A Horrible Way to Die

Adam Wingard is something of a darling of the horror community at the moment, but is somehow a director I've managed to pass up until I popped on A Horrible Way to Die last night. With a plethora of short films under his belt, AHWTD is Wingard's third feature length effort, and what an effort it proved to be.

The serial killer genre is possibly even more guilty than others of churning out cookie-cutter clones (with Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer being one of the few and best known exceptions to the rule), so it's great when something this original surfaces.

I'm not going to talk too much about the plot beyond what unfolds in the first few minutes, because I really do recommend you check this out for yourselves. The movie follows two people who's lives have been torn apart - Sarah, who is a recovering from alcoholism and a relationship that fell apart (to say the least), and our serial killer friend, Turrell. Seen escaping at the outset of the movie, we are made to almost feel sorry for him in a masterful piece of filming in which he genuinely seems unable to prevent himself killing, despite rampant self-hatred for doing so.

The scenes of Turrell committing murder are harrowing and understated, made powerful by emotional acting and the suggestion of what is just off-camera, what happened just before we were invited in. It's a delicate and risky balance, especially when so much of the modern genre is gore and torture porn, but is executed with vast amounts of skill.

It's not a perfect movie by any means. There were mentions of Turrell being a "popular" serial killer, with a much-visited Facebook page and receiving the highest amount of correspondence of any inmate at whatever prison he was in. Such additions felt bolted-on, unnecessary, and lowered the tone a little, giving the impression of trying desperately to give the film some postmodern chic.

As the movie drew to an end I grew increasingly fearful they were about to spoil things with a needless and overcomplicated twist, and they almost did. What unfolds at the climax of the film refrains from being the sort of nonsensical about-turn I've grown to loathe the prevalence of, but I still can't help but think it would have been stronger to play it straight up, no surprises needed, just strong writing, emotion-filled acting and the same superb directing that's laced throughout the whole thing.

So despite the flaws just mentioned, I can't recommend this highly enough. Original and powerful, with well scripted, relatable characters, Wingard has created a masterpiece.