Dead End

"Read the signs."

Director: Jean-Baptiste Andrea Year: 2003 Runtime: 83 min IMDb: ⭐ 6.3
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Synopsis

Christmas Eve. On his way to his in-laws with his family, Frank Harrington decides to try a shortcut, for the first time in 20 years. It turns out to be the biggest mistake of his life.

Plot summary not available.

Summary adapted from TMDb and Wikipedia sources.

🎄 Holiday Cheer Breakdown

Content Warnings

⭐ IMDb Parents Guide 🛡️ Common Sense Media

animals are abused
spoiler Yes. See the comment in "does a pet die" for context.
a pet dies
spoiler [VAGUE DESCRIPTION OF PET DEATH BELOW] - - - - - - The 25-year-old-man playing the teenaged son tells his sister that he and his friend microwaved her hamster. All in the past tense. Nothing onscreen.
there's a dead animal
spoiler mentioned
someone leaves without saying goodbye
Yes
there's child abuse
Yes
there's domestic violence
spoiler A man beats a pregnant woman.
there's abusive parents
spoiler There are scenes where the parents aren't acting like their normal selves and they are mean to their kids, mainly verbal. Closer to the end though the father hits his daughter while in a altered state of mind, distressed and drunk, he snaps out of it after he hits her and is remorseful.
someone gets gaslighted
Yes
someone is stalked
Yes
there's addiction
Yes
alcohol abuse
spoiler A man gets drunk and in this state of mind beats a pregnant woman. She's slapped twice and then punched, dropping to the ground unconscious. This apparently sobers up the man.
someone uses drugs
spoiler A teenage character smokes a joint.
a woman gets slapped
Yes
someone's mouth is covered
Yes
there's excessive gore
spoiler It's hard to discern if it's excessive or tame, so if you're really concerned, I'll help you decide. [VAGUE SPOILERS FOR DESCRIPTION OF ALL DEATHS IN THE MOVIE] I will not be naming the characters or detailing how they obtained their injuries. It won't ruin the movie either. I promise. In order of appearance: - We see one very brief closeup of vague "gore" on an infant. Literally looks like nothing. It's evoking gore more than showing it. - We see character/s looking down at a body but we aren't shown it. We do see one of them pick up a severed ear that is attached to something else. The body is later described and visually shown in a cartoon drawing (non-graphic, literally stick figure). - We see a character have their lip tear off. It's not convincing but it is graphic. - We see the arm of someone who has been burned alive sticking up in the air as character/s look down at it. Nothing else is shown of the body. - A character is shot by a gun in one of their extremities. We see the medium-sized wound being given first aid. - The most graphic is a character who has their brain exposed in a severe injury. They happily play with it and they soon die. The way they react is more disturbing than the gore, in my opinion. - The (dead) body of the previous character is accidentally shot. We briefly see new blood splatter on their face but no new injuries are visible. - A character walks into barbed wire. It makes light contact with their temple. Small injury, it's very nonchalant. - We see a character's face become covered with blood by an offscreen body above them. We do not see the body, just the blood raining down from it.
there's body horror
Yes
heads get squashed
spoiler A character dies of head trauma and we later see the graphic, gory wound.
someone is burned alive
spoiler Not really, but one character comments on a corpse being burnt.
there's decapitation
spoiler Yes, but it's totally offscreen. We only see characters reacting to the body. It is also visually depicted in a simplistic (non-scary, childish) drawing by another character later in the movie.
there are hangings
spoiler The character that screams while looking up also gets drenched in blood from the unseen hanging body.
there's amputation
spoiler YES. An ear is amputated and shown onscreen. The rest of the body is also dismembered but it's offscreen and we only hear about it and see a childish drawing of the body.
hands are damaged
Yes
someone falls to their death
spoiler Yes if you count intentionally falling out of a speeding car.
Someone becomes unconscious
Yes
someone breaks a bone
Yes
a kid dies
spoiler Mentions of infant death. A teenager also dies, but he's a jerk.
a major character dies
Yes
someone dies
Yes
the r-slur is used
spoiler Around the 24 minute, the son says “I know you all think I am r*******.”
someone cheats
spoiler Discussions of past adultery.
a family member dies
Yes
a parent dies
spoiler Multiple parents die on screen.
someone is kidnapped
spoiler Twice characters are abducted in a car and shown panicking in the rear view window. The abduction ends shortly after in both cases.
