Fear is a powerful thing. In Amy Seimetz’s weird, warped She Dies Tomorrow, it’s so powerful that it becomes contagious. 

It opens with a quiet, experimental buildup. Amy (Kate Lyn Sheil) is moping around her new home, repeatedly playing Mozart’s ‘Lacrimosa’ requiem to surreal, maddening effect. Friend Jane (Jane Adams) pays her a visit, but leaves shortly after Amy talks of her imminent demise. She thinks Amy is relapsing into alcoholism, but soon can’t get the idea of dying out of her own head. And so it continues, with the dawning sense of oblivion catching on to Jane’s doctor, brother (Chris Messina), and more.

Kate Lyn Sheil has a dreamy, ethereal quality that makes her a good fit for this strange role, but the supporting characters feel oddly cast, with barely a sliver of dimension to any of them. The brilliant Michelle Rodriguez is wasted with only minutes of screentime, made more frustrating by some shots from the trailer seemingly not making the cut.

She Dies Tomorrow feels like an exercise in making the viewer uncomfortable and unsettled. Is this absolute belief in one’s soon-approaching end a metaphor for anxiety? Grief? Existential dread? Or preachings of the violent and unstable? Seimetz provides no real answer, meaning there’s very little payoff for a whole lot of patience. The flashing neon visuals catch the eye, with closeups of each character staring past the camera giving a euphoric sense of enlightenment—but they’re not enough to satisfy after 84 minutes of being tempted by tense, thrilling threads that lead to nowhere. 

Despite an intriguing concept and instantly iconic imagery, She Dies Tomorrow runs out of steam fairly quickly. While Seimetz should be applauded for delivering such a bold approach and bizarre atmosphere, this unique, blackly comedic thriller ends up more anticlimactic than apocalyptic.

RATING: 2/5

Available to watch on: Curzon Home Cinema and VOD

INFORMATION

CAST: Kate Lyn Sheil, Jane Adams, Chris Messina

DIRECTOR: Amy Seimetz

WRITER: Amy Seimetz

SYNOPSIS: A woman believes she will die tomorrow. After telling a friend, that belief starts to spread to whomever they meet.