Dread (2009) Movie Explained

Dread (2009) Movie Explained

Dread is a 2009 British horror film directed and written by Anthony DiBlasi and starring Jackson Rathbone, Shaun Evans and Hanne Steen, based on the short story of the same name by Clive Barker.

At a small college, psychology major Stephen Grace meets fellow student Quaid, who reveals his plan to conduct a "fear study" as a school project and record people as they talk about their greatest fears. Quaid, however, is mentally unstable and nearly obsessed with fear. Quaid had seen his parents killed by an axe murderer as a child; this is his greatest fear, and he wants to learn what others dread and how they deal with it in order to find a way to defy his own dread. Stephen's brother had died while drunk-driving, and Stephen wonders if his brother would still be alive if he had driven instead. To this day Stephen refuses to drive, opting instead to take the bus.

The men recruit Stephen's friend Cheryl as the project's editor and the first batch of interviews are conducted. Quaid quickly becomes dissatisfied with the results and picks a fight with Stephen by smashing the watch Stephen uses to time the bus schedule. Cheryl stops the argument by offering herself up to be interviewed, where she reveals that she was molested by her father as a child. He'd worked at a meat-packing plant and smelled of meat while molesting her; to this day, she cannot stand the smell of meat and refuses to eat it. This thrills Quaid, who says they are finally working with "honest-to-god trauma." He refuses to reveal his own traumas, but after having a nightmare while Stephen is in the house he reveals the circumstances of his parents' deaths and the at-large status of their murderer.

Quaid purchases a car identical to the one Stephen's brother passed in, telling Stephen that driving it will help him to "face the beast" of his dread. Stephen is only mildly shaken and agrees to drive the car as catharsis. The same day, Quaid is excited at the discovery of Joshua, whose fear is becoming deaf again after he temporarily lost his hearing due to a childhood accident.