dead end movie review

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Upcoming Movies and TV shows
Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

About Rotten Tomatoes®
Login/signup

Movies in theaters

Opening This Week
Top Box Office
Coming Soon to Theaters
Certified Fresh Movies

Movies at Home

Fandango at Home
Prime Video
Most Popular Streaming Movies
What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

73% Blink Twice Link to Blink Twice
96% Strange Darling Link to Strange Darling
86% Between the Temples Link to Between the Temples

New TV Tonight

100% Slow Horses: Season 4
94% English Teacher: Season 1
-- The Perfect Couple: Season 1
-- Tell Me Lies: Season 2
-- Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist: Season 1
-- Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos: Season 1
-- Outlast: Season 2
-- The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Season 1
-- Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Season 14

Where to Watch

Rent Dead End on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Jean-Baptiste Andrea

Fabrice Canepa

Frank Harrington

Alexandra Holden

Marion Harringt

Laura Harrington

Richard Harrington

More Like This

‘Dead End’ – Christmas Horror Movie Remains a Cult Favorite 20 Years Later

Dead End is the embodiment of the old saying “road to nowhere.” In this 2003 horror movie, one unlucky family’s annual trip to grandma’s house doesn’t go according to plan. What awaits these unsuspecting characters is a series of events that will steer them straight into the unknown. It’s one hell of a Christmas in this macabre holiday tale, which stirs up uncertainty and unrest as the pavement stretches on forever.

Dead End first showed up on video-store shelves around 2004 after enjoying great success at multiple film festivals. Made on a low budget of less than a million dollars and with a small cast of actors, this California-shot yet French-financed horror-comedy has, strangely enough, yet to be reissued on a physical media format higher than DVD. Nevertheless, it remains a cult favorite all these years later. The colorful dialogue, the progressively unnerving atmosphere, and the ensemble of quirky characters each play an important part in why this dark Christmas outing is worth revisiting every December.

Dead End is a high-concept movie regardless of its avowedly simple setup. The trouble here begins with Ray Wise ’s character Frank, the head of the Harrington Family, doing the unexpected: deviating from the customary, not to mention uneventful route to his mother-in-law’s for Christmas. He took a backroad in hopes that the change of scenery would keep him awake at the wheel. Well, he was wrong. As Frank brings the car to a screeching halt after nodding off, the other passengers all awaken to find themselves alone on an empty road. Not another car or person in sight. The movie is already off to an uninspired start, but, to use another hackneyed phrase: good things come to those who wait.

Fans will often praise Dead End with one major reservation; to be more specific, they bring up the movie’s stock of clichés. A road trip fraught with peril, the creepy stopovers, and, most of all, a conclusion that was too commonly used in 2000s horror. Funnily enough, co-directors and co-screenwriters Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Fabrice Canepa were deliberate with how their directorial debut would come across to more experienced viewers. The two French filmmakers were always one step ahead of their own movie. In that sense, they played on familiar tropes almost immediately upon use without also succumbing to sheer parody. So the story, in a way, is both predictable and unpredictable at the same time.

Image: Alexandra Holden, Mick Cain and Lin Shaye’s respective characters, Marion, Richard and Laura, all react to something shocking.

Other horror movies where unfortunate fates are determined by one wrong turn would eventually bring the characters to a physical location of sorts. A cabin in the woods, a haunted house, a terrifying tourist trap — anything tangible and with an address. Meanwhile, this movie pulls a total Twilight Zone and asks what would happen if the car just kept moving in vain. The dissatisfaction of an incomplete journey is multiplied a hundred times over as Frank and his family drive onwards with no real assurance that they’ll ever reach a proper stopping point. To make this trip worse, there is a supernatural element that’s preying on the characters. A black hearse à la Phantasm is snatching them up one by one. It’s all quite obvious what is happening here, although for the sake of suspense, the Harringtons are largely clueless.

Dead End wouldn’t be anywhere as effective without its cast. Everyone is memorable all thanks to rich characterization and a handful of nasty set-pieces to remember them by. The Harringtons are, at least to someone looking in from the outside, a typical family performing a basic tradition. They still seem normal enough even after witnessing the mild discord during the movie’s outset. Once their façade and routine each start to erode, though, the extent of the Harringtons’ troubles becomes unmistakable. This one American family’s disintegration channels Twin Peaks — an apt comparison especially with Wise cast as yet another increasingly unstable patriarch — however, the execution here is more straightforward and immediate.

There is rarely a moment in this movie where a character isn’t carrying on, either because of their inherent personality or because that’s their natural response to stress. Mick Cain ’s role as the exasperating young son and little brother falls in the former category, seeing as he’s a snarky nuisance from the get-go. In time, horror icon Lin Shaye briefly but outstandingly seizes the spotlight. She, a mother pushed far past her limit, trades indignation for insanity. Laura’s wild and trauma-induced antics include shooting her husband in the leg and, most unforgettably, rubbing her exposed brain to the point of orgasm.

Image: Amber Smith, as the Woman in White, holds a dead baby.

Wise and Alexandra Holden are the movie’s emotional anchors. To everyone’s surprise, crabby Frank becomes more and more poignant as he teeters between madness and rationality — Wise’s sharp performance as a fallible father and husband shouldn’t go unnoticed here — whereas Holden’s character of Marion was clearly designed to be the most compassionate (as well as sympathetic) of the whole lot. Marion’s default role of family mediator is encumbered by a guilty conscience that only grows over the loss of her clingy boyfriend Brad ( Billy Asher ) and other loved ones. From there she then has to try, albeit unsuccessfully, to keep this broken family together.

Other horror movies set at Christmas have a tendency to juxtapose the beautiful sights and sounds of the holidays with aspects of the genre. That high contrast isn’t available in Dead End , which never has the expectations of the season ruined by a malevolent force. The characters don’t even start out as happy. More realistically, the Harringtons are celebrating Christmas together out of mere obligation than the pure desire to be with each other. Everyone is miserable long before this dreadful road comes into view. It’s easy to think of this movie as a lighter helping of Christmas horror, due in large part to its heavy streak of humor. Yet Dead End is easily one of the most depressing movies of its kind.

As previously mentioned, many fans take issue with the story’s conclusion. The Harrington party turning out to be dead or on death’s door all this time is deemed unimaginative . Although, the difference between this movie and T he Sixth Sense is Dead End isn’t trying to trick anyone. The script even drops substantial clues along the way to make the outcome less of a shocker. The ending, which comes out of nowhere for no one other than the characters, will urge viewers to deduct points from the overall score, but this is a movie where the journey is far more important than the destination.

Image: Ray Wise’s character Frank lights a match as Amber Smith’s Woman in White character stands behind him.

Paul Lê is a Texas-based, Tomato approved critic at Bloody Disgusting, Dread Central, and Tales from the Paulside.

Terror on Tape: 6 Excellent Found Footage Episodes of Television

I’ve always found it strange how Found Footage appears more frequently in film than in television. If you think about it, most of the recovered footage that we see in real life comes from True Crime TV and investigative journalism rather than movies – or at least it used to before the internet turned the whole world into one giant Found Footage horror flick streaming live until the end of time.

Despite this, there were actually quite a few big-name TV shows that recognized the storytelling potential of the Found Footage format and decided to experiment with POV filmmaking during their run. And in honor of these small screen pioneers, today we’d like to highlight six excellent Found Footage episodes of non-Found-Footage TV shows.

For the purposes of this list, we’ll be focusing on traditionally shot (or animated) programs that only temporarily fooled around with Found Footage – so no fully POV shows like Siberia, The River or The Lost Tapes .

With that out of the way, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite examples of televised Found Footage if you think we missed a particularly fun one.

Now, onto the list…

6. “S.C.A.L.E .” – Godzilla: The Series

Tristar’s 1998 Godzilla remake may be remembered as one of the worst entries in the King of the Monsters’ extensive filmography, but even the film’s harshest critics have to admit that its animated spin-off series (produced by the same team behind the equally badass Men in Black show) was one hell of an effective homage to the Kaiju classics of old.

Godzilla: The Series even experimented with presenting a Kaiju attack through diegetic cameras nearly a decade before Cloverfield , though I’d argue that the shorter runtime and added monster battles make Season 2’s S.C.A.L.E. a much more entertaining experience.

That being said, it’s a damned shame that this remains the only official Found Footage take on Godzilla , as I’d love to see this premise fleshed out into something a bit more theatrical in the monster’s future.

5. “ Bitten ” – Supernatural

One-off episodes focusing on new characters instead of the beloved regulars can be a huge risk on TV (especially on a show as actor-centric as CW’s Supernatural ), but 2012’s Bitten actually contains one of the better stories from the program’s later years. And much like the best episodes from back in SPN’s heyday, this stand-alone tale is heavily inspired by popular genre cinema – more specifically, Found Footage movies!

Telling a refreshingly low-stakes werewolf yarn as we follow an aspiring filmmaker dealing with the aftermath of a Werewolf encounter, Bitten is so well made that it actually makes me wish that the Supernatural writers invested in the anthology format instead of losing themselves in the show’s extended mythology.

And if you like this one, don’t forget to check out the show’s ghost-hunting episode, Season 3’s iconic Ghostfacers .

4. “ Television Terror ” – Tales From the Crypt

A rare example of televised Found Footage that predates the success of The Blair Witch Project , Tales from the Crypt’s season 2 episode Television Terror was surprisingly ahead of its time. Presenting itself as a live recording of a sleazy journalist reporting on a haunted house in Los Angeles, this silly news report soon devolves into a legitimately frightening depiction of ghost-hunting gone wrong.

Featuring plenty of classic haunted house tropes (as well as a plethora of Found Footage clichés that technically hadn’t been invented yet), I’d recommend Television Terror to fans of films like Late Night with the Devil , WNUF Halloween Special , and BBC’s controversial classic Ghostwatch .

