Where the Dead Go to Die

This review is going to be subjective because I'm not like most people who get scared by horror films like The Exorcist or The Shining. I get scared by strange things. Things that bury themselves into your psyche and fester for a long time. That's why I'm such a fan of David Lynch's surreal films and why (what most people would describe as) an unwatchable mess like Inland Empire is a frightening masterpiece to me. Similarly, some people find videos of glitches from The Sims hilarious, whereas I find them chilling with those strange and nightmarish impossible contortions. Where the Dead Go to Die is like one big Sims glitch.

Many will see it as an atrociously animated and badly voice acted mess, and they wouldn't be wrong. This has to be the worst animation ever committed to film. In fact, it looks as though it was made on The Sims with a few disturbing expansion packs which allow your sims to woohoo with animals and travel to a kaleidoscopic hell. This will make the film borderline unwatchable for some people, but for me it made it all the more horrifying. Likewise, a little boy being voiced by a man mimicking a screechy child's voice is much more frightening to me than being voiced by an actual child. It's extremely uncomfortable as it feels like we're watching something Satanic that shouldn't be watched.

Where the Dead Go to Die has to be one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen and I don't get too disturbed easily either. This film is up there with Salo, Martyrs and all he rest. If it was a live action production then I'm pretty sure that the anonymous director, who goes by Jimmy ScreamerClauz, would be arrested. Whilst the animation is beyond poor, the ideas are still there and these ideas are seriously messed up. I don't want to spoil it for people who want to experience this mind fudge, but there are some depraved ideas involving children which are explored explicitly in this film. They may only look like blobs, but that didn't make it any less upsetting to watch, for me at least. Especially combined with the horrifying musical score in the background.

I feel like I should delve into the story a little bit. Where the Dead Go to Die is an anthology film which follows three characters living in the same neighbourhood (I think) who all come in contact with a demonic dog. The first segment tells the story of a boy who is convinced by the dog to kill his mother's unborn child as it's the antichrist. This story certainly gives you a taste of things to come. It's just utter madness with some terribly disturbing ideas and images thrown in. The second story kind of lost me a bit, but it concerns a man who steals people's memories after killing them. It's the weakest story and is mainly an excuse to go overboard on the hellish, surreal imagery. The last story is the strongest and most disturbing. It concerns a neglected boy with his dead Siamese twin's head stuck to the side of his face, who falls in love with a little girl. Needless to say, she harbours some very dark secrets at home.

You can try and think about the absolute sickest thing in the world and this film will show you worse. I can't decide whether I liked it or not. You could argue that it's a film designed to shock you for the sake of it, but there is actually a story here (several actually) and I'd argue that this Jimmy ScreamerClauz bloke actually prioritises the story over the moments of depravity. This isn't like August Underground where it's just one sick pointless scene trying to outdo the other. The disturbing themes do actually have something to do with the surreal story, particularly in the last segment. There's a moment where I was almost moved to tears, just due to the intensity of the concept presented on screen. The relentless bleakness also started to get to me after a while.

Where the Dead Go to Die is not a good film on a technical level, but it's unlike anything I have ever seen. There's no denying that it's innovative, whether that's in a good way or not. It does get bogged down in its moments of relentless surreal glitchy imagery, but when it focuses, I found myself strangely captivated. On one hand I find the film trashy and stupid but on the other I find it startling and original. It's an endlessly dark, depraved and upsetting film. It disturbed me, horrified me and affected me both emotionally and physically. It's a film which I won't ever forget, and that has to be worth something doesn't it?

Combining the herky-jerky animation style of early 90s The Residents videos with the rantings of disturbed, lonely teenagers, this film so desperately wants to be a transgressive masterpiece. Instead, with its hamfisted portrayal of "taboo" subjects, it fails to hit any of its intended marks, and just comes off as a piece of sloppy garbage best suited for (and forgotten in) that weird part of YouTube.

