would have thought moments before he died as he's pushing the car as fast as it will go... Eventually the car stops and Stephen gets out, looking like he's about to throw up... he leaves as Quaid begs him for forgiveness... again... Stephen leaves him.

Quaid starts to turn the project around make people face these fears that they opened up about... he does it with Abby and Cheryl (I won't tell you how... he did it with Stephen and the car - that was minor compared to the girls...) and he does it with one of the other interviewees.

Finally Stephen realizes that Quaid isn't going to stop this until he's faced with HIS fear... so Stephen gets an axe... heads up to Quaid's bedroom while he's sleeping... starts to chop down his door. (It's intense.) Finally Stephen drops the axe and Quaid storms out from his bedroom and shoves a gun to his head before pistol whipping him...

(PLOT SPOILERS -- ENDING)

Stephen wakes up and he's tied to a chair, his face bloodied. While Stephen and Quaid are watching a video of what happened to Cheryl, they hear a noise downstairs. Quaid storms off and leaves Stephen, who eventually gets himself untied from the chair and he heads down to the kitchen to get a knife...

(I'm in the kitchen with a knife that's itchin' for your red blood...)

he's about ready to tackle Quaid and stab him when one of the other interviewees comes to Stephen with an axe and chops into him.

Stephen lays there... dying...

Quaid hovers over him... watching him die and looking majorly unimpressed.

Stephen dies...

his eyes unfocus and Quaid drags his body down to his basement where we find Cheryl is still alive...

(NO MORE SPOILERS)

The movie, overall, was not as scary as I had imagined... however, as far as phycological thriller goes, it definitely seeps into your brain and makes you think. You genuinely care for Stephen, Cheryl and Abby's characters. (And not just because it's Jackson Rathbone...)

Jackson did an outstanding job. It was everything that I was banking on it to be, honestly. Jackson can probably rest assured that he'll never be typecast. I will say what I've been saying for over a year now -- Jackson is the most talented actor out there today. He's got depth and range that are going to eventually make him a veteran in this business. The way he develops his characters is fascinating, little nervous ticks, glints and looks in their eyes... etc...

The film reminded me of a lot of things, one thing it reminded me of was Spencer... so it was almost not a surprise when I heard The Stevedores "Fearful" in the credits. :) A little bit of Spencer everywhere you go.

I hope that you'll see the film!