Movie Reviews

Details: Created: 03 August 2020; Written by Loron Hays

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She Dies Tomorrow

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She Dies Tomorrow opens with a close-up of an eyeball. It is, in fact, our lead character’s eyes, and they are full of tears and lights as something incredibly atmospheric and hypnotic takes hold of her vision. This extreme closeup is only the beginning of this incredibly disturbing thriller that, while heavy in mood and some tasty, dark humor, is technically not a horror film.

No. She Dies Tomorrow is about all of us. And it couldn’t have been any more timelier than it already is as one person’s fear of dying is passed onto another person’s and then another person and then another person and then, well, you get the picture.

This moody film is powerful and raw and - as Amy tries to press her body into walls and floorboards - is something that all of us, I think, can relate to considering our quarantined lives and the fear we live with every single day thanks to Covid-19.

I doubt independent filmmaker Amy Seimetz, who wrote, directed, and produced this movie, meant to capture what we are all feeling with her latest film, but She Dies Tomorrow does exactly that. In it, a young woman, actress Kate Lyn Sheil as Amy, and her carefully mended life begins to unravel as she grows more and more convinced that, yes, she is going to die. No matter what she does, her clarity of thought never once wavers . . .

. . . and it spreads to her friends and her family members, throwing their lives out of whack as a result. That’s how awareness AND fear works.

I don’t know how Seimetz did it, but she manages - thanks to quirky edits, dark humor, haunting lights, and unsettling camera placements - to create something that we can existentially all relate to in its depictions of fear and dread. And, now, this film is not a comfortable or comforting watch.

Co-starring Kentucker Audley, Jane Adams, Chris Messina, Tunde Adebimpe, Jennifer Kim, and Michelle Rodriguez, She Dies Tomorrow shows just how fear travels from person to person . . . and sometimes all it takes is one uncomfortable thought to get the ball rolling.

There is no way that, thanks to this pandemic, our feelings could have been foretold and expressed this clearly, but She Dies Tomorrow benefits from something we are all feeling: existential dread. It is uncomfortable as it explores some pretty touchy areas and forces its characters to ask questions that there are no certainties to. It’s moody and atmospheric, making this film - now playing in some drive-ins - definitely not for the masses - although we could all benefit from its message of mortality.

Watch anxiety bleed in the most poetic way possible. She Dies Tomorrow will be available on digital platforms on August 7th thanks to NEON.

Details: Created: 31 July 2020; Written by Frank Wilkins

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Hulu and Neon had no way of anticipating the future relevance of the film the pair snatched up at Sundance back in January. Considered quite a risk to shell out $22 million plus for a time-loop romantic comedy anticipated to be a long shot theatrical bet at best and a risky streaming hit ...