You know, considering this IS supposed to be dark humor I can give this the benefit of the doubt. Fine. But this was still a bad movie IMO. And not even because of the stuff that happens really. Solely because of the Playstation 1 level of cgi, the unrealistic amounts and placement of blood based on wounds, the crappy voice acting, and most of all the lack of plot and overall point that all three of these stories had. Seriously. The ONLY one that could have possibly gone anywhere was the last one, and that's only because it was so damn long. Not because it had any actual substance, but because it had enough length to actually be made into something. But it eventually falls into the same boat because the creator decided to go nowhere with it just like the other two stories. And that just leads to everything being nothing short of boring. What was the dog suppose to represent? What was he doing there? Why did he talk those kids into doing what they did? There's plenty of telling in this film but not enough showing. We don't get an actual reason as to why anything happened, they just did and that's that it seems. That's fine if it's suppose to be intentionally bad, but with something that was meant to be serious horror it's just God awful.

The only thing I got from this movie was a sense of "God hates us" since it's practically thrown in your face the entire time. That, and there is absolutely NO excuse for a movie made in 20-freaking-12 to have animation this half-assed and shitty. Absolutely none. I don't know if he was just bad at animation or what. If so, he should have had the sense to polish up on his animating skills before he put this eye sore out.

This could have been something good in the dark horror category, if not for the crap animation along with the nonsense/no explanation "plot" that honestly leaves you wondering why you would even bother to watch this in the first place.

I'm not going to say that this is cinema for critics to rave about. I'm not even going to go as far as to say this is a sub par, or above average film; however, when it comes to "most disturbing films", this one packs the punch.

I'm not one to get creeped out or disturbed easily, so when I do find something interesting to say the least I usually run to my family and friends telling them about it. I enjoy seeing what others reactions are to films coined "most disturbing", but as far as this film; well, let's just say I won't be sitting on the couch with the folks watching this one. Where the Dead Go to Die is like a deep, dark secret, those who have seen the film may know what I mean when I say this. Basically, this is the type of movie you aren't going to recommend to your friends, you keep this one out of sight for anyone to see. Why? Because if your friends and family knew you say through this entire film without a gun to your head they may question your well being and may try and give you a nice prescription of Prozac. I've seen plenty of disturbing films, I like to think I've got a strong stomach. Maybe I'm just immune to the sickness, but I hardly ever find disturbing movies to be vulgar or downright disgusting. This one, however, is a bit different. From everything I've seen I truly believe this to be the most disturbing piece of cinema I have ever seen; I don't think any movie, not even classics like The Exorcist or A Clockwork Orange holds the slightest candlestick when it comes to disturbing, no, this film blows all others out of the water.

The plot? No idea. I've seen this film three times trying to understand it and I don't think I ever will. It's like watching every despicable act known to mankind on an acid trip. That's the best way I can describe it. As you've heard I'm sure the animation and voice overs are very poor and low quality. However, in my case, I found this to just add to the creepy atmosphere that this film has to offer. The character development is slow and never goes anywhere, but I don't really think it's supposed to. The bottom line of this plot is that terrible things happen to people and they will forever be effected by them.

As I said before, I wouldn't consider this film above average even, but it's something special. It's different and different is great. Different is a genre that triumphs over any other; this is why David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick are noted as some of the greatest directors of all time. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the director, who goes by the name Jimmy ScreamerClauz, is going to be the director for a new generation, but what he did here was something you don't see everyday. I love innovation, and this horrid film is the definition of innovative and surreal. It's art. Some call it garbage, but even garbage can be art. Innovation and surrealism is art. Pushing the boundaries is artistic no matter how you look at it. Say what you want about this film, but you can't say it's not artistic because it is. Every work of cinema is art no matter how you look at it, and when it comes to abstract this film takes the cake.

Would I recommend this film to anyone? No. Do I like the movie? Absolutely. It's unique. I completely understand how people can hate this film, but I think this cinema should get recognition for crossing lines no other films have crossed.

Where The Dead Go To Die tries to tell you that it's being critical on religion and that it's something more but it's not. The entire film is a collection of loosely connected stories and none of them make any sense. Sometimes, you don't even know they're changing stories. The animation is some of the worst I've ever seen. There's no excuse for this. The voice acting is another awful thing. No one can voice act to save their life. They all sound like droids and lifeless zombies when they deliver their lines. There's absolutely not one solitary good thing about this movie. It's a complete insult to the film-making industry and to independent projects. The entire film looks like it came from the sick mind of Jeffrey Dahmer. I honestly believe that the director needs to see serious medical attention for his unstable mind. Where The Dead Go To Die is, to this day, the worst movie I've ever seen.