A Horrible Way to Die

A Horrible Way to Die

6/11/2010 1h 27m 5.1/10

Overview

An escaped murderer is in pursuit of his ex-girlfriend, who has fled to start a new life in a small town.

Director

Adam Wingard

Top Billed Cast

Whitney Moore

Whitney Moore

Daphne

Amy Seimetz

Amy Seimetz

Sarah

Joe Swanberg

Joe Swanberg

Kevin

AJ Bowen

AJ Bowen

Garrick Turrell

Brandon Carroll

Brandon Carroll

Rusty

Lane Hughes

Lane Hughes

Reed

Reviews

furious_iz

6/24/2019

6/10

Solid early feature length film from mumble-gore film maker Adam Wingard. You can see him cutting his teeth on the genre, and he's definitely gotten better since this outing, but it is still a very solid effort. Not this most original premise ever, ex-alcoholic is haunted by her past, meets new guy and starts to move on, as her serial killer ex boyfriend escapes from prison to come find her. Granted this film won't be for everyone. The pace is deliberately slow, there is way too much shakey cam and unless you are engaged in general the performances could come across as underwhelming. But that is kinda the mumble-gore genre in a nutshell. AJ Bowen's beard length is a constant touchstone for flashbacks that help flesh out the story and give us some idea how Amy Seimetz ended up where she is. AJ Bowen is excellent as always, as is Amy Seimetz. Joe Swanberg does that typical thing that he does where he is so laid back that it barely seems like he is acting, which can come across as too subtle, but there is some real thought that has gone into his ultra-real performance as just a regular dude. He's so real he seems like he shouldn't be in films, but if you have seen him acting in enough you realise there is a lot going on in his under-acting. The movie plods along slowly and deliberately, building up tension in increments, until a mildly surprising finale, then it just stops. I don't know what I wanted from the end, maybe just a little more oomph. I highly doubt the budget had room for more oomph, so instead it the film just kind stops. Terrible name. I don't know what it should have been called but not this. To say too much more would detract from the film itself, if you like Bowen, Seimetz, Swanberg, Barrett and Wingard's lo-fi indie thriller shtick, check this out. 6/10

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