Dead End (2003)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Dead end |
| Original title | Dead end |
| Country of production | France , USA |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2003 |
| length | 85 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director |
Jean-Baptiste Andrea Fabrice Canepa |
| script | Jean-Baptiste Andrea Fabrice Canepa |
| music | Greg De Belles |
| camera | Alexander Buono |
| cut | Antoine Vareille |
| occupation | |
| |
Dead End is a horror film by Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Fabrice Canepa from 2003 . The film is about a family who want to go to their relatives on Christmas Eve, but never get there.
action
Like every year for the last 20 years, Frank and Laura Harrington, their children Richard and Marion and Marion's friend Brad are on their way to Christmas with Laura's mother on Christmas Eve. Frank spontaneously decides to take a shortcut, for the first time in 20 years. When he briefly nods off at the wheel, everyone barely escapes an accident.
Soon afterwards they see a disoriented wandering woman dressed all in white with a baby in her arms. They want to take her to a forest hut, which they passed with the car some time ago. Since there is not enough seating in the car, Marion offers the woman her place in the car and walks back to the hut. She uses this opportunity to free her mind. She is pregnant with Brad, but no longer loves him and actually wants to separate from him. Meanwhile, Brad tells the woman that he wants to propose to Marion that evening.
When they arrive at the hut, Frank and Laura go in looking for help; Richard disappears into the forest to satisfy his lust. When Brad is alone in the car with the mysterious woman, it turns out that the baby is dead. Shortly afterwards they both disappeared. But then a 1951 Cadillac hearse emerges from the darkness of the night , in which Brad can be seen knocking desperately on the rear window. Marion is the only one who sees the car when she arrives at the hut and notifies her parents. But when the Harringtons drive after the hearse, it disappears as suddenly as it appeared. A little later they find Brad's completely torn corpse in the middle of the street, whereupon Marion gets a shock and becomes apathetic .
The remaining family members try desperately to escape the nightmare. But time seems to stand still, neither the night nor the road seem to have an end. The only thing that recurs regularly are signs announcing a town called Marcott.
At another stop, Marion tells about her pregnancy and Richard mentions that he smokes weed. While Marion is arguing with her parents, Richard disappears into the woods to smoke a joint. There he meets the woman dressed in white and there is a kissing scene in which the woman bites off Richard's lower lip, but he has fallen in love with her as if in a trance. Then the hearse drives past again. This time the family members see Richard behind the rear window. The persecution fails again, and all they find is the boy's burnt body on the street. At the sight of her son, Laura goes crazy and they decide to load Richard into the car, as he cannot simply be left behind.
Marion, who has now recovered, cannot prevent her mother from falling madly out of the moving car. Returning to this point, Frank and Marion find that Laura has disappeared and the hearse is approaching again. Frank shoots a shotgun, actually one of the Christmas presents for the relatives, at the vehicle. This then stops and drives back again. Suddenly Laura appears, she apparently survived the fall unharmed. However, she dies in her husband's arms due to an open skull injury to the back of the head. After loading Laura's body into the car, Frank and Marion drive on, hoping to finally reach the place that is always announced on signs.
After a while, they stop and decide to continue on their way on foot. You walk through the middle of the forest, but inexplicably come back to the car from the opposite side of the road without having crossed the road. You decide to go on with the car again. When both of them suddenly pass the forest hut again, where they had left Brad alone with the woman in the car for a short time, Frank turns around. He storms into the house furiously and then goes back to the car, where he knocks Marion out during an argument and then puts her on the back seat next to his dead wife. Then he runs into the forest, believing he can see the woman in white between the trees, and fires several shots. You hear the blade of a knife and then there is silence. Marion comes to again. She hears voices and sees figures circling the parked car. She gets behind the wheel and drives off. A short time later the fuel tank is empty. She gets out and unexpectedly meets the endless street again, where the contents of the handbag are located that her mother Laura left behind after falling out of the car. When suddenly blood drips on Marion, she looks up and sees Frank's corpse in the branches. She continues walking alone down the street until she comes across four body bags lined up on the street. She looks into one of them and finds her dead father in it. The hearse reappears.
When Marion tries to flee, the woman in white stands in front of her, telling her that the hearse is not here because of Marion. The woman gets in and drives away. When the car disappears in the night, another car races towards Marion, in which the Harrington family can be seen.
Suddenly Marion wakes up in the hospital and learns that her family was killed in a car accident when her father briefly nodded off at the wheel. In the other car sat a young woman with her baby, they too died. Marion and her unborn baby were the only ones who survived the accident.
The dream Marion seems to have had was her death throes won. The place announced on the repeated signs was the surname of the doctor who treated Marion. The hearse was the first vehicle to arrive at the scene of the accident and bring help. The hearse driver declares he is a "collector" - implying that he is Death personified. In the last scene before the credits, he takes the doctor with him in his car.
Shortly after the credits start, a short scene is shown of two road workers sweeping up the broken pieces from the accident and finding a note Frank wrote while driving. On it he wrote down what he would like to do if he survived: 1) Buy an Atari computer 2) Be the coolest grandfather ever. Finding this slip of paper removes the previously suggested impression that it was all just a dream.
criticism
Lexicon of international film : Atmospherically dense horror film based on the usual "Blackwood" scheme, which does not deny its many predecessors, but which secures the subject's interest with good actors and solid tension.
Awards
- Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (2003) - Silver Grand Prix for European Fantasy Films, Pegasus Audience Award
- Doaui First Film Festival (2003) - Youth Jury Award
- Fant-Asia Film Festival (2003) - Jury Award and Best International Film Award
- San Sebastián Horror and Fantasy Film Festival (2003) - Audience Award and Best Feature Film Award
- Peñíscola Comedy Film Festival (2004) - Awards for the best actress (Lin Shaye) and the best first film (Jean-Baptiste Andrea, Fabrice Canepa)
Nominations
- Cinénygma Luxembourg International Film Festival (2003) - Grand Prize of European Fantasy Films in Gold
- Fantasporto (2004) - International Fantasy Film Award for the best film.
Web links
- Dead End in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dead End. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .