Dead End Road (2004) User Reviews

Lowbrow silliness

[claydogg · 3/10 · 10 June 2006]

This homemade horror movie tells the story of a dude who kills people using the motif of stories by Edgar Allan Poe. The local police have bungled the case for a few years, so now the FBI has taken over. They know exactly who the guy is, but apparently no one has thought to swing by his house, because that's where he's hanging out, running around in his vintage clothing and torturing the random locals. So FBI-chick gets kidnapped, which involves her father, the former lead investigator from the local police. To top it all off, a pack of wacky college kids have decided to camp out at the house and smoke a bunch of weed.

Mostly, the FBI agent winds up shrieking and running around like a little girl, and not a single one of the burly college boys thinks to just stop and take a swing at the wimpy Poe-boy. Mostly overacted and sometimes underacted, Dead End Road reeks of a low-budget, cast-with-friends production that has silly points too numerous to cover.

Extremely bad and painful to watch.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 3/10 · 4 October 2008]

Detective Burt Williams has been on the trail of the infamous Poe killer for nearly three years.Burt's daughter Kris Williams,a homicide agent for the FBI along with her partner Sean Michaels take over.Burt reluctantly steps down from the case and retires.For the next seven months the "Poe Killer" continues his murderous rampage until Kris discovers that the killer uses internet chat rooms to seduce his prey.She logs in as Annabel Lee and is quickly captured by Poe killer.It's time for Burt to find the sadist and free his daughter before it's too late.Amateurish and supremely braindead horror flick with no suspense and a bit of nasty gore.The acting is hilariously terrible,the characters are painfully dumb and the killer is not menacing.Still I have seen worse indie horror flicks.3 out of 10.

This can't be for real!!

[sdmitch34 · 1/10 · 6 September 2005]

This movie made me so angry!! Here I am thinking that here's a new horror movie, one w/a sense of intelligence & then the movie starts. The scenery, the delivery of lines, the costumes, the fake gore, must I go on? There are porno movies out with better dialog than this. I understand the concept behind indie movies, but my goodness, this wasn't just indie this was a high school book report shot w/a camcorder & the cast are all friends & relatives. This is 1 movie that was doomed from its beginning. Maybe if it was 1982 instead of the new millennium this movie could fly. But it seems to me that someone hung a rock around this albatross's neck & it was sinking at a constant rate of speed.

A disgrace to Poe.

[crimsonvendetta · 1/10 · 7 November 2005]

I'm so glad he wasn't alive to see this. This movie is a debauchery of his work. I agree with the other commenter-- this movie was a terrible disappointment. I'd give it a zero, but am forced to give it a 1.

The story was weak, and it reminded me of the days when I was a young teenager trying to write a movie, then looking back on it and realizing how horrible it was. Bad actors, family and friends, and someone stupid enough to fund it was how it was made. It's really amazing how strings can be pulled to get anything done. If this movie was able to make it out to the general public it puts high hopes on other indie film makers who have talent worth a damn who're struggling! This movie made me laugh, but for all the wrong reasons. By all accounts this was seriously not meant to be a comedy. Scary movie is a better play on a horror genre-- this movie just sucks.

An abomination beyond description

[worm333 · 1/10 · 26 March 2006]

IF you love movies about fruity dudes who prance around with a top hats and canes while spouting off random line of poetry while stabbing their victims then this is the movie for you!!

If you like movies where it looks like the whole thing was shot with a camcorder, and when people get disemboweled their internal organs are made out of baked ziti an marinara sauce this movie is even more for you!!

And if you simply love movies where the acting and dialogue sucks so much that it makes you feel dead inside, then for God's sake run to the video store right now and buy this movie right now!!! Hurry go before it sells out!

Just painful to watch! And not in the good way!

[Shattered_Wake · 1/10 · 15 June 2009]

First, let me start off by saying this film SOUNDED very interesting: A serial killer copycatting the works of Edgar Allan Poe (who is one of my writers of all time). Sounds cool, right? Yeah, definitely not. Probably the worst film I've ever seen. Ever. And that's not an exaggeration. I've seen a lot of very, very bad movies. This one takes the cake. And I was even prepared for a bad movie before going into it.

Perhaps the writer should've studied some law enforcement procedure: If you have the name of the killer, his entire life's history, a criminal record, and HIS ADDRESS, where is the first place you should look? Hmm. . . possibly. . . his house? What?! NO! That's a preposterous idea, Anthony! How could you suggest something so obvious and level-headed rather than going to a bowling alley? *spoilers end* Honestly, sometimes I can forgive a movie if the writing is good but the acting is bad, or vice versa. . . but this just had everything wrong with it you could possibly find.

I think my biggest pet peeve was how the police/FBI acted.

For example: Black FBI Agent: "Okay, endangered female, just sit here in this car in an empty parking lot while I go inside and look around the potential crime scene where a serial killer is supposed to be. Sound good to you?" Moronic Female FBI Agent: "Yeah, sounds a-okay to me. Go right ahead. I'll be sure to not focus on my surroundings or at least check the perimeter." Black FBI Agent: "Excellent, that's what I would do!" Honestly, if you want to be in law enforcement, rent this movie so you can learn how not to act. . . or if you're a human and want to learn the same.