3. “ Sleep No More ” – Doctor Who

Despite the silly premise of a two-hearted alien who travels through time and space from inside a magical blue box, BBC’s long-running Doctor Who is no stranger to genre frights. In fact, many of the show’s best episodes work like stand-alone horror movies – and 2015’s Sleep No More is no exception.

Starring Reece Shearsmith as a scientist onboard a futuristic space station orbiting Neptune, this peculiar episode sees the researcher compiling and narrating a collection of in-universe footage explaining how a horde of “Sandmen” have taken over the station. Not only is this an entertaining sci-fi yarn that explores The Doctor’s relationship with his then-companion Clara from a unique perspective, but it also features an appropriately meta twist that will likely appeal to die-hard Found Footage fans.

2. “ Cops ” – The X-Files

I’m not alone in feeling that something of value was lost when The X-Files shifted production from Vancouver to Hollywood after their big screen debut, but the latter half of the show still contains quite a few bangers. Case in point: Cops , a satirical crossover with the reality TV show of the same name.

Following Mulder and Scully as they attempt to track down a shape-shifting monster while being followed by a reality TV crew, this memorable episode features some of the all-time best banter between our charismatic leads. It’s also even more entertaining when you remember that at least some viewers must have missed the iconic intro and watched the whole thing thinking it was real .

1. “ The Scooby-Doo Project ” – Scooby-Doo

It’s hard to overstate the impact that The Blair Witch Project had on popular culture. From online forums to comedy sketches, everyone was obsessed with this strange little horror flick, though I think the best example of the film’s popularity can be found in a late addition to the iconic animated series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

Produced by three passionate Cartoon Network animators who thought that the Scooby gang was especially well suited for a Blair Witch spoof, The Scooby-Doo Projec t evolved from a mere promotional bumper to a full standalone episode combining live action recordings with retro animation.

While I could rave about this legendary Halloween special for hours, I think it’s best if you do yourself a favor and simply watch the whole thing immediately.

‘Clown in a Cornfield’ Movie Adaptation Rated “R” for “Bloody Horror Violence”

Netflix’s Halloween Horror Lineup Includes Slasher ‘Time Cut’, ‘The Platform 2’ and More

Bloody Disgusting’s Fall 2024 Preview: 40 Horror Movies to Watch This Halloween

‘Terrifier 3’ Trailer – Art the Clown Takes a Chainsaw to the Holidays on October 11!

Mob Entertainment Teams with Maximum Entertainment For a PS5 Physical Edition of the ‘Poppy Playtime Triple Pack’

You must be logged in to post a comment.

About / FAQ
Submit News
Upcoming Horror
Marketing Macabre

Horror News | HNN Official Site | Horror Movies,Trailers, Reviews

Film review: dead end (2003).

John Noonan 04/01/2018 Uncategorized

SYNOPSIS: Christmas Eve. On his way to his in-laws with his family, Frank Harrington decides to try a shortcut, for the first time in 20 years. It turns out to be the biggest mistake of his life.

‘Hell is other people’ goes the old Sartre quote. Taken from his play, No Exit , and exemplifying his stance on existentialist philosophy, let’s just cut to the chase and agree that he was talking about car journeys with your family. Countries like America, Canada and Australia are filled with people who truly understand the almost-inescapable torture of riding backseat across state with mum and dad during the holidays because ‘it’s cheaper.’ If the English attempted similar distances in any direction, they’d end up in the sea. On that front, perhaps they’d win the battle of the hellish car journey. Still, let us digress.

Dead End , directed by Jean-Baptiste Andrea (the writer of bleak Simon Pegg comedy, Big Nothing ) and Fabrice Canepa, compacts the long-distance family travelling experience into a swift, hellish 85 minutes, which includes dead bodies, outside self-gratification and disgusting looking pies. Yes indeed, this is an exhilaratingly odd one.

Tis Christmas Eve and the Harrington Family are travelling to Grandma’s house. In the front sit mum and dad, Laura (Elise Rainie) and Frank (Ray Wise). In the back seat, we find siblings Richard (Mick Cain) and Marion (Alexandra Holden), along with the latter’s boyfriend, Brad (Billy Asher). Things are already simmering along towards a festive punch up with Frank refusing to acknowledge that his shortcut isn’t close to being short, Richard throwing out numerous homophobic slurs at Brad, and Marion being just as surly as her mother. Ah yes… The holidays are coming, the holidays are coming!

Things take a turn when a nameless woman in white (Amber Smith) hitches a ride along with her new born baby. From the second she steps into the car, Dead End takes a left turn and becomes a delicious, nihilistic Christmas treat. Whilst the family try to make their way out of the woods with their new passenger, it appears they’re being followed by a black hearse. As the night progresses, it becomes apparent that whoever, or whatever, is driving the vehicle is targeting the family.

Like a crossover between François Ozon’s Sitcom and Harold Ramis’ National Lampoon’s Vacation (no, really), Dead End is a portrait of a family unravelling. As the woods keep their tight grip on them, and the hearse gets ever closer, the Harringtons unload bottled up feelings onto each other, alongside buried secrets that shatter their idyllic set up. Bickering about directions blossoms into wrestling a loaded shotgun out of Laura’s mouth, for example. All the while, Frank tries to remain positive, refusing to let the night’s events get to him before they arrive at Walley World. Sorry, I mean, grandma’s house.

As well as familial politics, the directors play with the idea of sex and death, and how both acts leave us in a vulnerable state. Someone brings themselves to orgasm by rubbing their exposed brain through a head wound, whilst another person ejaculates at the moment they hear someone being killed. It’s an unusual motif thrown into proceedings and once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

Surreal as the film is, there’s always the satisfying feeling that you don’t want the events explained to you. Well, too bad. Perhaps the weakest part of Dead End is an insistence on summarizing everything you’ve seen in a final scene that, to a certain extent, could have been left on the cutting room floor alongside the ending to The Last Exorcism .

All that said, the directing team of Andrea and Canepa keep things moving along, whilst managing to keep a balance between soap opera dramatics and Sam Raimi-esque humor. There’s over the top quality to the performances, which feels like a deliberate decision on the part of the directors. And whilst this leads to a mixed bag, it’s clear Wise and Rainie know exactly what they’re doing, managing to dial up their performances up to 11 without it ever feeling forced.

A potent mix of nasty and fun, Dead End is the perfect film to put on at family gatherings to get them all out of your house.

Tags 2003 Alexandra Holden Amber Smith DEAD END Fabrice Canepa Jean-Baptiste Andrea Lin Shaye Mick Cain Ray Wise William Rosenfeld

Film Review: Wishing Stairs (Yeogo goedam 3: Yeowoo gyedan) (2003)

Horror Film DEAD END is back in post-production and scheduled to premiere in the Sumer of 2021

Film Review: Mecanix (2003)

List of the 10 Most Underrated Horror Movies from 2000 to 2010

Interview: Lin Shaye (The Call)

Jack Goes Home (2016)

Horror Movie Review

Dead end – review.

Release Date: 12 Dec, 2003
Director: Jean-Baptiste Andrea, Fabrice Canepa
Actors: Alexandra Holden, Ray Wise, Lin Shaye, Mick Cain, Billy Asher, Amber Smith
Country: France
Language: English
Parental Guidance: Language, Violence, Nudity, Gore, Injury Detail, Sexual References
Writers: Jean-Baptiste Andrea, Fabrice Canepa
Producers: James Huth, Sonja Shillito, Gabriella Stollenwerck, Cécile Telerman

Christmas Eve. On his way to his in-laws with his family, Frank Harrington decides to try a shortcut, for the first time in 20 years. It turns out to be the biggest mistake of his life.

It’s December the 8th and time to open another door on our Awful Advent Calendar. That’s ermm awful as in bad things happen, not awful as in terrible…. Anyways, Today we are taking a look at the very interesting and quite unique Dead End from 2003. This is a very unusal movie that is quite different from pretty much anything else I have ever reviewed. It is a lot of fun, though, with a great cast, bags of tension and convincing performances.

Directed by Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Fabrice Canepa . Dead End follows a family as they head to their relatives house for Christmas. The entire movie takes place inside of the car or along the roadside that they travel on. Featuring something of a comedy leaning, this is a movie that aims for tension rather than scares. Without further ado, let’s take a look. I am going to be fairly vague in this review as revealing too much would ruin the movie. I will give a quick breakdown, as always. You can skip that if you like.

Awful Advent

We’ve been on a bit of an end of the year run of themed features. We had K-O-Ween 31 Days of Halloween in October. We had a Fall Themed Horror movie month for November, Now It’s December and that can mean only one thing. It’s Awful Advent . We are reviewing a new horror for each of the days leading up to Christmas. That’s not all, we will also review a bonus movie for Christmas day itself. 25 horror movies to make your December just that little more frighteningly festive… Or should that be festively frightening? I am not sure, whatever.. It’s going to be scary.

The catch? All of the movies must be set around or feature Christmas. Movies based on a specific Christmas theme are even better. Christmas and horror have always gone hand in hand. There are tons of movies to look at and I expect you can probably predict a few right now. With that being said. Check back every day of December for something new.

Dead End – Synopsis

The Harrington family are taking a trip to a relative’s house for Christmas. They have presents loaded up and are all packed in the car. This is a trip they have taken many times. On this one occasion, however, the dad, Frank, decides to take a short cut. Not wanting to fall asleep and feeling bored, he thinks it will shorten the journey. His thoughts prove to be incorrect, however. Not long into the journey he falls asleep at the wheel. Woken by the sound of his family screaming. Frank swerves to avoid an oncoming car.

