Death is inevitable. Death comes in threes. No matter what one’s superstitious or religious belief about death, one thing all must agree on is that every person that is living will at some point face death. It is the unspoken, inescapable end that, in order to get through life, most humans live in denial of: that death is coming.
New movie She Dies Tomorrow forces viewers to flip that denial switch off and face the fact that not only are people living with the fact that they are dying, it is imminent. Written and directed by Amy Seimetz, most noted for directing shorts and indie films, and an accomplished actress in her own right (Pet Sematary, Upstream Color), this is an intriguing creation about living with death. Part horror, part suspense, and part character piece, this movie doesn’t fit into any single Hollywood genre.
It stars Kate Lyn Sheil (Equals, V/H/S) as Amy, an unstable recluse who is also a recovering alcoholic, desperately trying and failing to stay on the wagon. Jane Adams (Happiness, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) plays her concerned friend Jane, who checks in on her to make sure she is okay but is also tragically flawed within her own family. Jane’s brother Jason, and his wife Susan, (Chris Messina and Katie Aselton) barely tolerate her and her eccentric ways. Jane too is something of a recluse, living alone, and taking artsy photos of images through a microscope.
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A set of flashing lights comes along with eerie whispering, creating a frenzy within our main character that death is impending. With only twenty-four or so hours left on the planet, the choices she makes and activities she chooses to participate in draw in the viewer to examine exactly what one might do knowing that tomorrow would be the end. Even worse than knowing her demise, once confessing it, the next person then becomes infected with the knowledge that death is coming for them as well.
The story alone, while compelling, isn’t the only focal point of the film. The stunning photographs that Jane takes through her microscope are alive and moving, and then she blows them up into giant poster prints, which can be seen throughout the film and her home and her brother’s house. There are also some amazing desert scenes that give the viewer the feel of sand and sun.
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Each character comes to deal with the idea of death in a myriad of different ways, which allows viewers to possibly identify with the emotions of every personality in a unique way. There is no escaping death watching this movie, and while it is entertaining, it also elicits the type of deep thoughts that watchers will be thinking about long after the final credits roll.
She Dies Tomorrow is out on Curzon Home Cinema and Digital Download on 28th August.
