Batman: Dead End
The clock tower strikes midnight in a rainy, cold, and dreary Gotham City. The Joker has just escaped from Arkham Asylum once again. The bat signal has been illuminated and Batman is on the case. He tracks his arch nemesis to a dead end alley. The Joker is no match for the Bat, but what else lurks in the dark shadows of the alley, very well might be…
Until the first Christopher Nolan Batman films came along, many Batman fans considered this short film made by Sandy Collora the truest-to-comic-book movie incarnation of The Dark Knight. This premiered at the 2003 San Diego Comic-Con (before movie studios and celebrities invaded) and was a monster hit with fans. It was created by Sandy Collora for around $30,000 – and fans went crazy when they saw it at the time. Unfortunately, nothing much came of it for Collora, who intended the short film to showcase his abilities as a director (the only film he’s directed since creating Hunter Prey).
Keep in mind that at the time Batman: Dead End was made (two years before Batman Begins was released) the most recent Batman film was the horrifically awful Batman & Robin by Joel Shumacher, which starred George Clooney as Batman with Chris O’Donnell as Robin, Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze and Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy. This was the film that put the final nail in that generation’s Batman movie franchise coffin, with an uber-camp script, silver highlights on the Batman costume, and the infamous Bat-nipples (technically those were gone after the previous film, but Robin still had them).
So when the last Batman movie you saw looked like this:
![batman and robin costumes SR Pick [Video]: Batman Dead End](http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/batman-and-robin-costumes.jpg "'Batman & Robin' costumes")
Imagine the wild relief of fans when they saw the 8-minute film above that represented Batman like this:
![batman dead end SR Pick [Video]: Batman Dead End](http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/batman-dead-end.jpg "Batman: Dead End")
Of course since then, Christopher Nolan went on to give us what may end up being considered the definitive Dark Knight movie trilogy, but at the time, Batman: Dead End was a welcome sign that a satisfying Batman film WAS possible.
A bit of Screen Rant trivia: This was actually the very first item published on the site, WAY back on November 13, 2003 (time flies!), but we’ve resurrected it here today for your viewing pleasure. ![icon smile SR Pick [Video]: Batman Dead End](http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif "SR Pick [Video]: Batman Dead End"){kind=icon}
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No, you resurrected this video to trick everyone into watching yet another required ad that this site is laced with. Cudos to you once again, screenrant! By the way, hope to see more half and full screen pop-ups soon!
Finally! Someone with a legitimate complaint about a website.
… and I am being sarcastic.
this is so old i bought this at comic con 04.
& the director is a female she also did a superman & batman short film.
5 bucks for 2 cd’s plus behind the scenes.
& all u haters i’d like to see u save a little $$$$ & make ur own sorry a-double S film.
untill then KiCK ROCKS
Sandy Collora is a man.
I loved this short film, i so wished *still do* for an official hollywood live action Batman versus Predator then Batman versus Predator versus Aliens.
People would be all over those movies.
Wow, that movie was completely awful. And someone please tell me how this is supposed to be “true-to-comic”? It has a xenomorph and predator for Christ’s sake!
How was that completely awful? It had freaking BATMAN vs. two of the most famous movie monsters made after the 1930s. Batman and Joker looked like they’d stepped out of a comic page without looking absolutely rediculouse.
And Batman has fought the Predator twice.
http://www.dc.wikia.com/wiki/Batman_versus_Predator_Vol_1_1
lol first and last visit to this website.
The director of this film clearly has some talent for directing actors, a nice performance from the Joker, but he falls into the trap that a million other would-be directors fall into, which is re-hashing stuff they’ve seen before in other films. He is essentially doing his best to copy the work of established directors. This could be seen as an admiring homage, or simply a lack of original thought. But this is not a critique of one director. This is a problem that goes right to the top of Hollywood. They do sequels and re-boots because it is less of a financial risk to release films with a pre-existing audience. I think what they should be doing is transferring some of the profits from the big franchises into developing original material for the screen.
Two ads in an 8 min film?
I saw this back in ’06 and started corresponding with Andrew Koenig who plays The Joker in the short. He is the son of Walter Koenig, “Chekhov” from Star Trek. We exchanged a few emails and he talked about working hard to find roles as a young actor. He committed suicide by hanging in 2010. His portrayal of The Joker is awesome – we missed out on a great talent. Very sad.
sure you did MIKE B LMAO and Jennifer Lopez is my baby momma !! lmao
@ Ben what comic con did you go to Sandy is a man!! (incert crying game theme song here) but any who this is awsome pawsome!!
This is my first time seeing this, but all things considered, I found it it surprisingly good. You don’t find many fanmade films with this kind of quality. Sure the costumes of Batman and the Joker weren’t as well done and professional looking as they are in “real,” movies, but the Xenomorph and Predator costumes make up for that, likely where most of the $30,000 mentioned in the article went. I still find it hard it to believe someone spent that much on a project like this, but wow.
For such a short fanmade film, this was pretty good, makes the second fanmade film I’ve seen in as many days that looked almost topnotch (the other being very likely to soon-be-infamous Star Wars anime-like short ship-to-ship battle scene on youtube that was put up by Otaking77077; apparently the original one was taken down but someone else posted a version with music.
Does anyone know if there’s any other fanmade films this good? I’m not talking about something good enough for theaters, though that would be nice, just better than random youtube trash.
@Duraiken – there’s a few really good ones. Check out Batman: City Of Scars and Batman: Seeds of Arkham, both produced by Bat In The Sun Productions. IMO, Kevin Porter(the actor playing Batman in these shorts), is the best Batman. He has the look and sound of TAS Batman (Kevin Conroy ftw!). There is also a good Wolverine Vs. Batman short.
City of Scars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nCcdec8WdM
Seeds of Arkham: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iisSWr1Pf0c&feature=relmfu
Vs. Wolverine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuKQ3Oc97Wk&feature=relmfu
Enjoy!
Wow. Thanks TZ. I’m 5 minutes into City of Scars, looks extremely well-done, production quality looks as good or better than most prime-time tv shows.
@Chad Pritt – No prob! Yeah, I was thinking the same thing! I would love to see Kevin Porter as the new Batman! Especially if Henry Cavill reprises his role as Superman for a JLA movie. I feel that they would look right together as Batman and Supes!
Test from android
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Sorry, another test
I really enjoyed it. Maybe after the beat the actual batman movie series to death they can do a Batman v. Predator v. Aliens.
What the heck did I just watch?
IM SICK OF EVERY GOD DA** TIME I WATCH A VID ON THIS SITE THE WINDOW IS 1″ by 1″ WHAT GIVES
On what do you watch these vids? I’m on my tablet and able to watch full screen. Do you, perhaps, have SR set on “mobile” instead of “desktop”?
I just logged on…10:03PM Eastern USA time, i saw your post and showed my wife the stupid 1″ X 1″ box and started the Video to show that it does not get bigger when viewed, AND IM ON A 17″ laptop????
Cant wait to see you guys do better
The actor who plays the Joker in this film short is Andrew Koenig, son of Walter Koenig who played Chekov in the original Star Trek series. Andrew committed suicide in 2010.