Luckily, the family are all okay and the car is in one piece. Frank refuses to let any one else drive and the family continue onward. A little later in the journey, Frank suddenly slams on the brakes. The family are confused and they ask him why he stopped. He claims he saw a woman in the road. Without warning, the woman appears at the window of the car holding a baby. Marion offers to walk so the family can let the woman into the car. Aiming to find a phone and call for help, they set off while Marion walks along the road.

The family come across what looks like a ranger lodge. They stop to see if there is a phone. Son Richard goes out into the woods leaving the woman in the car with Marion’s boyfriend Brad. Brad attempts to talk to the woman but she won’t reply. Frank and Laura search the ranger lodge but don’t find a phone. Suddenly they notice that Brad and the woman are gone. Marion, who is now drawing closer to the lodge, sees a car approach. It passes her and, in the back, she notices Brad screaming for help. It becomes very clear that something very strange is happening on this road.

The Advent Calendar - Review
Christmas Horror In July 25 Christmas Horror Movies
Hidden Exposure (2023) Ending Explained - Secrets Hidden No Longer!
The Lurking Fear (2023) Ending Explained - Explaining The Worst Horror of 2023!
Quicksand (2023) Ending Explained - Sinking into Silliness
Tubi 31 Days of Halloween

Xmas Road Trip From Hell

Dead End follows a family on a Christmas road trip to their relative’s house. This is a trip the family have been making every year for a long time. Frank, who is the patriarch of the family, is driving. Frank decides to take a short cut for first time in the family’s entire history of making the journey. He, apparently, didn’t want to fall asleep while driving. Figuring he should take the fastest route, the short cut seemed a good idea. All of a sudden, the family seem to be travelling on a never ending road to nowhere. Strange and awful things happen each time the family stops. They frequently argue due to their contrasting personalities. As time goes on, the tension builds.

The entire events of the film take place either inside of the car or on the sides of the road. It is a somewhat claustrophobic environment. The more time passes, the smaller the space feels. Frank is a control freak and refuses to relinquish the job of driving. This is despite him already falling asleep at the wheel once already. Laura, Frank’s wife, attempts to mediate but too often finds the task overwhelming. Daughter Marion and her boyfriend Brad hang out in the back with Marion’s brother Richard. Richard repeatedly winds up the members of the car and generally acts like an idiot.

Travelling on a seemingly endless road with no signs or landmarks. The family feels lost and confused. Each time they stop, they encounter something new. A beautiful woman wearing a white gown holding an infant. A baby carriage placed carelessly in the middle of the road. An abandoned ranger lodge. Nothing seems to make sense. The family’s repeated sightings of, what looks to be, a hearse foreshadow terrible things happening. Unable to rationalise what they are seeing. The family gradually falls apart.

A Mix of Horror and Comedy

Dead End is a fascinating mix of horror and razor sharp wit. Despite being rather unsettling in parts. It is genuinely hilarious for much of its run time. There is a range of different personalities in the car leading to an interesting dynamic. As more and more things go wrong, the characters become increasingly unhinged. This opens the door for even more hilarity as the characters clash more often.

The only family member who seems to remain, at least, somewhat in control is Frank. Part of this is probably down to his domineering personality. He has a complete unwillingness to give up his responsibilities. It becomes clear, as the movie goes on, that even he isn’t able to control what is happening. It’s brilliantly well paced and genuinely compelling.

Quirky Christmas Horror

While not being the most obvious Christmas themed horror in the world. Dead End is set at Christmas and the family are off to a relative’s home for the holidays. There are presents in the back of the car. Presents that will be cleverly brought into the plot later on. The thing that makes the Christmas theme so interesting here. Is how the family are forced together, somewhat against their will.

Christmas is a tense time of year, especially when it comes to spending time with relatives. The family have been doing this trip for years. It is completely clear that Frank doesn’t want to go and Richard seems to be less than enthusiastic too. Marion and Brad appear to be in totally opposite places in their relationship. This is despite neither one of them realising that. The only one who is excited about the visit is mum Laura. All of this creates a palpable sense of awkwardness and tension from the get go.

As the movie goes on. The horror is placed in something of a balancing act with the family drama. This is a group of people that have difficulty expressing their feelings. As things begin to go horribly wrong, the family members open up to each other. This is a group of people with some deep secrets. Each of them has things they have been hiding, sometimes for years. Dead End basks in these revelations before suddenly side swiping you with the horror. It feels like it comes out of nowhere. Suddenly you are watching a horror movie again. It is very effective and keeps you suitably off base. It is easy to stay engaged despite the small setting of the car. With each major horror event comes another intriguing revelation. All of it is delivered with tongue firmly planted in cheek and is thoroughly compelling.

A Dream or a Nightmare?

It’s difficult to go too deep into Dead End without spoiling anything. Despite that. It’s impossible not to point out just how dream like the events of this movie feel. I am sure you know that feeling of things in your dreams not quite making sense. Andrea has really captured that strange sensation with Dead End. Nothing seems to add up. If you closely observe some of the details, you will see that certain things are amiss. Little things lack continuity and the more you notice, the more you question what is going on. This becomes all the more apparent as the movie enters its final third.

It is somewhat fitting that Twin Peaks actor Ray Wise plays Frank in this movie. There is a somewhat Twin Peaks like uncanniness to what is taking place. The events are very ordinary but something doesn’t feel right. As the family suffer through increasingly horrific events. This feeling becomes even more pronounced. The characters act extremely strangely and it can be quite shocking. The family member’s sudden unfamiliarity imparts on the viewer a sense of unease. The odd behaviour and revelations make them almost strangers to each other.

All of this works extremely well to create a sense of foreboding. I have seen many viewers review this movie and seemingly miss these points. They seem to think they are goofs. In reality, however, they are very deliberate. There is a concerted effort to portray the events in this manner. When taken in context with the ending, it makes perfect sense. Continuity issues and inconsistencies of detail are very considered. They are just part of the toolbox used to keep the viewer guessing. It is fair to say that Dead End would fit in perfectly as a story in The Twilight Zone.

Tense and Unnerving But Not Scary

Dead End is an unnerving movie. It doesn’t aim to scare you with traditional methods. It wants to get inside your head and make you feel uneasy. As mentioned above, the uncanny feeling of the events inside the car do a good job of creating tension. You feel quite unsettled just by the strangeness of what is happening. The appearance of the mysterious Lady In White only serves to further unsettle you. As it becomes more apparent that something goes wrong each time the family stops the car. You watch with baited breath waiting to see what will happen next.

The chaotic feeling that develops as the movie goes on really ups the suspense. You never know what is around each corner. The ominous presence that follows the family is just one of the concerns. As things go from bad to worse. The family become as much of a threat to one another as anything they encounter. As the situation declines, the characters only becomes more desperate. The tension grows and the feeling of unease becomes ever more present.

There are a few parts that could be described as traditional scares. They are very minor, however, and most definitely not the focus. As mentioned above, this is a film that wants to get inside your head. This is something Dead End is very good at. If you are looking for action and jump scares, however, this is not the movie for you.

Excellent Acting

Dead End acts as something of a character study horror movie. With this in mind, it relies heavily on the fantastic performances of its lead actors. The cast here do a fantastic job. Ray Price, as father Frank, and Lin Shaye , as mother Laura, stand out. Price is absolutely fantastic as the control freak dad. He delivers Frank’s razor sharp wit with a perfect amount of bite. He also carries some of the more dramatic parts of the movie brilliantly well. Price is especially effective when dishing out insults and chastising the family.

Lin Shaye is excellent as she usually is. Laura goes through a number of personality shifts throughout the movie. Shaye does a great job with each other these and has some standout moments that will really make you laugh. Alexandra Holden , as Marion, is absolutely fine. Mick Cain as the annoying son Richard does a nice job of playing a very annoying character. Amber Smith makes a small appearance but isn’t really tasked with doing anything. All in all it is a fantastic cast that does a great job.

A Confused Ending

Unfortunately, Dead End is let down by somewhat of a confused ending. I imagine, for one, it is the type of ending that a lot of people will dislike. For me, I quite enjoyed it and thought it worked well. The problem was, during the credits, there is a question mark placed on the events. For a brief second it all seems to make perfect sense. Some will find it unsatisfying but at least it was conclusive. But then, out of nowhere. There is the suggestion that the events were due to something else entirely.

I can’t understand why the director did this. Could he not make up his mind as to how to end it? It’s a bad move that makes absolutely no sense when you think about it too much. It should either be one thing or another. It can’t be both. I will definitely be covering this in a future ending explained so check back for that.

Not For Everyone

This is absolutely one of those horror movies that will divide viewers. Some are going to love it, others will hate it. The slow paced, claustrophobic, nature of the setting. The bizarre uncanny nature of the events. The heavy leaning towards comedy. It’s all a bit strange and quite different for the horror genre.

For the most part it is a character study with a distinct sense of tension and foreboding. It is never particularly scary, however, and does not feature any real action. If you are looking for fast paced thrills, maybe look elsewhere. If you enjoy slow burn horror with a heavy character driven plot and a lot of laughs. Why not check it out? Dead End has cult classic written all over it. It is one of the better indie horror movies from the early 2000’s.

Is it a Knockout?

Dead End is a mystery horror movie with a wicked sense of humour and a Twilight Zone vibe. Set around Christmas, a family are taking a road trip together when strange things begin to happen. After taking a short cut, the family become stuck on a seemingly never ending road to nowhere. Taking place almost entirely inside of a car. The movie is claustrophobic and full of tension. While not scary in the traditional sense, it does a great job of unnerving the viewer.

There is a heavy comedy leaning here. Dead End is hilarious in parts. The things that happen to the family can be both shocking and somewhat comical. Acting is fantastic throughout and the pacing is perfect. Not for everyone, the mix of comedy and horror might put some people off. This not a traditional horror, either, so don't expect jump scares and action. A disappointingly confused ending is the only real negative to speak of. Other than that, this is a fantastic movie that is well worth checking out.

