User reviews

While not a masterpiece, how could anyone rate it only 1 star? That's confusing to me, as it seems a lot of care was put into producing this. Some people seem to have a problem with the animation, but I kind of like it. It's more of a comic-book art style full of gore and murder, and that appeals to me a lot more than Japanese animation does, even if the excessive blood isn't exactly what I look for in a movie. I'm not much for the torture porn, but this film balances it nicely with dark humor and an atmosphere of dread and anxiety. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea but it's definitely not boring, and I give it 7/10 for at least being an original animated horror feature within the manhunt sub-genre, and not just another remake of something old.

I would've thought this was really cool back when I was 14 years old, but alas now I expect more of a plot and a point. Think the violent contraptions of Saw (2004-2017) animated like Heavy Metal (1981) in an intergalactic contest like Rick and Morty ("Get Schwifty" 2015). The voice cast is great but the animation is mediocre, like the first episodes of Archer (2009). The convoluted Groundhog Day (1993) storyline is a good excuse for tons of over-the-top violence, some sex, and adult themes. This movie will do well on late night cable TV and niche streaming.

It's not terrible, it's not good either. It could have been a lot better than it turned out though. The story was sloppy and the voice acting was good for some characters but poor for others. It seemed like the film was attempting to tell some sort of life lesson with the story and how it had different possible outcomes but it just doesn't work. The animation style isn't exactly enjoyable to watch either.

Unless your the DeKalb family...Or under the age of gore watching glory. It is reminiscent of the stylized dysfunctional characters in Archer as well - but dialed to blood-soaked-insanity.

Very rarely are there full horror movies produced in this format. If you can't at least appreciate that then go back to Disney.

There is more to the depth then surface dwellers suspect. I find if you look at who is playing at the table for the Gamemasters trans-dimension DnD you might find a clue.

I admire the ambition and challenge of creating an original full-length feature film, an action horror-thriller at that - and through crowd-funding, no less. To explore this space with full animation allows the most grisly, gory, bloody moments to present without concern of how the special effects may turn out. And, honestly, I'm rather grateful for that for another reason: at its most gnarly, it turns out that 'To your last death' recalls the likes of 'Hostel' or 'Saw' in terms of torment and carnage, and those are the sort of movies I just don't care for any more. The rest depends on the writing. For my part, I don't think it's perfect, but it's a pretty good time.

Like most 2-D animated features, this employs largely static backgrounds, with some specific elements rendered separately so that they can be readily manipulated like the characters, props, or other active aspects. The style here provides for a fair amount of detail all around, though movement is perhaps less fluid than in other animated movies we've seen. That can make it difficult to fully engage with at points, but once the action kicks up, the critique falls by the wayside as our attention is kept otherwise.

Setting aside the animation, it's easy to imagine 'To your last death' as a probably schlocky live-action venture, a B-movie through and through. I mentioned 'Saw,' and that's certainly an appropriate point of reference for some facets, but other story beats remind of various other features, too. Though don't be mistaken - this is a film all its own. It's unquestionably a little ham-handed at times, but for the most part I think it's actually written quite well - dialogue seems believable; characters are complex and varied; scenes are mostly pretty well considered, and engrossing; and the overall narrative is entertaining, and absorbing.

I did say "for the most part." In my opinion the greatest shortcoming here is the framework in which the story takes place. It's a touch of flair I think is unnecessary, self-indulgent, and overbearing. Dropping that extravagance also means the film's biggest voiceover stars, William Shatner and Morena Baccarin, no longer have roles, but I'd sooner have a tale I can be fully invested in than a couple contributors who will draw in more audience members. Without that embellished structure, the plot would also be more straightforward, and more plainly an echo of more renowned genre flicks, but again - that's a sacrifice I'd rather the filmmakers had made. Oh well; to each their own.

One way or another, what it comes down to is that mileage will vary from one person to the next. The animation style, the violence, the overarching story framework, the voice acting - any number of aspects here may entice or repulse individual viewers. I have mixed feelings about it, but moreso than not, I'm pleasantly surprised at how this turned out. I have my problems with it, but I generally like the screenplay, the animation is perhaps a refreshing touch, and it's suitably enjoyable to have kept me watching. I don't think this is a picture to go out of your way to find, but if you like this genre at large and come across 'To your last death,' it's not a bad way to spend 90 minutes.

