Director Report Card: Adam Wingard (2010)

3. A Horrible Way to Die

After the breakthrough of “Pop Skull,” Adam Wingard would begin two important collaborations with his next film. Writer Simon Barrett largely worked in the realm of low budget schlock, with “FrankenFish” being his most prominent credit. The two would team together for the first time with “A Horrible Way to Die,” an on-going partnership that currently numbers eight different projects. The second collaboration that begins here is with Joe Swanberg, who would also team up with Wingard several times in the future. The mumblecore filmmaker had already directed seven feature films by 2010 and I imagine his independent methods and style was an inspiration to Wingard. Together, the trio would make “A Horrible Way to Die” the director's most high-profile release up to this point.

Sarah is a recovering alcoholic who is doing her best to stay sober. She has a good reason to drink though. Her ex-boyfriend is notorious serial killer Garrick Turrell. The whole time they were dating, the seemingly stable Garrick was hunting women down and chopping them up behind Sarah's back. She's trying to move on with her life. Somewhat spontaneously, she begins a relationship with Kevin, a guy from her A.A. group. Around that time is when Garrick escapes from prison. Garrick leaves a trail of dead bodies as he slowly closes in on Sarah's new location. 

For most of its run time, “A Horrible Way to Die” is a movie following two seemingly separate story lines. In one half, Sarah attempts to live her normal, day-to-day life. She struggles with sobriety and the lingering trauma that still hangs over her head. In the other half, Garrick kills his way across the country, drawing ever closer to Sarah. He nearly gets caught, when having tense encounters with a paranoid old man. He kidnaps a girl to ferry him across state lines, who begs for her life and stays quiet as a cop tensely checks on them. Inevitably, these two story lines are going to collide. That's how “A Horrible Way to Die” creates a constant sense of tension floating throughout its whole run time. 

In its most mundane moments, “A Horrible Way to Die” becomes a quietly effecting drama about the every day struggles of addiction. Sarah gets up in the morning, she goes to work, and haunting memories drift in and out of her mind. Those would be the exact memories and feelings she drinks to repress. She buys a bottle of booze but pours it down the toilet before she's tempted to drink it. At a restaurant with Kevin, the waitress asks if they want a drink with their food. They comment on the walls decorated with wine bottles. Sobriety is an every day struggle, Sarah constantly being reminded of her desire to drink, a desire she is perpetually struggling against.

In some ways, Garrick's journey is similarly mundane. He sits in a bar and eats. He visits a truck stop to try and get a shower. The biggest difference is that, at night, he's compelled to killed. He chops up a dead girl in a bathtub and gets into brutal fights in parking lots, stabbing victims through the jaw. The similarities in shooting these two halves seem to suggest a parallel between Sarah's addiction and Garrick's actions. Is his tendency to murder something he can't control either? Is the thrill of taking a life an addiction for him too? If nothing else, this provides a greater depth to the film's villain.

The quiet, introspective approach to this pulpy material shows Wingard's growing influences. Joe Swanberg showing up in the movie isn't a coincidence. In many ways, “A Horrible Way to Die” recalls the kind of mumblecore relationship dramas that Swanberg specializes in. Sarah and Kevin attempt, somewhat haphazardly, to form a romance between each other. They go on low-key dates that are characterized by whispered conversation and a general awkwardness in the air. When they eventually wind up in bed together, the encounter is shown in a similarly stumbling fashion. The two struggle out of their clothes and Kevin finishes prematurely. It's raw and realistic and, in its own way, very compelling. 

Even though it's a gritty horror movie about a rampaging serial killer, “A Horrible Way to Die” has more than just these connection to the mumblecore genre. That genre is characterized by stories of twenty-somethings and their relationships. Wingard's film, in its own way, fits into this genre exactly. “A Horrible Way to Die” uses the serial killer boyfriend premise as a metaphor for a bad relationship. In Sarah's flashbacks, we see that Garrick sneaks out after dark. He lies about where he goes during the day. Though things seem happy between them, there's obviously something disrupting their happiness. In real life, this would just mean he was cheating or a liar. In this movie, it's an even more disturbing betrayal. Garrick is sneaking out to see other women... That he then kills. It is a novel way to increase the stakes of a story of a relationship shambling apart This blows up the emotions of a cheating boyfriend in a more extreme way.

Wingard also mirrors the visual style of many mumblecore movies. Which is to say that “A Horrible Way to Die” is largely shot with handheld cameras. This style has its merits and distractions. In its best moments, this loose, shaky shooting brings an immediate, documentary-like atmosphere to the film. This certainly adds to the day-in-the-life feeling Wingard was obviously striving for. At other times, the handheld camerawork gets so shaky that it becomes irritating. At one point, during a conversation between Sarah and Kevin, the cameras quivers out of control. Obviously, the director was hoping to visually convey the panicking mindset of the characters but it's mostly just annoying.

One big way “A Horrible Way to Die” does not resemble a traditional mumblecore film is its writing. Swanberg's movies are usually lightly scripted, with largely improvisational dialogue and structures. “A Horrible Way to Die” is obviously tightly scripted. Throughout the film, there's references to Garrick having a die-hard fan following. That he's received several marriage request while in prison, that there's a number of websites devoted to him online. (Wingard's film was made two years before the rise of “Holmies” or other obsessive fanbases for murderers, making it somewhat prescient.) At first, I felt this interesting element of the film was unexplored but it's actually setting up a major plot twist in the last act. 

And what of that plot twist? Spoiler alert for an eleven year old movie: Kevin is one of Garrick's fanboys. The entire time, he's been plotting to capture Sarah and wait for Garrick, so they can kill her together. On one hand, it's a hell of a startling twist that I didn't see coming at all. Once the shock wears off, however, it starts to feel a little disappointing. Sarah doesn't confront her serial killer ex-boyfriend. He actually saves her life from his would-be fanboys. It's a weird ending, that takes Sarah's power away. It makes her murderous ex seem like not such a bad guy.

On one hand, I get where the film is coming from. If “A Horrible Way to Die” is a metaphor for the trauma of a failed relationship, this ending represents Sarah coming to grip with what happened. If he was just a cheating boyfriend, this would be where she forgives him and moves away from that lingering pain. But Garrick is a serial killer who ruthlessly killed countless people, mostly women. So it's weird for him to be painted in a semi-heroic light at the last minute. Not to mention this defuses the potential confrontation between the two the film was seemingly building up to.

If nothing else, the intimate fashion of shooting in “A Horrible Way to Die” draws intuitive, emotional performances out of its cast. Amy Seimetz is fantastic as Sarah, a woman who has so much on her mind that you can hardly believe she's existing in the present. Seimetz' face suggests the inner turmoil but she never overdoes it in any other way. A.J. Bowen plays Garrick in a similar fashion, someone equally creditable as a man of great violence who still seems completely normal most of the time. Joe Swanberg comes off as a perfectly charming fellow, a guy who is quiet and laidback most of the time. (Which leaves the audience even more unprepared for his betrayal.)

Ultimately, I have some issues with “A Horrible Way to Die.” But it works really well for the most part. The film would receive solid reviews on the indie circuit. It would catch the attention of a certain breed of horror fan. I am just now getting around to seeing it for an important reason: I kept confusing it with “A Lonely Place to Die,” a horror/thriller with a similar title that was coming out around the same time. You'll have to excuse me, the titles are pretty similar and there's roughly a hundred buzz-worthy horror movies that come out every year. Anyway, “A Horrible Way to Die” shows Wingard's growing style while functioning well as both a duel character study and a cruel thriller. [Grade: B]