Dread (2009)
(In French, On Cable TV, December 2022) There’s a nasty streak of mean-spiritedness in Dread that goes well with its dirty visual aesthetics. In most respects, it feels like the kind of torture-porn horror film in the wake of Saw and its sequels, grimy sets included. The one thing that gives it an added sheen of respectability is being inspired by a Clive Barker short story that predates Saw by decades. That cerebral hook is demonstrated early, as the film lays down its premise: here we have a gleeful college-age sociopath asking friends and fellow students about their greatest fears. He says it’s for a class project, but obviously (since we’re in a horror film) this is going to lead to far less benign horror sequences. After some throat clearing, the games become clearer when every character ends up in a trap designed to trigger their deepest fears. One of those intersects with maggoty disgust, so it’s not as if we’re in profound psychological thriller territory here. While borderline reprehensible and far from being credible, writer-director Anthony DiBlasi’s Dread stages a few set-pieces that ensure that it will stick in mind just a bit longer than your usual psycho-killer horror film. That’s not necessarily something to boast about, but it is something.