To Your Last Death

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.

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.

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.

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