Premiering at the 2003 San Diego Comic Con, Batman: Dead End set a new standard for "fan made movies." Sandy Collora was behind this masterpiece and made it for a paltry $30,000. Batman: Dead End was supposed to be his calling card, showing off his directing skills (and he did a damn fine job in my opinion).

What's really fascinating is that this fan film came out a full two years before Nolan's Batman Begins hit the big screen, yet there are quite a few similarities in overall style and tone. Gone is the raging campiness of the Burton/Schumacher era, and in comes a nitty gritty feel that makes Batman far more human and accessible than previously seen on the big screen.

Watching it again after all these years, I have to admit that there are some low points in this movie (mostly with the cheesy dialog), but you're in for quite a treat once the action kicks in.

Fanboy favorite Kevin Smith called it "possibly the truest, best Batman movie ever made", and comic legend Alex Ross praised it as "Batman the way I've always wanted to see him".

Take a good look at The Joker. He's actually played by the late Andrew Koenig, who played "Boner" on the Growing Pains tv show. Note that the video below is subtitled in Croation (don't ask).

There's a couple surprises that I won't spoil for you new people, but let's just say that I think Wizkids could totally come out with a Batman vs... stand alone boxed set (based on this video) for us HeroClix fans (and HorrorClix fans).

[Spoiler]
A HeroClix Batman vs Predator boxed-set would be very cool, and it would be based off of a comic book too. Having it compatible with HorrorClix would be even cooler! Not sure how well Aliens would work into there though....
[End Spoiler]

YouTube video of Batman: Dead End: