Format: Streaming video from Tubi TV on Fire!
Low-budget filmmaking is aways interesting to me because it often requires the filmmaker to be a lot more creative with how they tell the story. I remember seeing an interview with Sam Raimi talking about this, saying that with the first Evil Dead movies, they had to figure out creative ways to get the shots they wanted, but with a budget, you just throw money at the problem. A Horrible Way to Die is a film that honestly pushes the limit of what can/should be expected in low-budget filmmaking.
I genuinely don’t want to come off as a snob here, because for whatever reason, director Adam Wingard—who has done Godzilla movies—has evidently decided that “low budget” also means “amateurish.” Now, to be fair, this was an early film in his filmography, and it wasn’t until he’d been around for a bit that he got to do things like Godzilla vs. Kong. That might explain some of this, but it doesn’t explain the fact that he seems to be dead set against 1) letting the camera sit still for 10 seconds and 2) focus. I mean that second part literally—it’s not that the film isn’t focusing on a story; it’s that the camera is literally out of focus in a lot of shots.
This is the weird ground that A Horrible Way to Die wants to tread. This film is about a serial killer (A.J. Bowen) who breaks out of prison and begins a killing spree across the Midwest. It’s also about his ex-girlfriend (Amy Seimetz), now trying to be sober and dealing with the legacy of the man she loved being a heartless killer, albeit one who seems to be compelled to kill and who suffers remorse after each slaying. All of this is potentially interesting, but the film itself can’t decide if it’s found footage, grungy documentary, or someone’s film school graduation project.
Eventually, of course, our two stories are going to combine, and in the most unpleasant way possible. I’m debating whether or not to spoil this movie, and I think that ultimately, the only way to really talk about it is to talk about where it goes. That being the case, consider the rest of this review under a spoiler warning. Bluntly, unless you’re really into this kind of thing, you probably want this film spoiled for you.
A good percentage of the film is going to be watching our killer, Garrick Turrell, making his way across the country, finding rides and killing essentially everyone he comes into contact with. Early on, we’re not sure of the connection between him and his ex, Sarah, who we see in AA meetings and dealing with her sobriety. Sarah eventually starts hanging out with fellow AA member Kevin (Joe Swanberg). News of Turrell’s escape from prison and murders that have been discovered start filtering into Sarah’s consciousness, and eventually, we figure out that they were a couple, and that Sarah carries a lot of guilt because her drinking prevented her from knowing everything Garrick was up to.
The two stories are going to collide when it turns out that Kevin and his friends Rusty (Brandon Carroll) and Reed (Lane Hughes) are serial killer fans. The trio targeted Sarah when they discovered that it was she who turned in Turrell to the police when she discovered his murder sprees. And, importantly, they kidnap her and bring her to a remote location because they’re going to torture her until Turrell shows up. Essentially, Sarah is going to be punished for turning Garrick Turrell in and stopping his murders.
Honestly, the idea of A Horrible Way to Die is really interesting. There’s a lot that can be done with this as the basic story, and there are a lot of directions the story can go. I won’t spoil the actual conclusion of this, because as endings go, this is perhaps the most interesting one that could have been picked. In that respect, there’s a great deal with this movie that shows a lot of promise.
Additionally, having a killer who has Garrick’s rather unique reaction to his own crimes is interesting as well. Garrick will eventually tell us that he feels compelled to murder people, but always regrets doing so, and that for what it was worth, prison helped him with that because it put him in a place where killing someone else became very difficult. It didn’t quell his urges to murder, but it did make them almost impossible to give in to.
There are also moments of gore in this, because that’s really what the primary audience for this film wants, isn’t it? It feels unnecessary to me, but at the very least, most of it isn’t lingered on.
The issues I have with the film are entirely the way that its filmed. There are moments when the camera swings around wildly, and there doesn’t appear to be a reason for it. No one is running with the camera—it could easily be a static shot, but instead, it feels like it’s on a pendulum or a bungee cord. That, and the fact that a substantial amount of it appears to have been filmed in glaucoma-vision make it a difficult view, even if you’re not bothered by a couple of frames of gore or body parts.
Why to watch A Horrible Way to Die: If you’re a serial killer junkie, this has something you might like watching.
Why not to watch: Motion sickness and glaucoma.
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