John Chard

Sexy is unique. Dread is a deliciously spiteful British horror adapted from a Clive Barker short story. Plot has three college students meeting up and working together on a documentary about the nature of people’s fears. As things progress it becomes apparent that one of them has an ulterior motive. Director and screenplay writer Anthony DiBlasi spends a considerable portion of the film establishing the psychological make-ups of the principal players, which is a key component to making the film work. Theo Green’s music trundles away menacingly during this portion of pic, while Sam McCurdy’s photography is on the money, with unnerving shades of green, reds and blues stripped back for a perfect troubled world feel. Once the worm turns, and motives and mental anguishes show themselves, Dread reveals a cruel hand of such psychological force that the impact is troubling. Yet this is no torture porn picture, the gore is minimum and this for sure is not a slasher type of film either. It’s a slice of mental cruelty mixed with a damaged seed, two bad aspects of human nature crashing together to assault those interested in the psychologically based splinter of horror. Oh and the ending is a cracker-jack, guaranteed to jolt you, for better or worse! 7.5/10