Support Us:

Why not check out.

Dead End (Movie Review)

Sophie's rating: ★ ★ ★ director: jean-baptiste andrea & fabrice canepa | release date: 2003.

There are few things more terrifying than a holiday trip to visit your entire extended family and/or your in-laws, unless of course you’re the Harrington family. Frank and Laura Harrington pack up the car with their two children, Richard and Marion, and Marion’s boyfriend Brad, think they’re in for the same commute to grandma’s house that they’ve taken for the last twenty years until, in an attempt to battle the monotony and perhaps delay their inevitable arrival, Frank decides to take a detour.

The plot line starts out in the manner of many good ghostly road trip legends. The family picks up the mysterious (and more than a little cliche) woman in white who appears to be in shock. As this is before the age of cellular telephone proliferation, the family turns around in search of what they hope is a ranger station that might have a phone. It becomes immediately clear that the Harringtons has no idea what kind of danger they’re in when they oust their daughter from the car to make room for the stranger and let her walk down the deserted back road alone, at night, to meet them there. People start disappearing and then reappearing as mangled corpses on the road, a mysterious black car seems to be stalking them, and they can’t seem to find a town or another car no matter how hard they try.

Dead End is commonly billed as a horror comedy, and with horror favorites like Ray Wise and Lin Shaye playing the parents, it isn’t hard to see why. Upon viewing the movie, however, it is unclear how much of the comedy is intentional and how much just comes from the absurdity of the cast and the campiness that comes along with a low-budget indie movie out of the early 2000’s. Let’s be clear, this movie is certainly fun to watch, how could it not be with Shaye and Wise playing increasingly exaggerated caricatures of their genre personas? Once you see a completely delusional Lin Shaye pleasure herself by rubbing her exposed cerebral cortex you will never be able to watch the Insidious movies the same way, I’ll tell you that much right now.

The film’s small budget may have been a bit of a hindrance, particularly when it came to the practical effects and gore. Particularly because there was almost none of both. In my experience, movies like this seem to do better when we get at least a passing glance of the absurdly mangled corpses, and Dead End does a pretty thorough job of ensuring that we see just about nothing. Seeing the characters react to body after body does start to wear thin, however as the film goes on and I wonder if the silly camp factor might not have been elevated by just a little more blood and goop.

The whole package is tied together by a fairly solid plot and an interesting twist, which are probably the saving graces of this movie. The story really hits the sweet spot between not engaging us enough to look for the holes, but keeping us interested in the characters. Overall, this movie is a perfect candidate for a rainy day streaming option. And on your next road trip remember, don’t pick up hitchhikers and thank God for Google Maps.

Contributor

Sophie's introduction into the magic that is the horror genre was watching Halloween at a party in high school, and since then she's never looked back. She may be the wimpiest horror fan you have ever met, but she won't ever let that stop her!

Sophie's Profile

Check It Out

Primal scream: exploring horror from a mental health lens.

Natalie, a licensed clinical psychologist, looks at what your favorite horror films get right (and wrong) about mental health.

In-Extremis: Legal Analysis of Horror

Are you interested in the legal implications of your favorite horror films for strictly educational purposes? Have you met our friend Adam?

Play Along With Our Horror Movie Drinking Games!

One Thursday a month, Sophie lays out the rules for a horror film drinking game! Browse our past entires and be on the look out for new ones.

Movies Like Dead End

Dude bro party massacre iii.

The Podcast

Letterboxd — Your life in film

Forgotten username or password ?

Start a new list…
Add all films to a list…
Add all films to watchlist

Add to your films…

Press Tab to complete, Enter to create

A moderator has locked this field.

Add to lists

Where to watch

Directed by Jean-Baptiste Andrea , Fabrice Canepa

Read the signs.

Christmas Eve. On his way to his in-laws with his family, Frank Harrington decides to try a shortcut, for the first time in 20 years. It turns out to be the biggest mistake of his life.

Ray Wise Alexandra Holden Lin Shaye Mick Cain William Rosenfeld Amber Smith Karen S. Gregan Sharon Madden Steve Valentine Jimmie F. Skaggs Clement Blake

Directors Directors

Jean-Baptiste Andrea Fabrice Canepa

Producers Producers

James Huth Sonja Schillito Gabriella Stollenwerck Cécile Telerman Natalie Rademeyer Guy Courtecuisse

Writers Writers

Fabrice Canepa Jean-Baptiste Andrea

Casting Casting

Amanda Koblin Michele Short

Editor Editor

Antoine Vareille

Cinematography Cinematography

Alexander Buono

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Kiran Gonsalves Ivan Kraljević

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

James Huth Yves Chevalier

Lighting Lighting

Tony Bryan Jonathon Bradley Anthony Cady Joel Langston Willis Pipkins Jr.

Camera Operator Camera Operator

Jody Hutchins

Production Design Production Design

Bryce Holtshousen

Composer Composer

Greg De Belles

Sound Sound

François Musy Gabriel Hafner Germain Boulay Laurent Quaglio Pascal Dedeye Laurent Boudaud James Ridgley

Costume Design Costume Design

Deborah Waknin

Makeup Makeup

Kumura Luly T.C. Thecla Luisi

Hairstyling Hairstyling

T.C. Thecla Luisi

Sagittaire Films Captain Movies

Releases by Date

30 jan 2003, 18 mar 2003, 15 may 2003, 27 jul 2003, 30 jul 2003, 19 aug 2003, 02 apr 2004, 12 dec 2003, 09 nov 2004, releases by country.

Premiere Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival
Premiere Fantasia International Film Festival
Theatrical 14A
Premiere Gerardmer Film Festival
Premiere Cannes Film Festival
Premiere Paris Film Festival
Premiere 16 München Fantasy Filmfest
Premiere 16 Hamburg Fantasy Filmfest
Theatrical R

83 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by ♦️•Lily•💋 ★★★ 1

Leonardo dicaprio pointing at screen image but it’s me every time ray wise shouted laura in this

Review by a ★★★★★ 11

<3 "To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering." <3

I'm not ready to talk about this movie but on that merit, I truly don't think I ever will be. It did...something to me. If you go back to my Grave Encounters review a few weeks ago, I mentioned a Reddit post I made requesting time-warpy, lost-time type of movies. Someone recommended this and now I'm gonna have to go drive to wherever the fuck they are and give them a kiss on the cheek. It just means a lot to me that this exists, it just means a lot to me that this was funded, it just means a lot to me…

Review by Bunny🐰🪓 ★★★★ 42

Sure, get Atari but no Marilyn Bronson. If anyone in the world has a son like Richard and your marriage has failed, make sure you take your son with you when you are signing your divorce papers. And when you are done with all the formalities you better look that fuck straight in the eye and tell him " It's you..., you are the reason why everything got fucked up... you little shit..."

Meanwhile the son:- Can we stop in the woods on our way back home, I gotta smoke weed and jerk off... 😑😑

Dead End follows the Harrington family who are on their way to Frank's in-laws. As Frank Harrington decides to try a shortcut, for the first time…

Review by Tony the Terror ★★★★½ 6

I really love this little Christmas Chiller® and it has been way too long since my last watch. It’s got a pretty perfect blend of creepy and cheesy that just totally works for me. The whole movie takes place on a desolate road in the middle of the night and there are some brilliantly done scenes that take place in the woods just off the road. There’s also a phantom hearse that drives by every once in a while and that’s always good for some goosebumps, right?

With a cast that includes Lin Shaye, Ray Wise, and Alexandra Holden, there’s basically no,way this movie could have not worked. I remember being delightfully floored by it the first time I saw…

Review by Héctor ★★★★ 1

This movie was very good, it was funny, it was sad, it was scary, it was emotional in almost every different way, and it has a good twist ending. In my opinion it's one of the best low budget horror films ever.

Review by ana 🏳️‍🌈 ★★★

will never not be endlessly fascinated by early 2000's horror movies and their choice of soundtracks

Review by Silent J ★★★★ 8

aka I'm Really Sick Of Your Shit Until You Die: The Movie

Twisted humor, creepy atmosphere, naturally scary moments, interesting and original story, and great acting all make for a fun ride until the dead end (see what I did there).

Review by Taylor Heider ★★★★ 1

Great slice of early 00s horror. Love love love the shithead edgy teen son who carries a porno mag with him and smokes pot and argues with his dad about who Marilyn Manson is. Ray Wise and Lin Shaye are excellent as expected. There's a scene where Ray Wise starts screaming LAURA!!! and I felt inexplicable joy thinking about Twin Peaks.

The way this unfolds and each character starts to lose their shit a little more is so good. I kind of always thought this was some weird, shitty wrong turn-esque movie but it's absolutely its own thing and original and fun.

IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK, TO HAVE A NICE CHRISTMAS?

Review by universzero ★★

🎄 Merry Christmas! Horror 🎄 ( 2003 )

This isn't a bad film, but I'm not super into it. I've seen it before in so many different iterations. It's a basic horror plot without too much to differentiate it. It's an effective plot too, but only so many times.

This doesn't feel much like Christmas horror except they mention that they are driving to a Christmas dinner and there are presents. Other than that, this is your basic driving-the-wrong-way-forever-to-nowhere / looped-topography-in-hell film. I genuinely can't count the number of times I've seen this plot, but I watch a lot of this stuff, so it might be new to some people. If so, you'll probably enjoy it more than I did.

Seeing Lin…

Review by sarah ★★★★★

NO ONE EVER TALKS ABOUT THIS MOVIE BUT IT’S SO FUCKING GOOD

Review by Dan Abel ★★★

The Harrington family continues their Christmas tradition of traveling to their in-laws house for the holiday. They got on the road later than usual and find themselves in a rush so this time they take a shortcut that they've never taken before. What initially seems like a good idea to save some time turns grim when they realize that they are on a road to terror with no exit.

