Review: Because You’re Dead to Me

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Because You’re Dead to Me (aka Dead to Me)
Directed by Chris Maruna
Triple Two Pictures; FilmFreeway
78 minutes, 2021
https://filmfreeway.com/BecauseYoureDeadTome

It is quite understandable why they changed the name of the film from the original Dead to Me, what with the popular 2019 Netflix series with Christina Applegate being so prominent over an independent Canadian film release. Makes sense, and a wise choice to avoid confusion.

Scuzzy criminal defense lawyer Robert (Gardiner Millar) wakes in a hotel room full of his personal things including a heavy heart. It’s his 60th birthday and he is haunted by glimpses of memories. Or is it something more sinister than that. Into his world comes a flinty-voiced sex worker who arrives at Midnight (is she the oasis?), Melanie (Mercedes De La Cruz), who is there for the job to please her client.

Mercedes De La Cruz, Gardiner Millar

The room itself is quite interesting, with a mix of retro and modern. For example, there is a rotary phone and an olde tyme table radio with an arched top, and yet the pill bottles are quite the modern fashion. The lighting is a bit on the dim side with just a touch of a sepia hue, giving this an almost musty, older feel. It is as though Robert’s whole life is encapsulated in that one room, becoming almost a character unto itself.

While Robert is confused about how he got into the hotel room, Melanie suggests it is due to the many empty (and oddly unlabeled) wine bottles. Perhaps it is something more metaphorical, or metaphysical, considering Robert is hearing the phone ringing that Melanie does not, he sees balls of fire come out of nowhere, hears voices, and sees people in disrepair popping in and out.

Nearly the whole film takes place in the hotel room, and virtually all the action (other than visions) is Robert talking to Melanie. In other words, this would actually work as a play, considering its boundaries. Now, it could be pointed out here that those images that he has are quite gruesome so this could fit into the category of grand guignol. There are zombie-like demons, stabbings, and viscera.

As a side note that has nuthin’ to do with nuthin’, Robert is really tall at 6’4”, while Melanie is relatively diminutive at 5’4” (yeah, I looked it up), even though De La Cruz was a professional model; the top of her head comes up to his shoulders. Millar was a professional athlete (and stunt person), being a black belt in Uechi-Ryu karate and silver winner in the 1987 Nova Scotia heavyweight body building championships. He is close the Joey Ramone range of 6’5”.

The film is definitely a slow burn, as it is so heavy with dialogue, but the intercuts of what I called the gruesome even more shocking because it comes unexpected as almost jump scares, nearly seeming to be non-sequiturs, though you know it is going to all tie in by the end. It nearly always does in these kinds of stories, and the viewer’s curiosity is easily intrigued. I never felt bored for a moment even in the most mundane parts of the conversation. Robert and Melanie’s connections with the past keep the conversation flowing and stimulating. The shockingly unexpected parts are just gravy for the smashed potatoes (as we used to call mashies).

This is not what one might view as a typical horror flick. Despite all the viscera and let’s call it loud moments, the tone of most of it plays out more like an episode of “The Twilight Zone.” That’s a compliment. There is even a bit of philosophizing. No, it’s not as dry as, say, My Dinner with Andre (1981). It is also kind of obvious where the direction of the story is going, if you have read the likes of O. Henry or have seen a truckload of genre films that deal with psychological elements, rather than just in your face slasher bits; in this case, it is a well-earned journey. I would like to add, though, that if all the gore was taken out, the film would still work, and would probably be more suitable for mass consumption.

De La Cruz

It is also worth noting that while Millar does a great job, it was De La Cruz who rightfully won the Best Actress award at the Singapore International Film Festival for this role (as well as having been nominated for Best Supporting Actress for another role at the 2019 Vancouver Badass Film Festival).

Amazingly, this is the director’s first full feature,  – and is currently working on his next one, which I hope I get to see – with his previous works being shorts. I have oft said that short films are a version of on-the-job-training. In this case, may I say colloquially, Maruna done good.

The trailer can be found HERE