Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Dread is a deliciously spiteful British/American produced 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

Based upon a short story by Clive Barker one wonders why this hadn't been adapted to the silver screen earlier . The source involved a student being forced in to torture recorded on videotape by an amoral intellectual voyeur obsessed by the human condition of fear . In the early 21st Century horror has seen a sub-genre branch out on its own , that of " torture porn " and the original short story could have been a very fashionable contribution of the sub genre , perhaps a present day version of the Michael Powell film PEEPING TOM . As it stands what we end up with a highly unsatisfying movie that plays up to the weaknesses of Barker's short story rather than its strengths First of all Barker wrote a rather talkative but streamlined short story . This is going to be problematic to anyone bringing the story to screen . The story proper that Barker envisaged doesn't really happen on screen until the final third . An impatient horror audience aren't going to pay their money to watch a character driven piece . Make no mistake the producers here aren't marketing their movie for a mainstream movie going audience interested in any sort of psychological horror but one where the intended audience are hardcore gorehounds so in order to keep the audience interested we're given several scenes that seem to be included to merely to keep the audience interested and some of these scenes are the lowest common denominator - one where the character is having a hallucination/nightmare/flashback . Very lazy writing on the part of the screenwriter and somewhat alienating too as these scenes are very unpleasant . In fact the whole look of the film is unpleasant as nearly every single scene is set in a dark and gloomy interior . It's not just down to the budget but also down to the fact that it's a British production and it's going to be difficult realising American locations in a low budget British production . This might receive some praise on an artistic level since the claustrophobic look and feel suits the story perfectly but it's a rather nasty and unlikable horror film and it seems a very long time ago Clive Barker was seen as the future of horror and had a massive trans-Atlantic hit with HELLRAISER

This movie in my opinion is truly a classic , the acting is brilliant and the story line is excellent , unlike some movies , in which the acting looks scripted and fake and the plot is rubbish.The movie starts of rather slow , but the ending is worth the wait. There is plenty of gore and suspense in between to keep you glued . This movie is not for the faint heart-ed or people who get grossed-out very easily.5.7/10 is a rather unfair score for this movie.The originality and simplicity of this movie is what makes it special.It's more a sort of a psychological thriller . Anyways , its a fun flick with plenty of gore , suspense and partial nudity.A must watch for any thriller fan.

Proof you can make a tense, riveting film on a shoestring and a reminder that Clive Barker is a great horror writer. Solid performances, well paced, often shocking and truly frightening complete with haunting imagery. Executive Producer Anthony DiBlasi who worked on the last few Barker films shows real skill as he steps into the writer/director chair and love of the material as he deftly handles it all making this one of my favorites. A movie built on developing the characters, that makes you care about them and what happens to them is a rare thing, solid performances from the main characters come together to make this one of the best horror films of 2009. Make it a marathon and watch the other films produced by DiBlasi and Barker Midnight Meat Train, and Book of Blood together exemplify of what can be done when a writer and filmmaker work together to bring more literal translations of the original work to the screen unlike so many book adaptations who's films barely resemble the novels.