PLATFORM: CURZON HOME CINEMA, BFI PLAYER, DIGITAL DOWNLOAD | RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 28TH
Writer/director Amy Seimetz’s film, She Dies Tomorrow, is not horror in the most traditional of senses. At no point is a monster ever seen. At best, it’s a series of flashing multicoloured lights upon the faces of those whom it has effected, but for the most part, that which afflicts the titular Amy (Kate Lyn Sheil), her sponsor, Jane (Jane Adams), and a spiraling cast of friends and acquaintances can best be described a memetic idea. Amy has determined that she will die tomorrow. It’s more than just a feeling to her. This is an idea innately known and held.
Now, this all could be due to the fact that Amy has relapsed and began drinking again, which would certainly explain why she’s racing dune buggies in the dark and cleaning her patio with a leaf blower while wearing a sequined dress. However, the way in which it transfers from person to person, simply by being said, brings about the concept of an idea as a sickness, which is absolutely fascinating.
Once infected, all affected see their false fronts immediately collapse and fall away. Tilly (Jennifer Kim) admits to Brian (Tunde Adebimpe) that she was just waiting for his father to die in order to break up with him, and he feels no malice from her statement, as he agrees that it was going nowhere. It’s as if by embracing the concept of one’s impending mortality, a person is able to live more honestly.
She Dies Tomorrow aches with tension and possibility, and maintains that through to the last frame, refusing to let the viewer off with easy answers.
