Released by: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Released on: September 6, 2011
Director: Adam Wingard
Cast: Amy Seimetz, AJ Bowen,
Year: 2011
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The Movie:
Adam Wingard's A Horrible Way To Die may look, on the surface at least, like a typical slasher movie. You know, the kind where a lunatic with a knife chases around a hot chick who takes her clothes off at random intervals while those around her get knocked off one by one. You could make the assumption that this film follows that formula - after all, just look at the title, look at the cover art - this has got to be a boobs and blood body count movie, right? Yep, you could make that assumption. But you'd be wrong.
The story begins when a man named Garrick (AJ Bowen) escapes from prison where he kills a pretty dark haired girl he's got in the trunk of his car. From here we meet Sarah (Amy Seimetz), a blonde woman in her early thirties who is attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. After the meeting she's approached by nice guy and fellow AA member Kevin (Joe Swanberg), and soon enough the two hit it off. Their romance is awkward but most are in their early stages so we don't think too much about his goofy perpetual grin or her hesitancy to get too close too soon. She's the first to admit she's got some serious baggage to deal with from her last relationship, though the details of that are sketchy at best and she isn't really all that keen on revisiting them for the sake of an explanation of her behavior.
Eventually though, the truth comes out. It seems that Sarah was in a long term relationship with Garrett, the very man who we just saw kill a woman in cold blood, and that when she found out he was a serial killer she helped the cops nab him and put him away. Now he's back on the loose, and she assumes, coming to get her. So just how can she avoid him, he's a killing machine, and, as we're told, the most popular serial killer of recent times? Well that's where a few clever plot twists come in, and we wouldn't want to spoil those.
This is a tricky one to write up, so let's just cut to the chase. A Horrible Way To Die, despite the tacky title, is a very well written and well acted movie that's almost (though not completely) ruined by some seriously annoying shaky-cam cinematography. If movies like The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield made you feel nauseous, this one is even more erratic than either of those pictures - the camera just does not stop moving and seems completely unable to stand still. While it would stand to reason that this was done to give the movie a sense of immediacy and put us in the story with the characters, even when they're having sex in Sarah's living room lit with Christmas tree lights, it winds up as a serious distraction and a big detriment to what is otherwise very, very well done.
Even if you see the twist coming, and you might as things draw to a close, the acting is strong enough and the story compelling enough that you'll definitely be paying attention to see how it all plays out - but you could wind up with a pretty serious headache by the time it's all over with. This is a bit of a slow burn, we spend a lot of time getting to know the characters in the movie, primarily Sarah and Kevin, and for good reason - we care about them, feel for them, and want them to be able to get away from Garrett and all of the evil he'll surely bring down on them and our two leads here absolutely feel like real people and not movie characters. This is a huge plus for the film and it's the performances and writing that save it. This is definitely a movie worth seeing, but be prepared to throw back a few tablets of Gravol before you watch it.
Video/Audio/Extras:
A Horrible Way To Die doesn't look good at all on Blu-ray, presented in AVC encoded 1.78.1 widescreen in 1080p high definition, but that's no fault of Anchor Bay or any sort of encoding issue, it's simply because the damn camera doesn't stand still for more than a second or two at a time. As such, detail is washed out, there's dizzying blurring, and things just look noisy. Shot on DV it's clean in that the image is free of dirt or debris and colors look nice enough but this is a movie that will only ever look so good.
The English language Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix fares better than the audio, but doesn't offer a particularly immersive experience. Rear channels are mostly used for ambient noise but they do help to build suspense now and then. Dialogue generally stays clean, clear and audible throughout and there are no problems with levels spikes, hiss or distortion. If this isn't the fanciest of mixes it certainly sounds decent enough.
The main supplement on this release is a commentary track with director Adam Wingard and the film's producer, Simon Barrett which is actually not only interesting but fun to listen to. The pair point out a few interesting in-jokes that relate to the movie, discuss casting choices and why a certain someone was cast as a victim, plot details that were changed and/or omitted entirely before shooting started, locations, effects work and more. These two guys are having a good time talking shop here and do so with a good sense of humor.
Also included on the disc is a seven minutes behind the scenes featurette that includes some brief interviews with the cast and crew as well as some footage shot of the production while it was happening. It's not all that exciting but some of the footage showing how a few practical make-up effects were applied is interesting enough to make this worth checking out.
Aside from that there are a few promo spots for other Anchor Bay properties that play before the main menu screens load, and chapter selection provided.
The Final Word:
A Horrible Way To Die is smart, interesting, clever and pretty damn original, making it all the more frustrating that the shaky-cam style is as infuriating as it is at times. Those with an aversion to this tactic won't make it past the ten minute mark, but if you don't have a problem with the cinematography, you'll find that the story holds up, as do the performances, and that the movie is one worth seeing - but the caveat about the visuals is going to be a big one for some viewers to try and get past. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release is about as good as you can probably expect considering the shooting style, and the commentary adds some nice replay value here.
Click on the images below for full size Blu-ray screen caps!