A few days ago this film popped up in a random post in a horror fan group on Facebook about favorite Christmas horror flicks and I saw Ray Wise and Lin Shaye in the picture. I instantly thought "how in the world did I miss this!?" Hell, I never even heard…

Review by ZaraGwen ★★★½

Lin Shaye being a crazy bitch is my favourite sub-genre

Similar Films

Select your preferred backdrop

Select your preferred poster, upgrade to remove ads.

Letterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps. Please consider upgrading to a Pro account —for less than a couple bucks a month, you’ll get cool additional features like all-time and annual stats pages ( example ), the ability to select (and filter by) your favorite streaming services, and no ads!

Dead End Movie Review

Written by Robert Gold

Written and Directed by Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Fabrice Canepa 2003, 85 minutes, Not Rated Premiered on September 26 th , 2003 Starring: Ray Wise as Frank Harrington Lin Shaye as Laura Harrington Mick Cain as Richard Alexandra Holden as Marion Billy Asher as Brad Miller Amber Smith as the Lady in White

It’s Christmas Eve and the Harringtons are making the long drive out to grandma’s house. Frank and Laura sit up front while their kids, Richard and Marion, squeeze in the back with Marion’s boyfriend, Brad. Everything is as normal until Frank breaks up the routine with a shortcut, but he starts to doze off behind the wheel resulting in a near collision. Although shaken up, everyone seems fine and the trip resumes, but now they begin their drive into the mystic. They spot an injured woman beside the road and give her a ride back to a rest-stop cabin they have just passed. Marion volunteers to walk back, in order to make room for the new passenger and to get some fresh air. As the family searches the cabin for a phone, Brad remains in the car to look after the woman. He confides that he plans to ask Marion to marry him. Meanwhile, as Marion slowly walks to the cabin she sneaks a cigarette and practices how best to break-up with Brad. She is interrupted by a passing black car that appears to have her boyfriend trapped in the back and Marion runs to her family for help. They rush back to the car to find that both Brad and the woman are absent and they race after the mystery car into the night. There is a very distinct pattern that marks these characters and the events that unfold during the night. Secrets are revealed throughout while a palpable rush of urgency smothers the isolated road on which they are trapped. Things continue to spiral out-of-control and the family is pushed to their limits, both physically and mentally as they try to reach safety.

Dead End tells an extremely simple story in a relatively complex way. The script tips its hand within the first 5-minutes, but the obligatory surprise ending becomes secondary to the twists of the road along the way. The plot is more about the secrets revealed that define the characters and draw the audience in to share their frustration of being trapped in this nightmare situation. In order for this tale to successfully play out, a rock-solid cast is mandatory and the actors on hand really deliver. Ray Wise ( Twin Peaks ) is fantastic as the father trying to hold his family safe, and Lin Shaye ( Critters ) delivers her strongest performance yet as the emotionally fragile wife struggling to keep it together. There is a believable sibling rivalry between Alexandra Holden ( Dark Reel ) and Mick Cain ( The Contract ), a challenge considering the polar opposite nature of the characters. Amber Smith ( Tell Me No Lies ) brings the creep-factor with a limited amount of dialogue, but presenting a character both attractive and dangerous Filmmakers Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Fabrice Canepa deliver a horror film thick with atmosphere and rich with tension. This is a strong character piece that draws out the claustrophobic nature of the situation. While genre fans will be quick to figure out the underlying theme, the classic Twilight Zone approach to the material will satisfy most viewers, despite the heavy-handed delivery of the final twist.

Video, Audio and Special Features:

Video, audio and special features will not be graded.


Movie:
Video:	n/a
Audio:	n/a
Features:	n/a

Day nine of Robert Gold's "12 Days of Christmas".

Day 1: Tales from the Crypt's And All Through the House

Day 2: To All a Good Night

Day 3: Silent Night, Deadly Night 2

Day 4: Jaws: The Revenge

Day 5: Christmas Evil

Day 6: Psycho Santa / Satan Clause Double Feature

Day 7: Santa Claws

Day 8: A Christmas Tale (aka Cuento de Navidad )

Day 9: Elves

Day 10: Dead End

Day 11: Santa's Slay

Day 12: Black Christmas (1974)

Confessions of a Serial Killer
Cocaine Werewolf
Deer Camp '86

OBEY - CONSUME

Hit the buttons below to follow us, you won't regret it...

Dead End Review

12 Dec 2003

After using the same route to drive to the in-laws for 20 years, Frank decides to take a short cut. As he and his family drive along a forest-smothered road on Christmas Eve, he spots a lone woman at the roadside and stops to offer assistance. Naturally, the ghostly figure eventually disappears and, one by one, so do the family members - discovered later in a bloody heap.

With most of the story staged either within the moving vehicle or on the featureless road, it is the interaction between the characters that is the most interesting feature. As the situation becomes more harrowing and bizarre, the panicked characters confess intimate secrets, resulting in a decent dose of dark humour.

The movie defies logic, but raises the odd scare, generates many laughs and produces a sufficient feeling of puzzlement and apprehension throughout.

Special Offer

Save over 50% on Transformers Double Feature!

Buy a Ticket, Save over 50% off on Transformers double feature to watch at home.

Experience amc screen unseen: september 9th, shh cinemark’s secret movie series: 9/9.

Buy a ticket to Usher: Rendezvous in Paris for a chance to win an Usher concert experience for 2!

Fandango offer: gift, give or receive a ticket to the forge.

Buy a ticket for yourself and everyone else you want to share the movie with through The Kingdom Builders Gifted Ticket Program.

Apple pay wednesday.

New Audience Score Badge Unveiled: Verified Hot

Today only! Save $5 off your order with Apple Pay.

Get deadpool's premium package today.

Get Deadpool's Premium Package - Includes 2 tickets to Deadpool & Wolverine, the Official Best Friends Necklaces, and more

Get two tickets to see Ryan's World The Movie: Titan Universe Adventure, a mystery toy, and more!

Rediscover the magic of hogwarts.

Save on select movies and get up to $5.00 towards a movie ticket* to see Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice in theaters.

Save on select movies and get up to $5.00 towards a movie ticket* to see Transformers One in theaters.

an image, when javascript is unavailable

site categories

Breaking baz: alfonso cuarón considers how acclaimed seven-hour apple tv+ drama ‘disclaimer’ qualifies for oscar consideration— telluride film festival, ‘the end’ review: tilda swinton and michael shannon sing away the apocalypse and the songs are pretty good – telluride film festival.

By Pete Hammond

Pete Hammond

Awards Columnist/Chief Film Critic

Telluride Film Festival 2024: All Of Deadline’s Movie Reviews

The Room Next Door, Pedro Almodovar, Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore

‘The Room Next Door’s Pedro Almodóvar, Julianne Moore & Tilda Swinton Talk Life, Death, Euthanasia, Female Friendships – Venice Film Festival

Watch on deadline.

In The End, Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon are the extremely wealthy mother and father (no one has formal names that we know of) of a family who have been living in this extravagant underground ice palace of a bunker for 25 years after our failure to do something about Earth’s climate change and environment finally did in all of humanity.

Well, everyone gets songs, and I have to confess the score is quite melodic, if sometimes veering too close to Joshua Hurwitz’s La La Land themes. Credit Joshua Schmidt with the music and the film’s director Joshua Oppenheimer with the lyrics. Oppenheimer (who wrote the screenplay with Rasmus Heisterberg) dreamed up this inventive concept, partially inspired by his love for the 1964 all-sung French classic The Umbrellas of Cherbourgh (also “coincidentally”? an inspiration for Damien Chazelle and La La Land ) . But he had serious issues on his mind including the way humans seem to be destroying themselves inch by inch with careless care of the world. So what could be the perfect counterpoint to demonstrate these last remaining survivors are in complete denial? They sing about it.

Oppenheimer is a documentarian of such heavy deadly serious movies as Act of Killing and Look of Silence but is also an admirer of Hollywood’s golden musical age and directors like Vincente Minnelli and Gene Kelly. Though this musical is an homage in weird ways, the fates of this group are getting increasingly darker. Shannon sings of regret for his contributions to the world’s end as a corporate executive who simply ignored the warnings out of pure greed. Swinton’s mother is finally coming out of her daze and love for material things and great art to realize they are living a lie. Son is finding independence, but it is the Girl who is proving the impetus for change, even at this point in these lives. Ingram ( The Queen’s Gambit) clearly has the singing chops and is the best vocalist in the cast, but all of them get through their big numbers with some style, especially as conflicts with the Friend and warnings from the Doctor begin to take hold.

Acting-wise you can’t beat Swinton who is among the most adventurous of stars, as is Shannon and they are well matched. MacKay has the perfect blend of naivete and curiosity, and all the others, particularly Gallagher as the longtime Friend deliver. Ingram steals the show and I would hope she gets future musical opportunities. The talent is there.

There are 13 original songs like “Big Blue Sky” and “The Mirror,” and it is probably no accident that La La Land’s Marius De Vries is the executive producer for music here, as well as credited with scoring with Schmidt. Jette Lehmann’s production design is a key player here, existing in a world all its own.

In some ways Oppenheimer’s seemingly bonkers idea of putting the plight of a family at the end of the world spilling their guts in increasingly depressing song makes creative sense. And yet still there is hope in this dire concept of a musical, and that is what we end up hanging on to, hope for humanity. And of course some pretty good songs still to be written.

Producers are Signe Borge Sorensen, Oppenheimer and Swinton.

Title: The End Festival: Telluride Distributor: Neon Director: Joshua Oppenheimer Screenwriters: Joshua Oppenheimer and Rasmus Heisterberg Cast: Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, George MacKay, Moses Ingram, Bronagh Gallagher, Tim McInnerny, Lennie James Running time: 2 hr 36 mins

Must Read Stories

‘the room next door’ gets mega ovation; read the review; ethan hawke & more.

