Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman
Starring Alex Essoe, Luke Hemsworth and Maggie Q
Running time: 1 hour and 34 minutes
MPAA rating: R for violence, gore, sexual content and language

by Matthew Crump

“This is the part where I tell you not to go in,” is one of the more hokey lines from Death of Me that also conveniently sums up my cautionary review of the film. Don’t get me wrong, this one is definitely scary, but with all of the xenophobia that’s raging throughout 2020, I’m not sure it’s the kind of scary that’s needed in our current moment.

The film opens with Christine (Maggie Q) waking up in the plush, white linens of a bed inside a beachfront property on a nondescript island off the coast of Thailand. Her only problems in the world are 1) she’s absolutely filthy and 2) she doesn’t remember a thing from the night before. Her boyfriend, Neil (Luke Hemsworth) is passed out on the ground in a similar state of incoherence. They clean up, pack and rush out of the airbnb to try and catch the last ferry off of the island before the big storm that’s brewing on the news hits. They miss their ride, of course, and what’s worse is Christine’s cell phone and passport are missing. 

Neil still has his cell phone though, which he pulls up onto the flatscreen in their airbnb upon their forlorn return. They look through the photos from last night together before finding a 2.5 hour long video. Thank god Neil sprung for the128 GB model. In the video, Neil is recording Christine, well on her way to being blackout drunk at a tiki bar, and catches the waitress on video slipping something into their drinks. Fast forward—literally—to two hours later and Neil is having his way with Christine on the grass outside their airbnb… then he’s choking her… then he’s snapping her neck and digging her shallow grave. Only then does the film’s title hit the screen. It’s barely gotten started.

If everything that transpired in the first 10 minutes of this movie happened to me on vacation, I would immediately need to go on a 2nd vacation. Thankfully Death of Me was filmed on location in Thailand. So, in a way, it felt like a little vacay in itself. The island shots and time lapse beachsides would have been really calming if they weren’t being interrupted with scenes of self-mutilation and snake vomiting. Even so, I have to give props to the cinematographer, José David Montero, for taking on the challenge of building a horror movie on top of such a tranquil backdrop. That kind of conflict between story and setting can be detrimental if the juxtaposition isn’t handled with care, which, more often than not, it was. 

The director, Darren Lynn Bousman, makes enough efforts to highlight the more grotesque sides of island living to still feel like a horror movie. Paired with the gritty, downright filthy paranormal visions Christine experiences, the setting was pretty much a non-issue. Well, almost.

Call me a snowflake, but it’s 2020 and we have to talk about the elephant on the island. Actually, despite elephants being a large part of Thailand’s tourism industry, there weren’t any in this film. Which is surprising considering this is a story centered around two dumb American tourists. This transitional joke to a more serious topic is obviously spiraling. What I’m trying to say is I’m pretty sure this movie is extremely racist.

The first red flag cropped up when I saw the waitress covertly slip what is later described as a “black magic” potion in the main characters’ drinks. As the nightmare on the island continues to unfold, it becomes apparent that pretty much all of its inhabitants are in on the madness. For the literal one person who isn’t, well, let's just say she doesn’t quite get to save the day. Boseman says the script caught his eye because of how it deals with the idea of faith, even going as far to acknowledge how foreign our commonplace Western customs may seem to other parts of the world. Even so, that did not stop the screenwriters (all three of which are, you guessed it, white dudes) from capitalizing on Eastern, specifically Thai, aspects of this fictional island, portraying their customs and beliefs as inhumane, non-consensual, and horrific. It is a horror movie after all.

However, as a white person, I will fully acknowledge that I am not the authority on the racial dynamics in this movie. It also must be acknowledged that Maggie Q is not white herself. So maybe this one will get looked over. Still, there were countless scenes where I couldn’t help but imagine how much more xenophobic it would read if a) the lead character were white or b) a Thai person was watching it. Which, inevitably, they will. It also might seem admirable that the film employed several Thai actors, unfortunately most of them are either extras or credited simply as “tribe member.”

All culturally sensitive issues aside, Bousman is a director who knows his way around a horror movie and that certainly shows. There are more than a few scenes in this that are expertly designed to make the viewer squirm. Where some of the film’s poor writing and haphazard acting gets in the way, the psychological sequences reground the slow build of terror.

It’s impossible not to compare this film to its obvious predecessor The Wickerman, which Neil even acknowledges with his line, “The guy from Wickerman didn’t have a cell phone.” There’s no signal on the island of course, but at least the sentiment was there. Besides the addition of a female lead and the more direct psychological sequences, I’m not sure Death of Me adds much more to the conversation as far as remote island cult movies go. If anything, the idea of free will and consent that crops up in the final, chilling sequence sparks some interest, but if the cost is villainizing an entire culture, is it worth it?

Death of Me will be available In Theatres, On Demand and Digital October 2nd.