255. Dead End

255. (28 Oct) Dead End (2003, Jean-Baptiste Andrea & Fabrice Canepa) 36

This starts as okay road trip horror, but rapidly devolves into banality. Rather than inverting or playing with clichés, Dead End lazily relies on them. The ghost story is trite, the loop the characters are trapped in is lame, and this shrill, unlikable family is never worth rooting for. There's not an element of the film that feels original or that hasn't been done much better elsewhere. The terrible twist ending is the final insult. Lin Shaye's performance is playful, at least, which prevents much of this from being a total snooze.