I Need You Dead!

Pure moments of joy and elation descending into chaos and madness. Reminded me tonally of John Dies at the End. Very much also reminded me of a psychedelic experience that started with me romancing one of the most beautiful humans I've ever met, and ended with me crying while my roommate ate cereal and made sure I wasn't going to do anything stupid.

Do you love splatterfest B-movie thrills? Then I NEED YOU DEAD is for you!

Do you love philosophical treatises concerning the nature of watching and filming violence? Then I NEED YOU DEAD is for you!

Do you love the cozy pleasures of genre trappings? Then I NEED YOU DEAD is for you!

Do you love head-scratching, metaphysical explorations of narrative forms and creator-vs-creation quandaries?

Do you long for laughs? For love? For an overwhelming sense of boundless, joyous, and yet provocative creativity?

Then I NEED YOU DEAD is for you!!!

Often times by the time studios get involved any movie that has a clear narrative voice is bland'd down into a easily palatable Netflix experience. With "I need you dead" you have almost zero moments to breath as Rocko Zevenbergen and the "Bad Taste" team's first feature film is a juggernaut of freaky and genuinely strange scenes that clearly is indie movie magic that the artists had control of from start to finish. Every moment of this film was an edgy, freaky, decent into a plethora of grotesque and psychedelic scenarios. For someone who is well versed in cinema it was surprising that it took me a while to recognize that "I need you dead" was having a physical impact on me as well. Just like "Taxi Driver" it took me a couple days to sort out "what I had seen" and even though this is the early stages of this crews film making careers you can clearly see the roots of original story telling and to be frank "some very creepy people with cameras".

I love this film to say the least. I Need You Dead! molds together multiple genres so naturally that it feels like it's in a world of its own. You don't really know what you're getting yourself into until you are already in it. It will draw you in, let you get comfortable, and then chew you up and spit you out, making you feel like a different person at the end, all in a matter of a couple hours. It's a refreshing film to watch right now. There is so much soul put into it, and it's a breath of fresh air compared to all the stale films that are just trying to put a new spin on something old. Now, not everyone will enjoy every aspect of this film because at some points, it can be hard to watch, and It's not for the feint of heart. It pushes the boundaries of what we are willing to address/acknowledge in our daily lives as people, and that's a good thing. You should always seek out things that push you out of your comfort zone because otherwise how can you grow? Overall, I would give I Need You Dead! 10/10 because it does exactly what it sets out to do, and does it well. It's an awesome piece of independent cinema from start to finish. I absolutely love it.

There's really nothing like this. Even if you hate I Need You Dead! you'll love it. This movie somehow blends together this awesome, goofy, exciting horror B-movie with a very real, and kind of heartbreaking core. I don't even really know why it works, but it does.

This movie also creates its own conventions, it's invigorating. Like...if this was made with any more budget than it had, it wouldn't feel real. It's kind of like you're watching a home video in a dream...mixed with the movie Adaptation, maybe...8 1/2, a little bit...

Also, I've never seen a movie that feels more like Portland. Like it really cartoonishly nails what kids are up to in the PNW. A glimmer of hope that we won't turn into the Bay Area.

This really might be setting a precedent for a new genre...