0.5/10: A half-point just for getting a film produced and in stores. Congrats.

-AP3-

ever see those police films?

[slyguypye · 1/10 · 19 March 2006]

A low budget may be an excuse for poor acting talent and pathetic looking fake gore. However, it is not an excuse for poor writing. It is a talent to be able to write dialog without making it sound forced and mechanical. The dialog in this movie was on par with most instructional videos shown to fast food staff in training.

I also understand that one must make a few exceptions when it comes to acting talent when you only have 20 bucks to spend on it. With that being said, no serious director would have looked at these scenes and said to himself, "that was perfect". I see better character acting on Canadian television.

This movie had a paper thin plot, bad acting, poor dialog and holds no intelligent ideas at all. This simply proves to me that some independent films are that way for a reason. If your looking for a quick scare, rent anything else. Even the "Cable Guy" was a scarier film. After watching this film, I think i would have been better off watching a re-run on the X-files.

Where am I?

[ekimztelk · 1/10 · 5 June 2006]

How in the world does a thing like this get into my DVD player at home? How does it even get to be packaged and distributed? Are there absolutely zero screenings a movie (and I use that term loosely) have to go through before it's put on a video store's shelf anymore? I'm all for DIY film making but come on! That doesn't entitle me to get a group of my friends and relatives together, a crappy camcorder, an awful story and put it all together to create a heaping pile of crap and call it a movie. And I wish people would quit using the words "Indie" and "Campy" to describe these types of movies. They're not either. In no other profession would something like this be considered acceptable. If someone tried to sell you car that was as bad as this movie, you'd take it back and say it was a lemon. If it was a surgical procedure, you'd be suing the doctor for malpractice. I wish I could get my time and money back after watching this. Shame on the video stores who stock movies like these. They're a rip-off to the public. You want "campy"? Go get any of the Friday the 13th movies (even the LATER ones) or Dead-Alive. At least those don't make you want to kill yourself. It's because of movies like this that make people automatically equate independent with garbage.

One of the worst movies ever made

[lagriff05 · 1/10 · 16 June 2007]

You know, I really hate IMDb's censor system, since my entire review is almost gone if you take out the cursing. But here we go. Editing time!

Holy moley is this bad. I thought it might be a cool little movie, judging by the plot summary, since yknow I've blindly rented such gems as Frailty and American Nightmare before. But this is just abominal. It's about a killer who uses Edgar Allen Poe's works as reference for his murderous exploits, and the story of a detective who has to stop him. Can't these blithering hacks make a good movie without defiling the grave of a great horror writer? I mean, the kills in here are completely devoid of thought or originality, and the references to Poe are hokey and fake, without enough thought put into them. They're shallow, and they put Poe's work to shame. Full of holes, with awful sequencing. The acting is bad too, reminding me of the abortion that was known in some third world countries as "Fear X", what with all the pausing and un-emotional lines.

I realize this is an indie movie, but that's no excuse. I've seen high school kids act better then these morons, and I myself could've come up with better kill scenes and a better plot, given ample time.

This has no reason to exist. Avoid at all costs.

Dead end road

[amberkorn · 8/10 · 9 April 2006]

I feel quite opposite compared to the other comments posted on this website. The movie i feel was on a lower budget, causing the actors, and camera to seem not as high end budget. The plot of the movie was very unique i felt, far different than most other films that i have seen. The actors i felt did deliver a scariness to the movie. I feel that the scenes in the house was the scariest. The whole new age Poe concepts was set up kinda neat. and there was a lot of gore and killing in th9is movie. it started out well and finished well. I liked it! if THE movie had a sequel it would be neat to see how it ended. The camera work was different and interesting. The setting and the set up for the film was better than most indie films. I think Jeff Burton did a good job casting and directing the film.

Unique Story... Indie Production

[docagnt · 6/10 · 18 October 2008]

That's pretty much what this film came down to. The story really intrigued me as I was reading the back of the case at my local blockbuster, so i decided to take the film home and give it a watch. My girlfriend and I both agreed that the plot seemed promising and had a chance to be a good one, but the movie was held back by the low budget of an independent film. Watching the behind the scenes was also impressive, in my opinion. The movie used digital effects and i felt that the kill scenes were actually put together quite nicely. I can't say the same for the level of suspense or anything of that matter. Overall, I definitely hope to see more from Jeff Burton in the future. I think he would make a great director given a larger budget and better acting. He's on his way and hopefully we'll see more of his movies in times to come.

worst movie

[ApocalypseJack · 1/10 · 4 April 2006]

This was honestly the worst movie i have ever seen. the acting was god awful, the story line also was bad. it was however a good idea. if this movie would have had better cinematics, and a lot better actors, i might of had something better to say. edgar allen poe was a great Gothic writer, and this movie just destroyed it. why do people always have to kill good stories by making bad movies. the only good part was when the killer put the head under the floor with a tape going, that was pretty good. the swinging axe was just horrible, there was absolutely no suspense. and also when the killer is chasing everyone around in the end, he was going from one place to another in just seconds, it makes absolutely no sense.