Venice Fest Chief On ‘Wolfs’, Israel-Palestine Petitions & Junket Ire

‘better man’ review; pauletta washington & ‘piano lesson’ family affair, ‘deadpool & wolverine’ crossing $600m; ‘inside out’ now no. 9 all-time, read more about:, subscribe to deadline.

Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.

Cast & crew
User reviews

Humphrey Bogart, Joel McCrea, Sylvia Sidney, and Claire Trevor in Dead End (1937)

The lives of a young man, a young woman, an notorious gangster, and a group of street kids converge one day in a volatile New York City slum. The lives of a young man, a young woman, an notorious gangster, and a group of street kids converge one day in a volatile New York City slum. The lives of a young man, a young woman, an notorious gangster, and a group of street kids converge one day in a volatile New York City slum.

William Wyler
Lillian Hellman
Sidney Kingsley
Sylvia Sidney
Joel McCrea
Humphrey Bogart
86 User reviews
40 Critic reviews
4 nominations total

Top cast 53

'Baby Face' Martin

Mrs. Martin

(as Leo B. Gorcey)

Mr. Griswald

Mrs. Connell
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

Trivia William Wyler gave Claire Trevor an old purse and broken high heel shoes. He had her minimize her make-up and ordered her not to comb her hair when she got up in the morning. He wanted her to look like the downtrodden character she was playing.
Goofs While getting a kid's 3 cents back, the shadow of film equipment appears on the railing.

Hunk : Maybe I'm wrong. We all make mistakes, boss. That's why they put the rubber on the ends of pencils.

Crazy credits Opening credits prologue: Every street in New York ends in a river. For many years the dirty banks of the East River were lined with the tenements of the poor. Then the rich, discovering that the river traffic was picturesque, moved their houses eastward. And now the terraces of these great apartment houses look down into the windows of the tenement poor.
Connections Featured in AFI Life Achievement Award: AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to William Wyler (1976)
Soundtracks Boo-Hoo (1937) (uncredited) Music by Carmen Lombardo and John Jacob Loeb Lyrics by Edward Heyman Played at the upstairs party and sung by Huntz Hall in the street

User reviews 86

Aug 29, 2004
How long is Dead End? Powered by Alexa
When did the film open in Chicago?
August 27, 1937 (United States)
United States
Dead End: Cradle of Crime
Samuel Goldwyn Studios - 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California, USA (Studio)
The Samuel Goldwyn Company
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$300,000 (estimated)

Technical specs

Runtime 1 hour 33 minutes
Black and White

More to explore

More From Decider

Joey Chestnut Addresses Longstanding Takeru Kobayashi Rivalry Ahead Of...

New Shows & Movies To Watch This Weekend: 'The Deliverance' on Netflix...

11 Best New Movies on Netflix: September 2024's Freshest Films to Watch

'Unfinished Beef': Netflix Reveals Hosts For Labor Day Hot Dog Showdown...

11 Best New Shows on Netflix: September 2024's Top Upcoming Series to Watch

Andy Cohen Asks Brandi Glanville To Watch Him And Kate Chastain Have Sex...

Peacock Has Removed Raygun and the Entire Olympics Breaking Competition...

'WWHL': Bowen Yang Says One Terrible 'SNL' Host Once Made "Multiple Cast...

‘Wolfs’ Venice Film Festival Review: It’s the George Clooney/Brad Pitt Show … And Little Else

Where to stream:.

George Clooney

Ranking the Best Olympics Movies To Get You Pumped for Paris 2024

‘jimmy kimmel live’: kumail nanjiani says trump “s*** the bed” with his movie career after he criticized george clooney, “mad” joy behar, sunny hostin call out george clooney for turning on biden: “aired this dirty laundry to the world”, alyssa farah griffin accuses the biden administration of “gaslighting” americans on ‘the view’ .

Pick any scene featuring George Clooney and Brad Pitt in Steven Soderbergh’s Oceans trilogy, and the power of two stars colliding may prove blinding. These two icons since the ‘90s possess such ease with themselves in front of a camera that their comfort naturally transfers to a contemporary. It’s not that Clooney and Pitt can finish each other’s sentences. It’s that one doesn’t even have to finish the other’s thought ; they just know because they’re locked in on the same frequency.

Jon Watts’ Apple TV+ original film Wolfs , the duo’s first reteaming since the beloved heist series, attempts to cash in on their effortless rapport. This action-comedy shamelessly casts their personas and does not even try to hide it. As dueling “cleaners” for high-profile individuals looking to avoid detection of criminal behavior, their characters don’t even have full names .

A District Attorney candidate, Margaret (Amy Ryan), looks to contract Clooney’s services when a young man (Austin Abrams) suffers an accident in her penthouse room. A few minutes after he shows up, Pitt enters to help contain the damage in the hotel for the owner Pam (voice of Frances McDormand). The credits refer to them, respectively, as “Margaret’s Man” and “Pam’s Man.” But names aren’t necessary in this transactional world – both among the characters in the film and the audience watching it. They might as well refer to each other as “George” and “Brad” because those are the associations the film trades on.

The two rivals have a history to which the script vaguely alludes. Watts parses out small morsels about their competition within the industry, which could be either banal banter to fill space or potential spinoff-generating loglines. But he could honestly just cut the banter and lean into their established history: the Oceans series and their associated press tours.

Wolfs has something of a plot, too, as it follows a single night on the job where this team of rivals must be both competitors and collaborators to preserve the reputations of their bosses. The two men dodge bullets and barbs alike in a whirlwind tour through New York’s criminal underbelly as complications arise from their seemingly simple fix. It’s slickly shot by cinematographer Larkin Seiple (best known for his work on Best Picture-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once ) but generically conceived by Watts. Any hopes of him returning to the clever genre play of his delightful directorial debut Cop Car appears squelched by his time directing three Spider-Man films within the Marvel machine.

But, in all honesty, the real sustaining tension proves seeing how long the film can coast on just being “George Clooney and Brad Pitt: The Reunion.” Watts gets far more mileage than expected out of a concept that could just as easily function in the context of a Saturday Night Live sketch (where applause greeting the two stars would take up half the duration of the scene). But he doesn’t understand what Soderbergh did: stardom is but an artificial sweetener. This sugar rush of watching two familiar faces interacting can only sustain a work so long in the absence of style or substance.

Wolfs provides good fun for a while, especially given the dearth of vintage George Clooney leading man roles of late. (Please, someone lure him out of the director’s chair!) Watts knows how to play the hits and lean into their well-established screen figures. Clooney gets to do his debonair, silver-tongued schtick while Pitt rattles off his soft-spoken, sardonic observations with aplomb.

It’s exactly in line with expectations, for better but mostly worse. There are some gags about the two men’s age – pulling out readers, needing to pop an Advil, cracking backs, yawning – yet little in the way of reflecting what all that time watching them means. Unlike Top Gun Maverick , which took Tom Cruise’s advancing age as a subject, Wolfs just wants to make it 2001 again with these two giants. That’s fine when the film can subsist solely by feeding off their energy, although it’s not enough to survive a third act that forces unnecessary crime genre twists and turns.

Sony Pictures will release Wolfs in theaters for a one-week engagement on September 20 before Apple TV+ premieres it for streaming on September 27.

Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, The Playlist and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.

Wolfs (2024)

Is 'Power Book II: Ghost' On Starz Tonight? Season 4, Episode 6 Premiere Date

Does Jenn Tran End Up With Anyone On 'The Bachelorette'?

'The Deliverance' True Story: What to Know About Latoya Ammons and the 200 Demons House

Gary Coleman's Friends "Appalled" By Ex-Wife's 911 Call For His Fatal Fall in 'Gary' Doc: "She Didn't Help Him"

R.I.P. Julian Ortega: 'Elite' Actor Dead At 41 After Suddenly Collapsing On The Beach

Whoopi Goldberg Shuts Down Claim That Kamala Harris Is A "DEI Hire" On 'The View': "Women Of Color Freak People Out"

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

‘the end’ review: tilda swinton and michael shannon in joshua oppenheimer’s ambitious, uneven post-apocalyptic musical.

The last family on Earth finds their careful facade disrupted by a stranger in this narrative debut from the documentarian, also starring George MacKay and Moses Ingram.

By Lovia Gyarkye

Lovia Gyarkye

Arts & Culture Critic

Share on Facebook
Share to Flipboard
Send an Email
Show additional share options
Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest
Share on Reddit
Share on Tumblr
Share on Whats App
Print the Article
Post a Comment

In December 2023, a report came out that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was building a sprawling underground bunker on a secluded stretch of ranch land on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The project is shrouded in layers of NDAs, but it’s supposedly 5,000 square feet and will have its own energy and food supplies. When the end of civilization comes, Zuckerberg, like many billionaires, will be sheltered from impact.

Full credits

Thr newsletters.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

‘familiar touch’ review: a tender debut frames older adulthood as its own coming-of-age, netflix unveils new films, series from south africa at mip africa, let’s talk about sex, baby: erotic films seduce venice, soviet cinema legend inspires artist in exile in ‘i will revenge this world with love – s. parajanov’ (exclusive trailer), drew starkey says recording adr for ‘queer’ sex scenes made him feel “like you’re in an insane asylum”, anya taylor-joy’s dream disney role is elsa from ‘frozen’: “i would love to do a musical”.

