Movie Review: A Horrible Way To Die

Synopsis: An escaped murderer (A.J. Bowen) is in pursuit of his ex-girlfriend (Amy Seimetz), a recovering addict who has fled to start a new life in a small town.

This movie is done through 2 simultaneous story lines and flashbacks, until finally they intersect towards the end of the film. It actually works and is never very confusing as it's clear what's going on as things unfold and are revealed. I thought the plot felt real and was interesting, if not a bit slow and boring at times. Don't expect some big loud movie of thrills and chills, this plods a bit and just has a subtle feel of doom and despair over it. To many, it'll be too slow. I bordered on that myself, but I do like a good story told.

My major point of contention is the direction. I realize a lot of films now use the shaky cam effect for several reason, and usually during a big action sequence to make it feel all chaotic. Sometimes they use it to make it feel more like you're right there in the film. But here, it's just used for no reason sometimes and also they play with focus a lot. It's like 2 people are sitting and talking and the camera suddenly gets all shaky like the operator is Michael J. Fox or something, then it might focus on something in the background of the shot. It got annoying and is definitely distracting.

Overall, it's slow but this film has good characterizations, enough suspense, doom, an excellent twist with enough brutality to make it a horror film. I just wish it were directed differently as that really distracted me and ruined a lot of it. Too bad.

5/10