Scary Movie Review

Dread


Stephen is a film student who is seeking an opportunity to develop an original thesis. He befriends Quaid who proposes they do a “Fear Study,” recording people talking about their greatest fear and how they try to deal with it in their everyday lives. Quaid had seen his parents killed by an ax murderer at the age of 6 and has reoccurring nightmares of the situation; this being his fear.  Stephen’s brother died due to a drunk-driving accident and he wonders if his brother would still be alive if had had driven.  Stephen invites his friend Cheryl to work with them as the editor of the project. Cheryl’s father worked at a meat factory and would come home smelling of meat while molesting her. She can’t stand the smell of meat and will not eat it. Abby, another student and a colleague of Stephen, has a huge birthmark that covers half of her face and body and doesn't want anyone to see it because she’s afraid she’ll be made fun of.

The project was suppose to be different and new since they would be researching how fear can control a person’s life, however Quaid wants to take it to the “next level” and make people face those fears.  Quaid makes Stephen drive the same model car his brother had died in, he traps Cheryl in a room with a piece of meat forcing her to eat it (she finally does after a week when it’s rotten) and releases a video of Abby taking her clothes off resulting in Abby taking a bath in bleach and scrubbing her skin with Brillo pads. In the end Quaid is the only one left “alive” with his insatiable thirst to watch how a person’s fear can make them dread they were born.

This movie scares me since it is very realistic but I continue to repeatedly watch it because most people believe monsters are some sort of creature like vampires or ghosts but in reality it’s us. We as human beings have a lot of power to hurt and kill one another and the director portrays that through Quaid. Throughout the movie you never really know what is going to happen, the music is always eerie, no one is ever calm and when you think you've figured out the ending you are in for a surprise. The movie shows no fear is too small.

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