It's just plain bad, not worth the time it requires you to watch it.

The voice acting is pretty good, aside from the bad accents courtesy of the side characters. The premise is interesting enough, however a few of the twists and turns felt hamfisted. Decent potential that was severely underplayed by the animation.

It felt like they were trying to copy the style of animation from Archer, but it doesn't work well at all in a horror setting and it isn't done as well either. The character movements are overly cartoony and robotic, not fluid at all. The characters themselves are cliche with no memorable aspects and no depth whatsoever.

The few attempts at comic relief fall utterly flat. One joke later in the movie made me smirk for a couple seconds, and more so because the characters were laughing together than any genuine humor, like the effects of a TV sitcom laugh track.

All things considered, it had a decent foundation but the unpleasant and unfitting animation style totally pulls you out of any of the redeeming factors of the movie. It felt like it was animated by a couple of high school students with too much free time in their digital art class. With a different style of animation that a team had put real effort into, a little more exposition and lead-up, and a little more character depth this could've been a pretty good movie. Struggled to give it a 3 instead of a 1 or 2 but I could at least see what they were going for in this film.

This was another film that I caught at the Nightmares Film Festival. I didn't know anything about it and a filmmaker that I met the morning of it showing recommended checking it out. He did state that it was a wild animated horror film. It was actually the Midwest premiere of it, so that was something that caught my interest as well. The synopsis is in order to save her siblings, a young woman takes on her father and the powerful entity known as the Gamemaster (Morena Baccarin), who ensnares humans into diabolical plots while her species gambles on the outcome.

We actually start this with a bit of voice-over narration from The Overseer (William Shatner). He fills us in on Miriam DeKalb (Dani Lennon) as she flees from a building by breaking the windows of the door with a fire ax. She's taken to the hospital where a detective Lang (Tom Lommel) questions her. She tells him what happened and he doesn't believe her father did what she is claiming. That's when she's visited by the Gamemaster. She's given a choice to go back and do what she did all over again, with some rules and to make a good show. She agrees when she sees that her predicament is worse than she realized.

Just as background information, her father is Cyrus DeKalb (Ray Wise). He's a horrible business man who learns that he has a brain tumor that is inoperable. He's going to die soon so he calls all of his children together. The problem is that he was trying to become Vice President of the United States and under Miriam, her and her siblings ruined that.

They all meet up in the lobby of his high rise building. Miriam works for a non-profit where they want to eliminate war profiteering which her father made his money from. Cyrus just stole a funder away though and they're in trouble. Her sister is Kelsey (Florence Hartigan) who has an addiction to prescription medication and married a rival CEO to her father. There are also her two brothers Ethan (Damien Haas) and Colin (Ben Siemon). One of them is a wannabe rock star while the other works in business like his father. None of them really get along though.

The group goes up to Cyrus' office where they learn why they're there. He tells them that he's dying and that he wants to play a game. He is going to challenge them to overcome their issues with different challenges that will force them to face different things. Helping Cyrus facilitate this is Pavel (Bill Moseley) and another henchman. Miriam seems to have inside information, but is it really coming from Gamemaster or has she just lost her mind and not realizing that her boyfriend gave her the information that she has?

Since this is a festival film, I wanted to go a little bit lighter on the recap here. There are a lot of things that happen a couple of different times, just in slightly different ways each time. Even though it is repetitive, it doesn't feel that way, especially when you really get into this movie and that will take me to my first point.

What I was struck by with this is that it feels a lot like a supernatural Saw film for a couple different reasons. The first is that Cyrus using games like from those films to punish his children. In the first version, they all work and he's able to kill his children aside from Miriam. That's when the Gamemaster intervenes because the game she is running is gambled on by cosmic beings. What I like though is that there's this feeling that she might not be real and that Miriam just has a break with reality. Either way, we get an animated version of Saw where we can see these things playing out and the effect it has on the characters.

I will admit though, taking on a film like this as an animated feature does take some of the tension away for me. My father and I actually chatted about making things animated as opposed to live action. I've just made the point that you can do more things in animation that you might not in practical or CGI effects. Personally for me though, when I see bad things happen to a cartoon character, it doesn't carry the same impact as seeing an actor pretend like they are.