Don't believe the reviews on the box. . .This movie is junk

[benfranklin100 · 13 July 2006]

Shot on video garbage with all the quality of a Wal-Mart training video. I'm not buying the whole "Indie films have to use cheap actors to keep costs down" line. If they kept the costs down so low why did Blockbuster charge me five bucks to rent the stupid thing. I knew that I had been riped off within five seconds of hitting 'Play'. This is not an "Indie" film. It is a blatant rip off that approaches the criminal realm. They might as well have put a blank disk in the box and called that a movie.

If your idea of horror is getting separated from a five dollar bill and receiving nothing in return, I'm sure blockbuster still has some on the shelf. I'm driving down there today to get my money back.

If they paid me five dollars to watch it, it would still be a rip off.

A waste of 10 bucks.

[glitter_puff · 1/10 · 10 February 2008]

I bought this movie sight unseen at a sci-fi convention and I got what I deserved for doing something so silly. Simply put this movie is implausible, boring and unwatchable.

I was so bored and disgusted with the lack of plot development that I turned it off to watch a repeat of Mythbusters. I understand that this was a very low budget move, or least it looked like a very low budget move, but that does not excuse the horrible acting, terrible plot and even worse camera work. It looks like something a group of college students did in between classes and getting drunk.

Maybe if the villain wasn't so laughable and the plot was something that actually could happen in real life with respect to law enforcement it might become so bad it's funny. This movie isn't funny, it's just bad.

Most simply put...

[MichaelRJR · 1/10 · 22 July 2007]

What to say about "Dead End Road"...

Lets just say that Edgar Allen Poe would have been so ashamed. The acting, writing, effects, and everything in this movie was just horrendous. That doesn't even do justice! This movie was the biggest piece of garbage I have ever had to sit through. That is also why I stopped it about 20 minutes before the ending because personally I didn't care what happened to the characters. I have seen bad but this was definitely the worst. I got hyped up for this because I am a fan of Poe and this was just bad. Just bad.

What upsets me more is that you can't rate films with negative numbers.

horror fans: guilty indulgence

[b-loman · 8/10 · 8 April 2006]

I don't know why that there is such backlash against this film. Being a horror fan of the slasher variety, I recently picked this title up at Blockbuster. After viewing it, I can offer the following: it delivers on its pretenses. Fans of the genre will not be disappointed: it offers gratuitous nudity; campy dialogue; and creative, excessively violent death scenes. Most of the acting is sub-par (especially the "kids"), but this can be expected from a horror film as the producers commonly employ the inept to keep costs low. It should be noted, however, that there ARE appearances from some actors that are quite competent: those that are acutely observant will notice such character actors as Dee Wallace Stone from E.T. and Anita LaSalva/Robert Leeshock from Earth Final Conflict providing solid work. The lead actresses are nice on the eyes (especially when they're naked) and they serve their purposes efficiently. This film doesn't try to be anything that it isn't. It's obvious that the director intended it to be a fun, escapist film aimed at the horror/troma junkies and he succeeds with aplomb.

I thought it was good

[daniel-mannouch · 6/10 · 12 October 2019]

I expected Dead End Road to be nothing short of a complete dud, with it's terrible reputation online only bolstering that preemptive impression. However, the film was really quite a surprise for me. Crowbarring in a straight faced early 2000's slasher into a Seven style police procedural makes for an engaging clash of styles, whilst it's all held together by the kind of aesthetic continuity that can only come from one person fulfilling many of the key creative roles.

The mostly stoned archetypal grad student slasher victims are rarely, if ever, talking about any meta pretensions, and though not having any standout personalities, they were not offensively obnoxious either. The cinematography of Dead End Road is of an abnormally high quality for a film of its kind. The framing is mostly excellent as well as is the lighting, which gives the film a great atmosphere. The score is also great and very fitting. Not catchy or all that memorable, but definitely serviceable.

Dead End Road has a lot of good going for it which is why i was at first baffled about it's negative presence online. And then I considered the acting, as well as the dialogue, which unfortunately are Dead End Road's weakest elements. It doesn't matter to many if a film looks or sounds good. If it feels cheap in it's storytelling, they'll consider it a complete write off and that's what has happened here. The performances range from stilted to scenery chewing and very few scenes feel all that grounded. This wouldn't be such a problem if bad acting fit the expectations of the genre. But Dead End Road muddied the waters by featuring an FBI manhunt story which is a small, but iconic series of films which for the most part have been exceedingly well acted. And if a film like this does start reminding you of Silence of the Lambs and Seven, then I could see that to be quite jarring. However, I couldn't care less about that petty crap and i see Dead End Road for what it is, a low budget slasher with great special effects and stunts, an interesting killer and a unique story within the sub-genre that's wraps itself up quite neatly by the end.

In conclusion, I was really impressed with Dead End Road. It fulfilled it's requirements as a low budget slasher film and did it all with considerable polish. I think it's an underrated early 2000's slasher film and for at least one watch, I would say give it a try.