Comments on: Shane Carruth’s The Dead Center Explained

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 18:44:41 +0000

Medical examiner is a detective, a coroner is a medical doctor that is also a detective who investigates (autopsies) dead bodies for signs of criminal activity.
On another note. I thoroughly enjoyed The Dead Center. Amazon have it a 3.5 star rating. I give it a 4.75.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 17 Apr 2021 04:50:45 +0000

I enjoyed it, it was really different and since I’ve watched nearly every horror movie in existence, it’s always nice to find little gems like this one I missed. I thought the ending was pretty lazy, though. I mean basically every supernatural thriller ends this exact same way. The hero appears to defeat the badness, cut to next scene, oh no now the hero is possessed or we see the evil thing get up in the distance. It’d almost be better if John Doe just straight up killed Carruths character and walked off into the sunset to slaughter more innocents.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 15:59:26 +0000

Yes and the story with him really went nowhere since he did all that investigating only to come to a very abrupt end. I also wondered why a medical examiner was doing an investigation like a detective.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 05:36:01 +0000

Love this synthesis and Shane Carruth’s work. Just a note though, that guy that beat Shane to Clark’s parents house was the medical examiner, not a detective, I think.

By: Tom fattorusso

Tom fattorusso — Thu, 31 Oct 2019 02:59:40 +0000

Borders on A plus territory but for a few glitches already mentioned above such as the absolutely go nowhere coroner investigator i know its a cool way to slide in exposition but his demise is a bit can anyone say Nauls from the Thing
Also the denouement screams alien covenant but still finely done i hate when horror movies try to tie it all up in a nice bow
So im a fan of the ending totally
The entire plot is just too much old roads taken that is what keeps it from the A+
It does get an A for true suspense dread great acting i did love the cinematic feel of it we dont need trippy shots
Absolutely loved Shane and am now a fan of his
I put this right up there with Sinister Insideous and Hereditary

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sat, 19 Oct 2019 13:31:08 +0000

First off I absolutely love Shane Carruth. He’s got that sexy nerd thing going on that I find adorable. But I wanted to love this movie and I did not. Agreeing with deKev about the medical examiner. We follow him around the whole film while he investigates (which is a bit weird for a doc to be doing but anyway…) and he just winds up tossed in the pile of dead. A bit of a letdown there. I absolutely agree with theory number 3 because we see the evil pulsing in his face in the last scene where he’s in the ambulance. So we definitely had a jump either because it’s hard to resurrect someone with a bloody pulp for a head or because the evil realizes doc is a better candidate. All in all I enjoyed the film for what it was and will give SC a pass because he acted his heart out and what was wrong with the film certainly wasn’t his doing!

By: Christina Mary Brown

Christina Mary Brown — Sat, 19 Oct 2019 05:23:55 +0000

I love horror movies and nothing ever really scares me or bothers me after I am done….However. This film was beyond creepy. I watched late at night alone and I was tired but couldn’t close my eyes without thinking about it. I had to get up and watch Its Always Sunny to get my mind off of it. Highly recommended if you want to be severely creeped out. I can’t even put my finger on what exactly was so scary but it was really a very frightening movie.

By: deKev

deKev — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 11:29:28 +0000

It’s got to be Theory #3, “Daniel is The Darkness”, or “Here We Go Again”, if I may, ha.

In any case, one possible plot point that I’d like to highlight is that during the final fight between Daniel and Michael, is it at all possible that the Darkness gives up on Michael voluntarily and transfers Itself into Daniel because It sees Daniel as the “better” host body? My point being there’s a bit of disconnect between Daniel being on the ropes with Michael about to deliver his signature coup de grace, and Daniel then somehow gaining the upper hand and bashing Michael into pulp. Or did I miss something here?

As for the movie itself, it is a bit of a letdown for me. First of all, it does not have an original concept of notable horror movies like It Follows or even Lights Out. The “bringing the dead back to life while something evil comes along too” concept has been done to death (puns intended) already in many other horror movies. Pet Sematary and The Lazarus Effect, to name but two. This movie is also shot kinda matter-of-factly, or in a workmanlike manner, if I may, which is really lacking in atmosphere for me. I think the movie probably has the most brightly-lit and so least horrifying morgue or hospital scenes I have ever seen in a horror movie. On the other hand, there aren’t any cliched dream sequences or obligatory jump scenes either, a rarity for a horror movie, which is so refreshing! Finally, I also feel the subplot of the medical examiner going about his investigation, while providing more background on Michael, could have provided a bit more payoff to the denouement too.