She Dies Tomorrow

A dizzying and an extraordinarily ambitious project, if She Dies Tomorrow doesn't hit you in the guts, you should probably check your pulse.

The film is never less than time-passingly bonkers, but I rarely found it much more than that either, and its plot is so deliberately opaque that it seems to be daring you to mentally check out at every non-turn and un-twist.

a horror movie which reduces its central fear to the most fundamental form of existential dread.

Alternately hilarious and spine-tingling, it recalls David Lynch's Twin Peaks in its serious, penetrating sense of doom.

Does it amount to more than that experiment -- a cinematic, sensory exercise in portraying existential dread in a heightened way that reflects a universal human experience? I'm not sure it does. But maybe that should be enough.

The characters are just awful. Superficial, inarticulate, mewling dolts. So odious, in fact, that you wonder if this is satire.

Even though Seimetz’s ‘ideological contagion’ might have its roots in coping strategies for depression and a range of mental health issues, the director works wonders by imagining how one might react upon learning about their imminent death.

Just as the characters’ reactions vary, the individual viewing experience will differ dependant on how each person views the notion of death. Some will let it wash over them while for some it will be the equivalent of a bad trip.

She Dies Tomorrow is bizarre and otherworldly, but that somehow creates a more believable and haunting experience.

It seems like Seimetz has wrapped up her angst and dissolution into a grim, conclusive expression. I only wish it didn't feel so resonant.