‘The End’ Review: Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon Took Shelter, but 20 Years Underground Starts to Get Tedious

For his narrative debut, Joshua Oppenheimer hatches a sui generis musical morality play in which survivors deep underground (and even deeper in denial) consider their future.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

‘Better Man’ Review: Robbie Williams Biopic Would Be a Snooze, but for the Wild Choice to Depict Him as a Chimp 1 day ago
‘Nickel Boys’ Review: RaMell Ross Breaks Free of Reform-School Tropes, but Loses the Plot in the Process 2 days ago
‘Saturday Night’ Review: Jason Reitman Finds the Right Ensemble to Capture the Lunacy From Which ‘SNL’ Was Born 2 days ago

With “The Act of Killing,” director Joshua Oppenheimer approached the documentary form in a radical, seemingly unthinkable way, inviting his subjects — Indonesian gangsters who had once served on the country’s death squads — to reenact their crimes on camera. Why should his narrative debut be any more conventional?

Dissatisfied With Its Rate of Erosion, DVD Biz Fast-Forwards 2024 Decline

Taylor Swift Gives 'So Long London' and 'Florida!!!' Eras Tour Debuts at Final Wembley Show, as Florence and Jack Antonoff Guest

Popular on variety.

The resulting fable surely would have benefited from some kind of suspense — say, a thriller element that threatens its tight group of survivors — but Oppenheimer stubbornly resists such concessions. In the end, “The End” is less a musical as we might imagine than a handsome highbrow drama interspersed with melancholy original songs (fewer than you might think), penned by Oppenheimer, then set to music by Joshua Schmidt (a theater composer making his big-screen debut).

Identified simply as “Son,” the young man was born in this doomsday shelter and knows no other reality, though his parents have spent the past two decades repeating their self-serving version of events. Mother ( Tilda Swinton ) reminisces about her time with the Bolshoi, though it’s doubtful she ever performed. “We’ll never know if our industry contributed to rising temperatures,” says his energy-baron father (Michael Shannon), who’s clearly in denial about the world they left behind — a world they helped to destroy.

Down here, safe from whatever horrors befell humanity, the boy’s parents have maintained whatever sense of culture they can, with the help of a personal doctor (Lennie James), a butler (Tim McInnerny), a maid (Danielle Ryan) and an old friend (Bronagh Gallagher) from those earlier times. Mother spends her days rearranging the priceless artwork on the walls — including Renoir’s “The Dancer,” Monet’s “Woman With a Parasol” and awesome, enormous landscapes — and fussing over details like cracks in the plaster.

It’s been 20 years since they retreated to this self-sufficient bunker, and any notions of “normalcy” have long since been rendered irrelevant. They still observe all the holidays, putting on small, absurd pageants. Otherwise, “each day feels exactly like the last,” Swinton sings nearly two hours in, as part of her shattering (if shrill) “Dear Mom” solo. Their routines include swimming lessons and emergency drills, as survival is their priority — but to what purpose?

That seems to be the driving question of “The End,” which implies that people like these would have done better to prevent the apocalypse than to plan for it. For a time, the film plays like the extended womp-womp of a sad trombone at the end of a disaster movie, in which seven characters make it while the rest of the world perishes. Then what? Mother and Father raised the boy in their own image, making him the historian for their distorted truth while warning him of the danger of “strangers.”

And then one arrives, identified only as “Girl” (Moses Ingram). She expresses guilt for abandoning her family, which in turn dredges up long-suppressed emotions among the others, who made impossible sacrifices during the early days of the end. “Mom, in the beginning, did you see the people trying to get in?” her now-skeptical son asks. Such questions are not just inconvenient for the family, but also reflect the generational schism unfolding now in America, as young people judge find their parents’ actions tough to forgive.

Together with “Melancholia” production designer Jette Lehmann, Oppenheimer presents an elegantly drab bunker, buried deep in a salt mine but built for comfort — not unlike the Elon Musk-inspired base seen in last year’s “A Murder at the End of the World,” a project that delivers its big-brain ideas through effective genre devices. Oppenheimer would have done well to take a similar approach, though his resistance to such choices earns “The End” the imprimatur of capital-A art (at the expense of capital-ist entertainment).

Who will see “The End”? Premiering at the Telluride Film Festival , it feels destined to flop, while also being championed by those critics and audiences who rightly feel that such risks are to be encouraged. Oppenheimer’s audacity (and that of his backers) is to be commended, though his portrait of a certain highly idiosyncratic form of foolishness can’t help feeling foolish itself. Before any musical finds its way to Broadway, it is workshopped and tested to within an inch of its life. This one seems to have breezed past such steps, trusting the vision of its maker over the needs of its audience.

There may never be another film like “The End,” and that alone makes it special, though surely all involved would prefer for it to be seen. As it is, the film feels like an obtuse missive, hidden in plain sight, just waiting for intrepid seekers to unearth it.

Reviewed at Rodeo Screening Room, Aug. 27, 2024. In Telluride Film Festival. Running time: 148 MIN.

Production: (Ireland-Germany-Italy-Sweden-Demmark-U.K.) A Neon release of a Neon, the Match Factory presentation of a Final Cut for Real production, In co-production with The End MFP, Wild Atlantic Pictures, Moonspun Films, Anagram, Dorje Film, in association with Shoni Productions, Iambic Dream Films, Making Movies Oy, Bray's Run Productions, Finite Films and TV, with the support of Danish Film Institute - Film Consultant Mikkel Munch-Fals, the West Danish Film Fund, FilmFyn, Film i Skåne, The Swedish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, DR, YLE, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, DFFF, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, MIC,DOHA Film Institute, Field of Vision, Bertha Doc Society, Sicilia Film Commission and Regione Sicilia - Assessorato Turismo Sport e Spettacolo e Piano Sviluppo e Coesione Sicilia, Regione Siciliana, Sicilia Film Commission, PSC, Eurimages. Producers: Jeff Deutchman, Tom Quinn, Emily Thomas, Elissa Federoff Efe Çakarel, Michael Weber, Jason Ropell, John Keville, Macdara Kelleher, Andrea Romeo, Alberto Fanni, Joakim Rang Strand, Marcus Clausen, Waël Kabbani, Greg Moga, David Unger Sandra Whipham, Charlotte Cook, Jens von Bahr, Sam Mendes, Ramin Bahrani, Werner Herzog, Raffaele Fabrizio, Caterina Fabrizio Alessandro Del Vigna, Dana Høegh, Christian Bruun Melinda Quintin, Michael Quintin, Spencer Myers, Amy Gardner, Jean Doumanian, Ilya Katsnelson, Kaarle Aho, Celine Haddad, Greg Martin. Co-producers: Viola Fügen, Conor Barry, Flaminio Zadra, Tracy O’Riordan, Ann Lundberg.
Crew: Director: Joshua Oppenheimer. Screenplay: Joshua Oppenheimer, Rasmus Heisterberg. Camera: Music: Joshua Schmidt. Lyrics: Joshua Oppenheimer. Score: Joshua Schmidt, Marius de Vries. Music supervisor: Fiora Cutler.Choreography: Sam Pinkleton, Ani Taj.
With: Tilda Swinton, George MacKay, Michael Shannon, Moses Ingram, Bronagh Gallagher, Tim McInnerny, Lennie James, Danielle Ryan.

More from Variety

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 22: Musician P!NK performs during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are gathering in Chicago, as current Vice President Kamala Harris is named her party's presidential nominee. The DNC takes place from August 19-22. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Dear Beyoncé and Taylor: Thanks for Staying Home. The DNC Benefited From Treating Musicians as Opening Acts, Not Headliners

Beyoncé, Zach Bryan, Kacey Musgraves, Shaboozey Among Leading Nominees for ‘People’s Choice Country’ Second Annual Awards

A human hand turning down a handshake from a robot hand

Why Studios Still Haven’t Licensed Movies and TV Shows to Train AI

More from our brands, lara trump is still trying to make her music career happen.

We Recreated ‘Around the World in 80 Days’—Here’s What Happened

Club Sportico Launches Fan-Focused Sports Business Community

The Best Loofahs and Body Scrubbers, According to Dermatologists

High Potential: Sparks Fly Between Kaitlin Olson and Daniel Sunjata in Trailer for New ABC Crime Dramedy

IMAGES

Dead End (2003)
Dead End
‎Dead End (2003) directed by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, Fabrice Canepa
Dead End
Dead End
Dead End (2016)

VIDEO

வழி தவறி ஒரு மர்மமான பாதையில் தனியாக மாட்டிக்கொள்ளும் குடும்பம்| Dead End Movie Review I Black Mark
Death end re;Quest 2 [Switch/PS4/PC] Nintendo Switch Announcement Trailer
Dead End Movie
⚠️WARNING IF U SEE THE SHORTS⚠️
# Twist at End😉!!🔥# movie review# தமிழ்#@ stepila zone
End credits scene for dead poole and wolverine

