Dead End

While working from home during the pandemic, Becca started watching "Big Brother" while I was doing the 11:00 PM show. The longer it went on, the more interested I got and you could call me a fan. I have to say, this season has been crazy, mainly because this cast makes so many dumb decisions. One guy had two HOHs and accidentally sent a member of his own alliance home twice! Seeing these people accidentally evict their friends is like watching a horror movie where everyone does the wrong thing at all times. Plus, the season's lost its luster now that Angela and Tucker are gone because they're all too scared to take a shot at Chelsie. Oh well, let's talk about...

Dead End (2003)

I was in the mood for something under the radar, so I went to Reddit to look up some hidden gems. What caught my eye was how many people praised this movie. Curious, I searched the title and was intrigued by the plot, then I saw the cast and couldn't hit play fast enough.

Frank Harrington, played by Ray Wise, is driving to the home of his wife, played by Lin Shaye, mother's home on Christmas Eve. No one is particularly happy, all of them have their own things going on and it's slowly eating away at them. Even during the early part, when movies usually go out of their way to show you how happy everyone is, Frank looks like he's one second away from purposely crashing the car, and killing everyone inside.

During the drive, Frank decides to take the scenic route for the first time because he's bored with the interstate. We meet the characters and find out what makes them tick. There are the two parents, there's the daughter, Marion, who is an aspiring shrink, her boyfriend Brad, a baseball player who humorously only speaks in baseball cliches and metaphors and the younger brother Richard, who is just the absolute worst. Every time he opens his mouth you want to see a piano dropped on his head.

It's a long road with nothing but dense forest on both sides. During the drive, Frank nods off and he starts swerving before nearly crashing into an oncoming car. After getting out, they each take some time to gather themselves and Richard continues to get worse to the point where any moment he stops talking is a relief. After they get back on the road the father sees a woman in white walking in the woods holding a baby. Shortly after picking her up, things start to go horribly wrong for the family.

I think my favorite thing about this movie is what happens right before a family member dies. The family is stuck on this road for hours, without a single turnoff and without seeing any type of vehicle the entire time. Out of nowhere, a black hearse creeps out of the darkness. Once it passes, you can see one of the family inside the trunk, pounding on the glass for help. Minutes later their bodies are found mutilated in the road. The car creeping past them is such a cool visual because before you even know what's in the back, there's such a strong sense of dread every time it comes up.

I also liked that as the stakes and the body count grew, the enormity of the situation got to all of them. Their insults were more biting, their patience was thinner and the pressure was getting to them in very real ways, although their violence towards each other came a little out of nowhere at times. Lin Shaye is also awesome in this movie. While I was relieved at the death of her son, Shaye takes it very hard and the moment breaks her. From that moment on, she gives up on sanity. She floats around like the situation is happening to someone else and acts like nothing's wrong. She's convinced nothing's happened and their son is just resting. She starts acting like a child who doesn't understand the situation she's in. She even gets a hold of a shotgun, in the most tense in the movie. Her portrayal and the surviving family's reactions to her insanity are extremely effective.

The movie does a lot of cool things, but I was able to figure out the ending pretty quickly. That's not to say it's bad. I've read that some people were surprised by what happened, so maybe it wasn't as obvious as I thought it was, but still, there's nothing wrong with it. Sometimes the obvious answer IS the correct one as long as the journey to get there is worth taking. While I was able to piece together the overarching ending, it still does some pretty neat stuff after the reveal. For instance, how they figure out what happened is cool, the role of the lady in white and her motivations are a highlight and the street signs are a nice touch. The lady's delivery of the line, "He's not here for you," is so full of bitterness and sadness that it really adds to her character. I also liked the timing of each death, you think it's just random, but you realize they all met their ends at very specific times.