The plot is simple - Sam Wallace is not a lucky guy - at ALL. He experienced a harrowing childhood, is married to a disrespectful cheating wife, detested at work and isn't exactly Colin O'Farrell in the looks department. One day Sams day starts badly, gets worse and worse and then climaxes horribly...and it's barely been mere hours!! Aforementioned events provide the catalyst for Sams built up anger, anxiety and stress to literally explode into a murderously brutal rage. Sam soon embarks on a journey of death and destruction, wiping out those who have hurt him without mercy
If your are in it for the bad ass kills then this film could not even hope to disappoint you. The first murder should hopefully raise a chuckle amongst those well versed in your typical slasher movie. Its a nice sly wink to audiences that I really loved. Aside from that you have some fun and creative kills mixed in with some pretty shocking and harrowing ones.
There was a heck of a lot of other stuff to love about this film. The acting for the most part is really good, particularly by the three key characters of Sam (Chuck Smith) his adulterous wife Tessa (Ellie Church) and her young beefcake on the side Brad (Christopher Hunt). I found the character of Tessa very very interesting. She was a real bitch - mainly to Sam - yet I couldn't help but like her. I think the fact that she was realistically written helped a lot. She is a bit of a villain in her own way but not in some soapy cartoonish sense.
There ARE people like Tessa in the world, however most people are not all good or all bad and you do start to see a slightly different side to her later on. I think there is human being in there - she just forgot how to be a decent one along the way. The character of Sam is a tough one because as a killer Sam makes for the most refreshing part of this film - he is a normal guy stomping around in his bedraggled work clothes, pushed so far to the brink that there is no going back from what he has started after his first kill. Yet he is still killing scores of people after all so is it wrong to root for him? Well I wouldn't want to spoil anything for viewers but you will see pretty quickly just how rough Sam has had it during his life time. The way many different people treat him in the movie is also terrible and I don't know....you just feel for the poor chap...I can think of one character straight up that I was totally rooting for Sam to kill!!! I think I lost sympathy toward the end in one scene that I didn't enjoy which is my only real criticism of the movie. Again this is veering towards spoiler territory so I will shut up. There is also a fun cameo from writer and directors Daniel Murphy and Brian Gaillard as two particularly rude and unkind cops so look out for that also!
The actual ending of And Then You Die was genius and very well done...I loved it. Again I am not giving anything aware except to say this is a film you will want to watch to the end...and I mean the VERY end.
And Then You Die is a must see indie horror film. Its fast paced, engrossing, well written & acted and has some superb kills. For a film made on a low budget it is extremely impressive to see such a professionally shot final product. Daniel Murphy just happens to have been born over here in the UK and this fact makes me even prouder. I hope he, Brian and their team bring us some more of the good stuff SOON!
