![‘Didn’t Die’ Has a Mic however Lacks a Pulse [Sundance 2025 Review]](https://i2.wp.com/www.dreadcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Didnt-Die-1.jpeg?w=1920&resize=1920,1075&ssl=1 "‘Didn’t Die’ Has a Mic however Lacks a Pulse [Sundance 2025 Review]")
At its Sundance premiere, author and director Meera Menon likened Didn’t Die to Earlier than Dawn, a movie I think about one of the vital intimate and distinctive love tales ever produced. And, like her movie, the comparability feels misguided. Whereas the 2 tasks share a lo-fi grit, the comparability ends there. The romance right here is half-baked, if not non-existent, and its emotional gravity is left roaming the moon. Worst of all, the movie’s naked style influences are about surface-level aesthetics, and it by no means appears fascinated about selecting up the shovel to interrupt any floor.
The premise of Menon’s challenge is promising: a podcast host clings to an ever-shrinking viewers throughout a zombie apocalypse. Vinita (Kiran Deol) makes use of snark and ironic distance as her armor on this world overrun by “biters.” When her philandering ex, Vincent (George Basil), arrives clutching a child, her rigorously curated detachment begins to unravel. It has the makings of a character-driven style piece, but what unfolds is a movie that feels as misplaced as its protagonist.
Proper off the bat, we’re launched to a blonde character named Barbara in a black-and-white zombie apocalypse movie. This writing is akin to a slasher film character given the final identify Carpenter. It’s an eye-roll-inducing pedestrian reference that might have been significantly better left on the door. Worse nonetheless, Didn’t Die appears fully tired of horror or what the style affords. It carries all of the aesthetic references to Evening of the Dwelling Lifeless with out pressure, environment, or dread. This horror movie appears to have a distaste for horror, and I’ve to surprise if it was made out of the alternatives the style gives rising unbiased expertise.
Then there’s the podcast trope, which has been wrung dry in cinema and tv. As a substitute of a subversion, Didn’t Die leans into each cliché. The sheer variety of occasions the phrase “podcast” is uttered is irritating, pulling me additional away from the movie every time I hear it. And but, this isn’t even the movie’s greatest writing flaw. The dialogue is commonly juvenile, stuffed with moments that purpose for profundity however land with the awkwardness of a excessive schooler discovering dramatic irony. The humor is equally unrefined, like a teen making blowjob jokes not lengthy after they discovered the time period exists.
Vanita’s glammed-out mug additionally usually left me distracted. Just like the excessive heels of Jurassic World, her glamour is pointedly unaligned with the grim actuality the movie portrays. At occasions, I’m additionally left questioning concerning the option to current the movie in black and white. Probably the most cynical chance I can consider is that it would masks a few of its amateurish execution. Whereas some pictures are fantastically photographed, the visible cohesion is undermined by jarringly tough results and crass transitions. And the rain results? They appear like AI-generated clip artwork, giving the sensation of a student-made movie.
Whereas most of Didn’t Die annoyed me as a horror fan, it has excessive notes value mentioning. The movie is at its greatest when it focuses on Vishal Vijayakumar, who performs Rish, a personality whose nervousness and struggling really feel tangible in a world with out a lot emotional authenticity. His efficiency is an emotional anchor till the movie’s clunky climax, making it all of the extra irritating when different characters don’t consider he’s seen daywalkers—a weird alternative contemplating all of them dwell in a confirmed zombie apocalypse.
For all its faults, Didn’t Die, it’s essential to emphasize that it often seems to be gorgeous. Some pictures really feel lifted straight from a high-end industrial, providing a visible polish that clashes with its in any other case tough execution. However the movie’s obsession with being intelligent, paired with its misjudged humor and lack of horror instincts finally sink it.
The worst crime of Didn’t Die is failing to have interaction with the style it lazily makes an attempt to reference. Watching it, I couldn’t assist however consider Pontypool. This masterful low-budget horror movie follows a broadcast-centered narrative with ingenuity, pressure, and a real love for horror. Didn’t Die appears like a movie made by folks with no ardour for the style and will have used it for opportunistic means.
To cite Vinita: “Nobody instructed me the apocalypse can be this boring.”
Abstract
Whereas ‘Didn’t Die’ does present some promising expertise, its influences are painfully surface-level, it by no means picks up its shovel to interrupt any new floor and appears frankly disinterested within the horror style as an entire.
Categorized:Information Critiques
