diff --git a/lib/sinatra.rb b/lib/sinatra.rb
index 165f3a49..689d6467 100644
--- a/lib/sinatra.rb
+++ b/lib/sinatra.rb
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ require "rubygems"
 require "rack"
 
 require 'sinatra/mime_types'
+require 'sinatra/send_file_mixin'
+require 'sinatra/halt_results'
 
 def silence_warnings
   old_verbose, $VERBOSE = $VERBOSE, nil
@@ -70,6 +72,10 @@ module Sinatra
       @params ||= request.params.merge(route_params).symbolize_keys
     end
     
+    def complete(b)
+      self.instance_eval(&b)
+    end
+    
     def method_missing(name, *args)
       if args.size == 1 && response.respond_to?("#{name}=")
         response.send("#{name}=", args.first)
@@ -99,6 +105,10 @@ module Sinatra
     end
   end
   
+  def filters
+    @filters ||= Hash.new { |hash, key| hash[key] = [] }
+  end
+  
   def config
     @config ||= @default_config.dup
   end
@@ -153,9 +163,8 @@ module Sinatra
     context = EventContext.new(request, response, route.params)
     context.status = nil
     begin
-      result = context.instance_eval(&route.block)
+      context = handle_with_filters(context, &route.block)
       context.status ||= route.default_status
-      context.body = Array(result.to_s)
       context.finish
     rescue => e
       raise e if config[:raise_errors]
@@ -175,6 +184,19 @@ module Sinatra
     routes[code] = Error.new(code, &b)
   end
   
+  protected
+
+    def handle_with_filters(cx, &b)
+      caught = catch(:halt) do
+        filters[:before].each { |x| cx.instance_eval(&x) }
+        [:complete, b]
+      end
+      result = caught.to_result(cx)
+      filters[:after].each { |x| cx.instance_eval(&x) }
+      cx.body Array(result.to_s)
+      cx
+    end
+  
   class Route
         
     URI_CHAR = '[^/?:,&#]'.freeze unless defined?(URI_CHAR)
@@ -247,3 +269,7 @@ def helpers(&b)
 end
 
 Sinatra.setup_default_events!
+
+Sinatra::EventContext.send :include, Sinatra::SendFileMixin
+
+
diff --git a/lib/sinatra/halt_results.rb b/lib/sinatra/halt_results.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d6a67bd8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/sinatra/halt_results.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+class Proc
+  def to_result(cx, *args)
+    cx.instance_eval(&self)
+  end
+end
+
+class String
+  def to_result(cx, *args)
+    cx.body self
+  end
+end
+
+class Array
+  def to_result(cx, *args)
+    self.shift.to_result(cx, *self)
+  end
+end
+
+class Symbol
+  def to_result(cx, *args)
+    cx.send(self, *args)
+  end
+end
+
+class Fixnum
+  def to_result(cx, *args)
+    cx.status self
+    cx.body args.first
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/sinatra/send_file_mixin.rb b/lib/sinatra/send_file_mixin.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..50492b96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/sinatra/send_file_mixin.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+module Sinatra
+
+  def default_send_file_options 
+    @default_send_file_options ||= {
+      :type         => 'application/octet-stream'.freeze,
+      :disposition  => 'attachment'.freeze
+    }.freeze
+  end  
+
+  # Adapted from Merb greatness
+  module SendFileMixin
+
+    # redirect to another url It can be like /foo/bar
+    # for redirecting within your same app. Or it can
+    # be a fully qualified url to another site.
+    def redirect(url)
+      # MERB_LOGGER.info("Redirecting to: #{url}")
+      status(302)
+      headers.merge!({'Location'=> url})
+      return ''
+    end
+    
+    # pass in a path to a file and this will set the
+    # right headers and let mongrel do its thang and
+    # serve the static file directly.
+    def send_file(file, opts={})
+      opts.update(Sinatra.default_send_file_options.merge(opts))
+      disposition = opts[:disposition].dup || 'attachment'
+      disposition << %(; filename="#{opts[:filename] ? opts[:filename] : File.basename(file)}")
+      headers.update(
+        'Content-Type'              => opts[:type].strip,  # fixes a problem with extra '\r' with some browsers
+        'Content-Disposition'       => disposition,
+        'Content-Transfer-Encoding' => 'binary',
+        'X-SENDFILE'                => file
+      )
+      return
+    end
+    
+    # stream_file( { :filename => file_name, 
+    #                :type => content_type,
+    #                :content_length => content_length }) do
+    #   AWS::S3::S3Object.stream(user.folder_name + "-" + user_file.unique_id, bucket_name) do |chunk|
+    #       response.write chunk
+    #   end
+    # end
+    def stream_file(opts={}, &stream)
+      opts.update(Merb::Const::DEFAULT_SEND_FILE_OPTIONS.merge(opts))
+      disposition = opts[:disposition].dup || 'attachment'
+      disposition << %(; filename="#{opts[:filename]}")
+      response.headers.update(
+        'Content-Type'              => opts[:type].strip,  # fixes a problem with extra '\r' with some browsers
+        'Content-Disposition'       => disposition,
+        'Content-Transfer-Encoding' => 'binary',
+        'CONTENT-LENGTH'            => opts[:content_length]
+      )
+      response.send_status(opts[:content_length])
+      response.send_header
+      stream
+    end
+    
+
+    # This uses nginx X-Accel-Redirect header to send
+    # a file directly from nginx. See the nginx wiki:
+    # http://wiki.codemongers.com/NginxXSendfile
+    def nginx_send_file(file)
+      headers['X-Accel-Redirect'] = File.expand_path(file)
+      return
+    end  
+
+  end
+  
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/event_dsl_test.rb b/test/event_dsl_test.rb
index e5b6056f..9d269535 100644
--- a/test/event_dsl_test.rb
+++ b/test/event_dsl_test.rb
@@ -9,9 +9,11 @@ context "Event's DSL" do
     end
     
     get_it '/'
+    should.be.ok
     body.should.equal 'hello from me'
     
     get_it '/foo'
+    should.be.ok
     body.should.equal 'hello from me'
     
   end
diff --git a/test/filter_test.rb b/test/filter_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b