My hard drive may be dead and if so im pretty screwed

When backing up my files to an external drive this evening my Imac completly froze and was restarted hard.when it goes to start up it wont get past the grey loading screen.I have tried using disk utility and it refuses to repair it,and on top of that if i try to continue through the installation process to just reinstall OSX it wont find the drive.I would hope that its not dead and still have a shred of hope that it isnt since the disk utility finds the drive and recognizes the partition still.The error it specifically gives is "Invalid Key length" and "Keys out of order" If anyone can please help i would be so greatful.Thank you

"The error it specifically gives is "Invalid Key length" and "Keys out of order""
If Disk Utility is unable to repair the above, you will need a 3rd party utility CD to repair. It appears you have directory damage.
DiskWarrior is highly recommended & will repair the damage.
TechTool Pro Will repair the damage. However, this utility CD does other repairs also.
You need to make your own decision on which to purchase. Read up on them on their websites because each does something a little different.

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