To switch it up a bit, I did want to go over the effects or in this case, the animation. It's not my favorite, but that's because for me I have so much nostalgia for the early Looney Tunes or cartoons that were popular in the early 90's, as that is what I grew up on. What we get here is really good though. This has a slight feel of like an American anime as all of the women are big chested and scantly clad. We get some cool kills and blood. They know how to hide the characters when they're moving to avoid making it look wonky, which I liked as well.

With that said, it's definitely paced well. We get that jarring start, which works for setting the stage for this game. I like that it establishes Miriam as being unstable. We at first think it could be because of what she survived, but the more we learn, the more I wondered if she had a psychotic break and this is her dealing with it. The game being rewound and things being redone I did have a slight issue with, but it really is a crux of the film. I didn't mind how it ended and I legit could see if there's a higher power, them being assholes like we see here for sure.

That will take me to the last aspect which is the voice acting. There are actually some heavy hitters here. Baccarin is good as the Gamemaster. She has a great voice and I like that she can get stern if need be. I'll be honest that I couldn't tell that Pavel was voiced by Moseley, which is great because she's such a sadistic character in this one. Well done to him for sure. Wise is great and so villainous here, he fits Cyrus so well. Lennon was good as our lead and I think all of her siblings fit well for their character. Shatner really only has a few parts here, but it fun to hear his voice. The rest of them fit their characters to round this one out.

Now with that said, this was definitely an intriguing film to check out. I really like that we have a few different layers here to this deadly game being played. It really does feel like a game of Saw that these cosmic characters are betting on. For me, being that this is animated allows them to do certain things, but for me personally I have issues connecting and worrying about the characters. I do think that it is still paced in a way where it kept my interest, even though things get rewound to make the game more interesting. I did like how it ended though for sure. The voice acting is great. The soundtrack didn't stand out, but it did fit for what was needed. Overall I'd say this film is above average for sure and I'd say give this a viewing if you like animated horror films.

A animation that wants to be like Archer without any of the actual humor. Very, very bad. Huge fan of Anime & this is just...horrible.

A gory spectacle without much else going on. There's a plot stitching together all the blood and intestines, but it's pretty thin. So, if you really crave some animated torture and killing, go see a doctor. If he doesn't help, you can watch this movie to get your fill, I guess.

Definitely not any of the award-hype it promised. If you've seen any of the motion comics that came on the web 15 years ago, this is the same thing, but in a 90-minute movie form instead of broken down into 5-10 minute TV shorts, which was the old format. The story itself is reminiscent of a low-grade '80s B-movie, in that it's a bit out there and convoluted, which is why I would say this is not a modern B-movie. Basically, it's a whacky '80s time-travel B-movie for 12-yr-olds with elements of Saw, so, the two genres don't really work together. The writer should have picked one or the other and stuck with it. Like, if the writer would have cut out the Robocop or Tron, evil corporation, sophomoric cheese, and stuck with the evil-rich-dad thing, kept it standard horror, and been more inventive than ripping Saw, maybe Blumhouse or someone would have ponied up a few mill to produce the script. And with that version of the script tightened, and live-action, maybe I would have enjoyed it well enough.

I was at least willing to give the story a shot, since after the first painful 10 minutes, it started to peak my interest. It's just very hard to get into the After Effects puppet animation, especially when you know it's going to be for 90 minutes, rather than what it's typically used for, which is small doses. Whatever budget they had would have been better spent on a live-action short. I get the sense the writer or director was trying to show what they could do with a budget. The storyboard sequencing, expressed in comic book form was pretty good. I could picture it, and the music was good enough. The voice acting was good or bad, depending on the actor. The writing was mediocre...but, like I said, if some of the other elements are there, I can be perfectly entertained by a B-movie, since my expectations are generally low. So, a silly, mediocre script can work, just not with stiff, puppet animation.

To make this work, the story either needed to be excellent, or the animation had to be a lot better, or good live-action. As a whole, it didn't work for a full movie. I do appreciate the effort. I am a fan of animation, comics, and B-movies, it just didn't work for me. I would say for the director to keep at it, just maybe work harder at the basics before going the full movie route.

Wow, where do I even begin with this one? Here's what you need to know.

