Dread

Dread is a 2009 film directed by Anthony DiBlasi based on a short story written by Clive Barker.

Three college students set out to do a project on people's innermost fears. One of them, a disturbed young man named Quaid who witnessed his parents get murdered as a child, takes the project to the next level.

Was part of the After Dark Horrorfest film festival.


 * Adaptation Expansion: Given that the source material is a short story, this is to be expected.
 * And I Must Scream: The final fate (presumably) of
 * Ax Crazy: Not only the guy who killed Quaid's parents, but by the end,  as well.
 * Blood Is Squicker in Water: When Abby is in the bathtub and tries to scrub off her birthmark.
 * Body Horror: After being humiliated by Quaid, a girl who has a birthmark covering half of her body proceeds to scrub it off in the bathtub with steel wool.
 * The Bad Guy Wins:
 * The Chessmaster: Quaid
 * Composite Character: A reverse case; the characters of Steven and Joshua in the film were both derived from the same character in the novella.
 * Diabolus Ex Machina:
 * Death by Adaptation/Spared by the Adaptation:
 * Distinguishing Mark: Abby has a birthmark that covers half of her body.
 * Fate Worse Than Death:
 * Freudian Excuse: Quaid witnessed his parents get murdered by a psycho with an axe. The other characters have skeletons in their closet as well.
 * I'm a Humanitarian: Of the forced variety.
 * Karma Houdini: Guess.
 * Rape as Backstory: Cheryl was sexually abused by her father.
 * Sadistic Choice: Quaid puts Cheryl through this.
 * Unwitting Pawn: Pretty much everyone becomes this under Quaid's "experiments".
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: It's hard not to feel sympathy for Quaid given what he went through. For the first half of the film, at least.