By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
?She Dies Tomorrow? is a ?horror-ible? movie with a great title. The potential for a clever little thriller was there, but it escapes from actress/director/screenwriter
Amy Seimetz (?Pet Sematary?).
The movie feels far longer than its 84-minutes-run time and becomes a convoluted, psychological mess. Even worse, it not even scary.
?She Dies Tomorrow? centers around Amy (Kate Lyn Sheil, TV?s ?City on a Hill?), a young woman living in Los Angeles who clearly has some issues. She?s an alcoholic and stays tucked away in her house looking as if the world is going to come to an end. In her mind, it is. She has this haunting feeling that?s she going to die tomorrow. We see her occasionally peering out the window, logging onto her laptop and looking at ceramic planters and leather jackets. Because if you?re about to check out, you want to make sure you?re wearing a sleek bomber jacket and have an overpriced ceramic planter on the front porch.
The movie spends far too much time on the anxiety-ridden Amy moping around the house and not doing much else.
When Amy?s best friend Jane (Jane Adams, TV?s ?Messiah?) pays her a visit, she is shocked at Amy?s pathetic state and can?t stop her from saying that she?s going to die tomorrow.
If that scene weren?t crazy enough, the film cuts to Jane, who suddenly seems out of sorts too and is now walking in her pajamas over to a house party that?s being thrown by her brother Jason (Chris Messina, TV?s ?The Sinner?). Jason?s wife Susan (Katie Aselton, ?The Gift?) is celebrating her birthday and she has never liked Jane very much but goes along to get along for the evening.
Thinks get kookier when Susan starts talking with their other guests Tilly (Jennifer Kim, TV?s ?Station 19?) and her boyfriend Brian (Tunde Adebimpe, ?Marriage Story? and ?Spider-Man: Homecoming?) about dolphin sex. The conversation makes Tilly and Brian clearly uncomfortable and while it?s meant to add a dose of humor, it does little to liven the tone of this dark and dull movie.
When Jane starts repeating that she?s going to die tomorrow while at the party, everybody kind of turns into zombies and begin to reflect on their lives and soon believe they will too.
Jane winds up going to a doctor (Josh Lucas, ?The Secret: Dare To Dream?) to find out what?s wrong with her and he tells her they both have made bad choices by being in this movie. Actually, he goes off the deep end too and rushes out of the examining room. Is he going to die tomorrow too?
?She Dies Tomorrow? also has a couple of flashback scenes involving Amy and a guy she meets named Craig (Kentucker Audley, ?Saul at Night?). There?s also a weird pool scene with Michelle Rodriguez, Upcoming ?F9?) and Olivia Taylor Dudley, TV?s ?5-Second Films?).
Everybody is dying it seems in ?She Dies Tomorrow.? The problem is the characters throughout the film are so one dimensional and unexciting, that I simply didn?t care.
?She Dies Tomorrow? (Neon Films) premieres on digital/VOD Aug. 7.
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Look At This Trailer For
"SHE DIES TOMORROW"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics? Association (BFCA), The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC), The Alliance Of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