1) The script is freaking GREAT. These writers deliver. This script is SO good. There are so many twists, and all of them I bought because of the depth of character. All the characters in this movie feel dimensional and realistic. They all are complex and have real-world trouble and moral ambiguity. I felt more for these 2D people than I have for a lot of live action horror movies lately. Kudos to the writers big time.

2) The voice talent is through the roof. From the Shat's opening monlogue, to the gorgeous Inara from Firefly as the evil mystery woman, the performances are amazing. Special mention to Ray Wise whom you may remember as Leland Palmer from Twin Peaks as the sadistic family patriarch.

3) The pacing is relentless (in a good way.) I was actually breathless by the end of this movie. My heart was beating fast. It was a ride.

4) The themes. The movie actually has something to say. There's a lot going on here and the movie doesn't shy away from making a few political points at the expense of the monied class. In that way this movie reminded me a lot of Parasite, except I enjoyed this one way more. Another theme has to do with whether or not we are all just pawns of a bunch of degenerate gods. Seriously. Trust me on this, it's awesome.

5) the animation. OK so I'm split on this. On the one hand it reminds me of Metalocalyspe meets Scooby Doo And it works for the story being told. I was never pulled out of the story because the art or animation wasn't cutting it. That said, this is a film that is clearly indie geek supreme to the max and you just know every dollar is up on the screen so no this is not Pixar, so don't expect that. This is a obviously a bunch of geeks who wanted to make the most insane movie they could, and they brought it with the $ they had.

6) Make sure you watch to the very end.

Give this one a chance you will be glad you did. I am still thinking about it two days later!

Well, how many stars are you supposed to give if you turn it off halfway through. Had to sit through a half hour of BS to get some sort of goriness which I've heard was supposed to be awesome in this. Not entertaining in any way unfortunately.

I get the premise of the movie but the flow was really confusing.

It didnt make much sense as to the flow and the plot.

Animation in the US has been sadly limited by the gatekeepers. When I created Strange Frame, the gatekeepers said that no one would watch an animated sci-fi adventure for adults, even with a half million views then still are a broken record. The gatekeepers say that adult animation has to be comedy or it won't work. Well, To Your Last Death proves for horror that isn't true. This movie has a style similar to Archer if that show had a bigger budget, but that's where the comparison ends. TYLD drips with the blood of a thriller with plenty of gore. The voice work is amazeballs and the soundtrack is a fantastically ominous heartbeat the keeps the pressure on. The characters have just the right amount of depth and the film touches upon current themes of the environment, capitalism, psychology, and social norms without being at all preachy.

The Gamemaster of TYLD has reset the rules for animation.

If you're a horror fan, this is a not to miss film.

One of the pitfalls of spiraling Hollywood film budgets and advances in CGI technology is over reliance on the razzle dazzle at the expense of storytelling.

In the early days of Hollywood, the charismatic leading men and women were the special effects - iconic and weaving a seductive charm.

The lack of these filmmaking tools in this low budget 2D animation horror feature, " To your last death", - makes it a truly remarkable achievement.

It's gripping, catching your attention from the very beginning and doesn't let go till the very end. Well paced, constantly surprising with sudden plot turns and an unpredictable and satisfying ending.

Written by Jim Cirile and Tanya C. Klein, "To your last death" is a master class in the art of story and screenwriting.

The story opens with intrigue; our Protagonist, Miriam is the last survivor of a violent killing spree, found covered in blood and shrieking that her father is the killer.

We learn that Miriam heads up a non-profit that seeks funding to promote peace, in contrast to her father's business of developing military weaponry. I was emotionally invested in the lead character immediately, the contrast between her noble activism for peace and the corporate power structure domineering her world, including unseen cosmic forces overseeing her life as sport. Overcoming her initial passivity at being reactive to life's events and corporate control, she becomes an active protagonist on her hero's journey.

Her father, Cyrus Dekalb ( Ray Wise), invites Miriam and her siblings to his head office. They learn he is dying and this sets up hope that they will get an inheritance and closure from their horrible family history. To their shock, he has one last desire: to preserve his legacy as the last Dekalb and exact revenge on his children, who he blames from preventing him to rise to presidency of the United States.

The basic need of all great stories is a strong character, Miriam drives this story forward and is someone we can root for. She's easy to relate to, she's completely out of her depth, has no special training or natural skills but has to rise to the occasion in order to survive. Given her character is drawn in 2D animation, she feels very human, she makes mistakes, panics and this gives her triumphs so much more impact.