COMMENTS

Dead End
Dead End. NEW. When a family en route to a Christmas Eve gathering decides to takes a shortcut down a wooded road, an eerie sequence of events signals trouble ahead. After nearly colliding with an ...
'Dead End'
on. December 7, 2023. By. Paul Lê. Dead End is the embodiment of the old saying "road to nowhere.". In this 2003 horror movie, one unlucky family's annual trip to grandma's house doesn ...
Dead End (2003)
Dead End: Directed by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, Fabrice Canepa. With Ray Wise, Lin Shaye, Mick Cain, Alexandra Holden. Christmas Eve. On his way to his in-laws with his family, Frank Harrington decides to try a shortcut, for the first time in 20 years. It turns out to be the biggest mistake of his life.
Dead End (2003)
8/10. A Great Low Budget Horror Movie. claudio_carvalho 1 July 2004. On the Christmas Eve, Frank (Ray Wise) is driving with his family, composed by his wife Laura (Lin Shaye), his son Richard (Mick Cain) and his daughter Marion (Alexandra Holden) and her boyfriend Brad (Billy Asher), to have the Christmas dinner at the home of Frank's mother-in ...
Film Review: Dead End (2003)
Christmas Eve. On his way to his in-laws with his family, Frank Harrington decides to try a shortcut, for the first time in 20 years. It turns out to be the biggest mistake of his life. REVIEW: 'Hell is other people' goes the old Sartre quote. Taken from his play, No Exit, and exemplifying his stance on existentialist philosophy, let's ...
Dead End (2003 film)
Dead End is a 2003 English-language French horror film written and directed by Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Fabrice Canepa, [3] and starring Alexandra Holden, Ray Wise, Lin Shaye, Mick Cain, Billy Asher, and Amber Smith.It tells the story of a dysfunctional family who find themselves on a never-ending road in the middle of a forest during a routine drive on Christmas Eve, while under pursuit of a ...
Dead End
Dead End - Review. Horror, Thriller, Mystery | 85 Min. Release Date: 12 Dec, 2003 ... Dead End is a mystery horror movie with a wicked sense of humour and a Twilight Zone vibe. Set around Christmas, a family are taking a road trip together when strange things begin to happen. After taking a short cut, the family become stuck on a seemingly ...
Dead End (1937 film)
Dead End is a 1937 American crime drama film directed by ... "Erected in 1931 when its area still teemed with tenements, it was mocked in the famous and popular 1936 movie, Dead End that was Lillian Hellman's adaptation of Sidney Kingsley's play." [5] Reception. Writing for Night and Day in 1937, Graham Greene gave the film a good review ...
Dead End (2003)
On today's episode, we take a look at Dead End from 2003. Christmas Eve. On his way to his in-laws with his family, Frank Harrington decides to try a shortcu...
Dead End (2003)
Synopsis. On his way to Christmas dinner at his mother-in-law's, Frank Harrington (Ray Wise), driving on an unknown road with his family, falls asleep and almost crashes into another car going in the other direction. Miraculously nobody is hurt and the other car is nowhere to be seen. Back on the road, Frank sees a woman in white (Amber Smith ...
Dead End (Movie Review)
Dead End (Movie Review) Sophie's rating: ★ ★ ★ Director: Jean-Baptiste Andrea & Fabrice Canepa | Release Date: 2003. By Sophie on May 09th, 2016. There are few things more terrifying than a holiday trip to visit your entire extended family and/or your in-laws, unless of course you're the Harrington family. Frank and Laura Harrington ...
Dead End (2003) Movie Review : r/horror
Dead End (2003) Movie Review. It's Christmas season, and this film is as good a way as any to kick things off. Although I suppose it could have used some snow to seal the deal as a Christmas movie. If you're a horror fan, then you'll probably enjoy this one fine. It's a little on the obscure side, which I love.
‎Dead End (2003) directed by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, Fabrice Canepa
If you go back to my Grave Encounters review a few weeks ago, I mentioned a Reddit post I made requesting time-warpy, lost-time type of movies. ... Dead End follows the Harrington family who are on their way to Frank's in-laws. ... The whole movie takes place on a desolate road in the middle of the night and there are some brilliantly done ...
Dead End
Dead End Movie Review. Written by Robert Gold A Sagittaire Films/Captains Movies Production. Written and Directed by Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Fabrice Canepa 2003, 85 minutes, Not Rated Premiered on September 26 th, 2003 Starring: Ray Wise as Frank Harrington Lin Shaye as Laura Harrington Mick Cain as Richard Alexandra Holden as Marion Billy ...
Dead End (2003)
Dead End (2003) I've been reviewing Christmas Movies for Ruthless for over a decade now. Needless to say, the well is about to run dry. I refuse to review the Hallmark or Hallmark type sappy dreck. A few is enough. However, I did not want to completely abandon my unhinged and relentless pursuit of this obsession.
Dead End (2003) has got to be one of the best Dark humor ...
Dead End (2003) has got to be one of the best Dark humor / horror movies out there. I can't help to love Ray Wise anyway just from Twin Peaks "Christmas Eve. On his way to his in-laws with his family, Frank Harrington decides to try a shortcut, for the first time in 20 years. ... The goal of /r/Movies is to provide an inclusive place for ...
I finally got an email about "Dead End" 2003's ending from Jean
Dead End is one of my favorite horror films ever and I just can't figure out why.. There was some debate on the ending and it's meaning. So, as explained, the whole event was the family trapped in limbo and when they finally admitted their demons they were taken. Andrea's vision of Limbo is sort of half in the physical world and half in the ...
Dead End Review
Dead End Review Frank and his family take a short cut on their way to his in-laws and see a woman in white at the roadside. They stop to offer assistance and really wish they hadn t.
Dead End (2003) Movie Reviews
Buy a ticket to Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Save $5 on Ghostbusters 5-Movie Collection; ... Dead End (2003) Fan Reviews and Ratings Powered by Rotten Tomatoes Rate Movie. Close Audience Score. The percentage of users who made a verified movie ticket purchase and rated this 3.5 stars or higher. Learn more. Review Submitted. GOT IT ...
'Dead End' Netflix Review: Stream It or Skip It?
The Problematics: 'Natural Born Killers' at 30, An Acid-Soaked, All-American Hellscape Of Violence and Venality Stream It Or Skip It: 'The Killer' on Peacock, John Woo's new take on his own ...
Dead End (2003)
#deadend #horrormovie #raywiseDead End (2003) - Movie Review | Lin Shaye HorrorIntro Audio by NoR Myers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHyNH9FcFS0Video foo...
Dead End (2003): A Christmas Horror Movie Review
In this episode, your humble Mom and Pop Video shop clerks, Joel and Tyson, are reviewing the holiday horror flick "Dead End" from 2003!Make sure to tune in ...
'The End' Review: Apolcalyse is Here but Tilda Swinton Still Sings
A review of The End, a musical about the end of the world with Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon and George MacKay in full song-and-dance mode. ... All Of Deadline's Movie Reviews
Dead End (1937)
Dead End: Directed by William Wyler. With Sylvia Sidney, Joel McCrea, Humphrey Bogart, Wendy Barrie. The lives of a young man, a young woman, an notorious gangster, and a group of street kids converge one day in a volatile New York City slum.
'Wolfs' Venice Film Festival Movie Review: It's the George Clooney/Brad
Wolfs provides good fun for a while, especially given the dearth of vintage George Clooney leading man roles of late.
'The End' Review: Tilda Swinton, George MacKay in End-of-World Musical
'The End' Review: Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon in Joshua Oppenheimer's Ambitious, Uneven Post-Apocalyptic Musical. The last family on Earth finds their careful facade disrupted by a ...
'The End' Review: Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon Took Shelter
In 'The End,' Joshua Oppenheimer hatches a musical morality play in which survivors deep underground (and even deeper in denial) consider the future.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Email not verified

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Where to Watch

Critics Reviews

More Like This

‘Dead End’ – Christmas Horror Movie Remains a Cult Favorite 20 Years Later

You may like

Terror on Tape: 6 Excellent Found Footage Episodes of Television

‘Clown in a Cornfield’ Movie Adaptation Rated “R” for “Bloody Horror Violence”

Netflix’s Halloween Horror Lineup Includes Slasher ‘Time Cut’, ‘The Platform 2’ and More

Bloody Disgusting’s Fall 2024 Preview: 40 Horror Movies to Watch This Halloween

‘Terrifier 3’ Trailer – Art the Clown Takes a Chainsaw to the Holidays on October 11!

Mob Entertainment Teams with Maximum Entertainment For a PS5 Physical Edition of the ‘Poppy Playtime Triple Pack’

Horror News | HNN Official Site | Horror Movies,Trailers, Reviews

Related Articles

Film Review: Wishing Stairs (Yeogo goedam 3: Yeowoo gyedan) (2003)

Horror Film DEAD END is back in post-production and scheduled to premiere in the Sumer of 2021

Film Review: Mecanix (2003)

List of the 10 Most Underrated Horror Movies from 2000 to 2010

Interview: Lin Shaye (The Call)

Jack Goes Home (2016)

Horror Movie Review

Awful Advent

Dead End – Synopsis

Xmas Road Trip From Hell

A Mix of Horror and Comedy

Quirky Christmas Horror

A Dream or a Nightmare?

Tense and Unnerving But Not Scary

Excellent Acting

A Confused Ending

Not For Everyone

Is it a Knockout?

Support Us:

Dead End (Movie Review)

Contributor

Check It Out

In-Extremis: Legal Analysis of Horror

Play Along With Our Horror Movie Drinking Games!

Movies Like Dead End

Letterboxd — Your life in film

Add to your films…

Add to lists

Where to watch

Read the signs.

Directors Directors

Producers Producers

Writers Writers

Casting Casting

Editor Editor

Cinematography Cinematography

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Lighting Lighting

Camera Operator Camera Operator

Production Design Production Design

Composer Composer

Sound Sound

Costume Design Costume Design

Makeup Makeup

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Releases by Date

Popular reviews

Similar Films

Select your preferred backdrop

Dead End Movie Review

Video, Audio and Special Features:

OBEY - CONSUME

Dead End Review

Special Offer

Buy a Ticket, Save over 50% off on Transformers double feature to watch at home.

Buy a ticket to Usher: Rendezvous in Paris for a chance to win an Usher concert experience for 2!

Buy a ticket for yourself and everyone else you want to share the movie with through The Kingdom Builders Gifted Ticket Program.

Today only! Save $5 off your order with Apple Pay.

Get Deadpool's Premium Package - Includes 2 tickets to Deadpool & Wolverine, the Official Best Friends Necklaces, and more

Get two tickets to see Ryan's World The Movie: Titan Universe Adventure, a mystery toy, and more!

Save on select movies and get up to $5.00 towards a movie ticket* to see Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice in theaters.

Save on select movies and get up to $5.00 towards a movie ticket* to see Transformers One in theaters.

site categories