FrightFest review – The Death of Us
Returning home after a book signing event, successful science fiction author Danny (Chris Mills) and his wife Casey (Annabella Rich) discover intruders have just killed their infant son (and his babysitter). Casey is stabbed and dies for a minute or so, but recovers … by the time she is able to leave hospital, the case is cold and Danny has set them up in a new, ominously isolated house. Both struggle with grief, but take different, clashing approaches. Danny attends a self-help therapy group whose least suspicious member is a sweary Irishman (Johnny Vivash). Casey follows internet conspiracy theories, believes she is being haunted by an entity which came back from death with her and wants to consult with occult expert Reynolds (Nick Vince) who advises exorcism and forgets to mention the most important thing about the case – which is that the demon is less dangerous than the cult who summoned it.
Rich, who also directed, and Mills, who also produced, co-wrote and star in The Death of Us, which is obviously a personal project, albeit one with near-giggly genre frills. FrightFest regulars Vivash and Vince in particular play it wry rather than angsty, keeping a horror angle going whenever the film seems set to detour completely into a harrowing exploration of loss, grief and anger (in parallel with The Latcher and several other recent ‘haunted by tragedy’ horror pictures) as the couple just can’t get past the huge tragedy in their life. It’s even believable that Casey is still furious with the otherwise-unmoured dead babysitter for not fighting more fiercely for the child’s life. Some shocks are familiar and a few fillips verge on farce – like the strange old lady neighbour who keeps straying into the underlit house and Casey’s misadventures with cutlery – but the ending is satisfyingly cathartic. Buried in the script is a fresh idea about summoning sacrifices – what does the demon do if the cult bungles a key move in the ritual?
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