[Yuletide Terrors] Day 3: DEAD END

Throughout the month of December, we will be highlighting a film a day that has some tie into the holiday somehow. Some titles will be obvious, others won’t be. Some films will be good and, again, others won’t be. However, we think all titles are worth your time whether to give you chills inside your home or to make you drink more eggnog until you puke laughing.

Christmas Eve and the Harringtons are making their annual trip to the in-laws. Frank Harrington (Ray Wise) decides to take a short cut that almost ends in a near fatal collision. Asides from the near death experience there’s something wrong with the short cut. There’s no other cars on the road. No intersections, junctions, nothing. It doesn’t help that everyone is on edge and picking fights. Frank stops after seeing a woman in white. Who is this woman and why do family members keep being taken by a strange car?

I saw Dead End about a year after it went straight to video. At the time I enjoyed it, but upon revisiting it I wasn’t as crazy about it. Perhaps it was the ending. Seeing it for a second time and knowing how it plays out isn’t as interesting. Ray Wise and Lin Shaye are great as the parents. Alexandra Holden has the most developed character as the daughter. But the boyfriend and brother leave a lot to be desired. Richard, the son, is an intolerable little dick. He’s your run of the mill edgy alt guy with baggy cargo pants, a jacket and perpetual headphones.

In fact, I didn’t find any of the characters likeable. I understand portraying a family as dysfunctional but the Harringtons barely seem held together. Over the course of the night quite a few truths come out, some funny some life altering. The trailer makes Dead End look like a black comedy, and there’s quite a bit. Some of it falls flat. Despite these misgivings I would recommend watching Dead End at least once. You can’t really go too wrong with Ray Wise.

It seems the first couple entries have used Christmas as a backdrop. But don’t worry I’m about to go in the thick of it.

Check out the other Yuletide Terrors here.