Miriam is a well written character with weaknesses and a clear goal and a strong character arc.

Exposition is relayed in dramatic ways without comprising the pace and thrills. As an example, the following exchange impressed me with it's command of the craft.

Miriam, hides out in the closet with her sister, as a sinister henchman chases after them. In a succinct exchange, we learn a significant amount of backstory and the character's emotional baggage.

Miriam's sister says, "You're a control freak, who always thinks she knows better. You can never give people what they need, you give them what you think they should have.

When I called you the night, before I got married. Scared not wanting to go through with it.

You gave me a lecture, about how I need to see a shrink and work through my issues. Since clearly I'm marrying my father." Miriam responds, " What did you want me to say?" The sister: "I wanted you to say, " I love you, you don't need this guy.

Overall, the dialogue is snappy and entertaining and full of nuance of every character. Highly recommend this movie.

I hope everyone enjoys To Your Last Death as much as I do! well if your not into horror movies or dark humor this probably isn't the film for you. However if you enjoy those types of things as much as I do then I would love to recommend it for a watch! I mean you have Morena Baccarin, William Shatner, and Bill Mosley and Ray Wise many names that I grew up being fans of and imo make a killer combination of talented folks. Anyhow won't go any deeper as I don't want to give spoilers, but will say it's like a mashup of Saw + Groundhog Day! One of my personal highlights of the film is Ray Wise as Cyrus DeKalb, love the way he portrayed that character!

Found this by happy accident. and it is a pretty bonkers little movie. Not perfect but I really enjoyed it. I think the coolest thing is that the story kept changing. I thought things would go one way but boy was I wrong. I really enjoyed that aspect of the film.

I thought the fasmily members was pretty well done and I really felt for the lead girl being put through this crazyness. Now you got to give it up for Ray Wise who is just diabolical in the role of the father with a serious grudge against his kids. Not to be too spoilery but let's just say that they wrecked his polticial ambitions and now he's dyeing and well, he's got scores to settle. All the voice talent was great and hearing Captain Kirk narrate the story was damn cool, I had a Star Trek flashback for sure. Oh and I should mention the score which sounds like it could have been a Terminator sequel,but I mean that in the best way the score is really good.

What didn't I like. Well one character dies kind of early that I really wanted to see more of. You expect that character will come back given the time-travel nature of this film but no. Felt like a cheat. maybe the writers did that deliberately just because people would expect that. I wanted a bit more understanding of who the gambler's are. I think they were like gods or maybe devils. I thought act 3 was pretty cool with a ton of violence and lunacy which I actually laughed at loud because it got so over the top. but I was a bit disappointed by the very end of the film and I cannot say more because spoilers but let's just say I felt that the lead girl's reward would have been a bit less bleak. There were also a couple sequences I felt seemed maybe a bit repetitive but the movie does center around the idea of time travel and do-overs like Happy Death Day.

I should also mention the animation which was really cool. The best part is that it felt like a graphic novel come to life like a motion comic but way way better. The movie was made to look like a comic book even with seeing panel lines in places. I thought this was clever and also it made the handdrawn art look really cool which I really appreciate because this movie would have sucked if it was CGI.

Overall I have to say I really enjoyed this but I would caution not for kids! This movie is bloody and has some serious adult theme's in it. Adult Swim or Netflix I can def see this as a series in fact it seems to lend itself to that because it''s pretty clear this story can continue.

Absolutely amazing from start to finish. From the animation to the voice over work with great actors, this movie sets a high standard!! Was also great seeing it on the big screen at the VIDISPACE film festival.

Saw this on the big screen at the Pasadena Film Festival where an audience of 300+ were anticipated to attend, but because of the Corona virus, 30 people showed. No matter, we 30 die-hards (pun intended) guffawed and hooted enough to fill the theater. What we saw was a nifty 100% hand-drawn animated full-feature horror film that looked amazing with name recognition cast including Shatner and Baccarin made on an indie micro budget. Let that last part sink in because it is an achievement in and of itself. The film hits the mark for its intended audience of people who love horror film tropes and are fans of Archer-style animation. Especially notable is the score and sound -- so crucial to a horror flick -- punches well above weight. TYLD should easily find its way onto Adult Swim.