She Never Died

Written by Jason Krawczyk, the writer behind the cult low-budget indie HE NEVER DIED, this almost-maybe sequel is a swing and a miss. First it lacks the charm and intensity that Rollins imbued into the original character. Plus, it pretty much checks all the boxes for the tell-tales of an extreme low-budget effort -- musky lighting, very few actors, scenes that go on way too long, really bad music that just fills space, etc.

'He never died' was a instant cult hit from 2015, so when 'She never died' came up, I had high expectations. That movie mentioned 'we don't like to be called that', so left the door open for a new story. The IMDB cover suggested ancient times rather than modern times (looks like ancient time war-stripes to me). Reading about it however, made it clear that it indeed was a current day parallel story. The reviews weren't too good so I skipped it at first.

It has been written before that it's unworthy (between 3 and 4 stars), so instead, I'll compare 'He' to 'She Never Died' without giving away the story to try and explain why this movie failed.

'He', Caïn (the one from the Bible) looked human (he was never called an angel, just has marks on his back where wings were and his creator isn't God), ordinary looking, middle aged, fairly emotionless and uninterested in anything. He did not have special powers, although strong, no super-strength nor could defy the laws of physics. He immediately felt genuine, someone who lived for 6 millennia would act like that: Careful, aware of his ability to regenerate (it's unclear if he can actually die, he just never did) and feeding off humans like a vampire makes him a high profile target for anyone, and in modern age also interesting for science. So he stays off the grid, literally says 'prefer to stay under the radar' (has a phone though), does not stand out of the crowd, has had a couple dozen simple jobs, saved his money, lives in a 13-a-dozen paid with cash apartment, bothers no one so no one bothers him, tries/tried relations: had a gf and a kid. Found a simple way to pass time (bingo) and a reliable food-source that kept him from killing people that otherwise would draw attention. The only time he can't keep his cool is when he's hungry, or gets irritated by humans. Irritate him enough and he'll become violent, then kills, eats them and drinks their blood, then quietly gets rid of the remains. He is basically a recovering addict and blood is his drug. After he consumes, the always present demons in his head slowly fade. The only reason why he stepped out of his micro-bubble of mindlessly playing bingo and sleeping is because of his food-supplier's problems. That became his problem eventually causing relapse and fueled his rage. It needed to be dealt with to restore order in his life. Everything that happened happened for a logical reason and even though he regenerates, he still tries to avoid damage because it hurts and he needs to recover for some time.

'She', Lillith: Same kind of creature, same eating habits, lived thousands of years. But: She doesn't work, is homeless, has no apparent skills whatsoever, basically can't take care of herself and makes no effort to stay hidden. She wakes up in a cardboard box every day and looks either disgruntled, angry or furious (continuously hunting for irritating people to become her food), and has a haircut that makes her look like a mad woman, so pretty noticeable in a crowd (people instinctively notice out-of-place things in their surroundings that may become a threat). She hunts humans almost daily, kills them sadistically rather than quick and sufficiently (you should at least have that skill when it comes to hunting your food for so long) and mutilates them always in the same manner (Caïn did this too, but only once. It's a traceable M.O.) claiming convenience as reason and doesn't even get rid of the body. She eats humans like they're French fries, and that's one of the few times she actually seems relaxed, even though she isn't plagued by demons from her obviously violent past like Caïn does, as if she has no conscience. Strangely enough, when she crosses 'excellent food' (she says so herself), she kills it but doesn't eat it. She lets herself be beaten senseless (literally) just to get to where she wants to go (it was probably meant to be humorous like in 'He', but that fails miserably). She's just the opposite, or rather a dumb version of Caïn and it's a god-given (pun intended) miracle she's still roaming free. She's in no way likeable nor relatable. Her story isn't interesting and relies heavily on the success of the 'He'-movie. Characters in the movie do things that are completely illogical (offer to infiltrate into the gang that kidnapped you after you escaped them?) and most acting is average at best, the detective is the weakest character.

There's a hint at another sequel, it's not something to look forward to. The cast of 'He' was perfect, if you'd take a photo of all the characters in a gathering, Caïn would not stand out. Do the same for 'She' and one person immediately draws attention. That's the main flaw, if Caïn had been someone that looked like Einstein, it would have been far less convincing or may even have failed too. Could the movie have been saved with another actress then? Nope, it was an uninteresting script/story that even lacked the side-kick and the dark humor, just tried to piggy-bag on the success of its predecessor. It's hard to believe this came from the same writer, who probably got part of the 2015 movie idea from 'The man from Earth'.

The sequel to he is not dead. It is entertaining but I wish the acting was a bit better. The main character was good but all the rest were sub par.

I find it amusing that this is a 10 on rotten tomatoes. Goes to show that ImDB hosts the better reviewers.

6.3

A couple years ago "He Never Died" pleasantly surprised me, it was an unexpectedly funny, highly entertaining and conceptually interesting thriller with heavy shades of horror and comedy. Not too long after I noticed a so-called "sister" sequel is in works which certainly got me a little excited, and Jason Krawczyk returning to write was good news as well. And so, "She Never Died" stands on its own as an entertaining baddie flick, but the intriguing concepts have mostly left the stage, and as far as sequels go, this one adds little to nothing to the universe, ideas and mythos presented in the first movie.

"She Never Died" is a much more contained and narrow experience as compared to its "brother" prequel, both regarding the plot, the characters and the production budget. A tough and mysterious woman, a fierce baddie, the single biggest strength of this movie, the much-praised feminine side of this film, main protagonist and heroine - Lacey - fights her daily demons and looks to bring down criminals hurting women. One could say "She Never Died" is a vigilante flick. Olunike Adeliyi feels organic and confident, putting up a top tier performance as the fallen angel. Then there are a couple more characters, a rather primitive plot that's swimming to its inevitable conclusion, and... no expansion of the mystery presented, no paths to right or left from the main story road, nothing of what I truly hoped to see or feel. A rather vague and simplistic - as compared to better movies including this theme - exploration of female trauma is not a great substitute, because instead it should've co-existed with the franchise-defining themes from "He Never Died" that were lost here. They managed to keep notions of the same kind of humor, but to call it darkly (actually) funny would be a bit of a stretch. "She Never Died" is an entertaining indie horror, carried on the shoulders of good performances, violent action and consistent pacing, but, carrying the name it does, it's simply underwhelming. Let me put it this way - it lost more than it gained, if compared to its spiritual predecessor.

I believe "She Never Died" is an arguably above average indie horror offering, entertaining enough throughout in all the best B movie traditions, also featuring quality performance(s), but... I also believe that, as a sequel, it's barely justified and simply lesser than the first movie. My rating: 5/10.

If they would of given the lead actor like a hell of a lot more lines then the grunts she did. I would of given this movie a higher score. The plot was simple enough to follow and the action was okay. I just really wish she had more dialogue and if the guy from He Never Died would of showed up that would of done it for me.