there are jump scares
Yes
there's ghosts
Yes
someone is possessed
Yes
someone vomits
spoiler Around the 46-50 minute mark, mom throws up after eating a whole pie and chips. Happens twice, sound and visual
There's audio gore
Yes
there's spitting
Yes
there's a hospital scene
Yes
someone dies by suicide
spoiler A character puts a loaded gun in their mouth but does not pull the trigger. Later a character decides to end their life by jumping out of a speeding car. They survive the initial jump but die of their injuries.
Someone attempts suicide
spoiler The father grabs a gun and points it to his head but his daughter grabs it from him.
someone has an eating disorder
spoiler the mom binge eats and it is visually messy and audtiory. not discussed as an eating disorder in the film, but could be disturbing to some.
a mentally ill person is violent
Yes
there's misophonia
spoiler Purposefully loud chewing and swallowing. Baby crying.
someone suffers from PTSD
Yes
someone says "I'll kill myself"
spoiler In a way. A man says he would kill himself if his girlfriend left him.
reality is unstable or unhinged
spoiler The entire plot is revolved around their reality not making sense. The road they are driving on goes on forever when it should have ended ages ago. - spoliers - People die and it doesn't make sense how, and while their dead body is on the ground you see them in the back of a hearse trying to get out as it drives away. People appear and disappear. Everyone is very distressed because of this.
there's dissociation, depersonalization, or derealization
Yes
someone has an anxiety attack
Yes
someone has a mental illness
Yes
someone has a meltdown
Yes
there are sudden loud noises
Yes
a baby cries
Yes
there's screaming
Yes
there is obscene language/gestures
Yes
someone is watched without knowing
Yes
a pregnant person dies
spoiler There is a pregnant woman but she survives and her pregnancy continues, with a doctor saying that the 'baby will be fine'.
there is a baby or unborn child
spoiler Someone is pregnant
there are homophobic slurs
spoiler The son makes several “gay” jokes to his sister’s boyfriend.
there's ableist language or behavior
spoiler Some uses of the word 'crazy' to describe characters suffering intense trauma.
someone speaks hate speech
spoiler One character harasses a man about his sexuality, insisting that he's secretly gay. He is not, but the attitudes and reactions from other characters may be uncomfortable for viewers.
there is sexual content
spoiler A teenage boy masturbates to a pin up girl poster.
there are nude scenes
Yes
someone is sexually objectified
Yes
existentialism is debated
Yes
the ending is sad
Yes
there's end credits scenes?
Yes
a car crashes
spoiler Mentions of past crashes, a shot of a ruined car, and two scenes of a character falling asleep at the wheel and waking then swerving on the road.
a person is hit by a car
Yes
a car honks or tires screech
Yes
there's blood/gore
spoiler [VAGUE SPOILERS FOR DESCRIPTION OF ALL DEATHS IN THE MOVIE] I will not be naming the characters or detailing how they obtained their injuries. It won't ruin the movie either. I promise. In order of appearance: - We see one very brief closeup of vague "gore" on an infant. Literally looks like nothing. It's evoking gore more than showing it. - We see character/s looking down at a body but we aren't shown it. We do see one of them pick up a severed ear that is attached to something else. The body is later described and visually shown in a cartoon drawing (non-graphic, literally stick figure). - We see a character have their lip tear off. It's not convincing but it is graphic. - We see the arm of someone who has been burned alive sticking up in the air as character/s look down at it. Nothing else is shown of the body. - A character is shot by a gun in one of their extremities. We see the medium-sized wound being given first aid. - The most graphic is a character who has their brain exposed in a severe injury. They happily play with it and they soon die. The way they react is more disturbing than the gore, in my opinion. - The (dead) body of the previous character is accidentally shot. We briefly see new blood splatter on their face but no new injuries are visible. - A character walks into barbed wire. It makes light contact with their temple. Small injury, it's very nonchalant. - We see a character's face become covered with blood by an offscreen body above them. We do not see the body, just the blood raining down from it.
there's gun violence
spoiler A character puts a gun in their mouth but does not pull the trigger. They then point it at two other characters and shoot one in the leg. They drop the gun after this.

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