The Horror Collective was brought to life by the duo of Producer Shaked Berenson(Tales of Hallowe'en, Big Ass Spider)and former Editor in Chief of Dread Central, Jonathon Barken.
Here is a little about that first, below is from the studio:
Producer Shaked Berenson(left) (Space Dogs, Jeruzalem, Tales of Halloween) has teamed with former Dread Central Editor-in-Chief, Jonathan Barkan(right) to launch the new genre distribution label The Horror Collective. The banner will be under Berenson’s production/distribution outfit Entertainment Squad and Barkan will head the venture which plans to release 10-12 films per year. Like the name of the distribution label suggests, The Horror Collective is building itself to become a destination that fosters independent horror filmmakers and connect their films to fans. It will also finance and produce original content. The outfit’s inaugural film will be Elza Kephart’s Slaxx, which was the first project financed Entertainment Squad and will be released by The Horror Collective and enter the festival circuit in Q1 2020. Berenson financed and executive produced the Slaxx with long collaborator, Anne-Marie Gélinas of EMA Films.
“I want to make a home for genre creators to have their content made and to find the fans that connect to it,” Berenson said. “Movies like Big Ass Spider and Tales of Halloween, which, besides being a nostalgic love letter, was also a combined effort and collaboration of the horror community. That’s the attitude and goal I have with The Horror Collective, to keep doing that.” Berenson co-founded Epic Pictures and exited the company in 2018. While there, he had produced and executive produced more than 30 films since it was founded in 2007. Epic launched the horror label Dread Central Presents after it acquired Dread Central Media.
The Dare tells the story of a young boy named Dominic, who is on a trip with his parents.
One part of the story we see him exciting the motorhome in which there is a very loud argument.
He is met by a girl who, along with her friends dare him to eat a bug and have a spider rest on his face. The spider enters his ear canal and he runs off into the woods.
This sort of dare is nothing new for horror or any genre of film really. Remember the dare in A Christmas Story where the boy was double dogged dared to stick his tongue to the post in the middle of winter. The difference here is there is no forgiving, even 20 years later.
Dominic is in the middle of the picture(red shoes), his tormentors stand on either side of him.
the movie is mostly spent in the present time with its fair share of flashbacks, the story is nothing new here. Dominic has held his resentment for so long and with the guidance of his father/kidnapper who captured him when he was just a boy(above). He held him in the basement, there is abuse of course and this is where he learns his anger and how to put it on others.
Richard Brake-above(3 From Hell) stars as Doninics kidnapper/father and he is intense in this film, as he was in 3 From Hell.
Where this differs somewhat from the typical storyline of people being kidnapped and chained up is that the victims have to torture each other, leaving the, now big brute Dominic free to watch and make sure they behave while he is there.
There is a lame escape attempt and a really poor ending like wrapping it up for a sequel as they "never found the body" is spoken of by the young adults at the end of the movie.
We have never heard that in a horror film before.
Overall, minus the few bad spots, I enjoyed the intensity and the acting was solid and directing as well.
Watch it now: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/the-dare/id1499163212 DirectTV: https://www.directv.com/movies/The-Dare-ODJrU2xtQ3RHMFh0RjNzMlZGWGo1QT09 Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/movies/details?id=pZ_MZYs-nCw.P Microsoft XBOX: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-dare/8d6kgwxn1rc9 Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/thedare/395015474 Vudu: https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/The-Dare/1391008
Thank you for reading this
Sincerely
Anthony Nadeau
