thor5894 There is a lot to admire here, mainly a great lead performance by Amy Seimetz as the alcoholic ex-girlfriend of a serial killer trying to re-establish a normal life. Also it's tough to pull off a naturalistic arthouse horror flick, and this attempt does better than most. For most of its running time this plays more as a drama (that happens to involve a serial killer) than as horror. But two elements nearly wreck the film. One, mentioned by many other reviews here, is the constant close-ups with a jerky handheld camera. A little of this would be fine but it never lets up, this movie is 87 minutes of random close-ups with a camera that won't hold still. It's too much and becomes a constant distraction. Second, there is a very ill-judged twist five minutes before the end that effectively undoes much of the naturalistic appeal the movie had until that point. I won't reveal it here, but will just say it was wholly unconvincing to me. Even with these serious flaws, I found this to be worth watching for Seimetz's performance and for the unhurried, reflective storytelling. What's good here will stay with me, which makes the misjudgments that much more frustrating.

tmdarby This movie should be shown as an example to film students on how to deliver a story line. The director and writer did a simply amazing job at delivering the story in a slow and very suspenseful way. I can't say enough about how the story and it's reveal impressed me. The story itself had a lot of excellent twists and turns that really kept me very interested.The acting was pretty good as well for a low budget thriller. The only criticism I can give this film is the scene transitions. I loved when they were done, but the peephole cam and out of focus transitions took me quite a while to get used to and took me out of the story. That's the only thing I can criticize. The bad reviews of this film must be by people that want their stories laid out for them on a silver platter within 5 minutes. This one keeps you thinking and you truly don't know what is going on for a good 40 min of the movie. Either that or they couldn't get past the strange camera work.If you appreciate something that's different and a really good story delivery. This movie is a excellent example.

kosmasp A difficult movie to watch could be another title. At least for some this will hold true. AJ Bowen made a name for himself with other movies and has quite a few fans, though even they (most of them at least) would agree that saying "Enjoy" this movie might be a wrong word to use. It's not the time structure or the different stories that make it difficult to watch itself nor the fact, that it still is predictable, but that it is very grim, with actually almost nobody the audience can identify with. Therefor choosing AJ to play the lead was actually a very good idea, that helps the movie a lot.The final resolution of the movie and some of the characters is too convenient and predictable as mentioned, but if you can overlook that, you will get a thriller that knows what it wants. It is beautifully shot, though that means that it looks dirty in this case and dark. If that floats your boat, you should check the movie out. Otherwise rent with care

Joshua Hillyard in my opinion, people have too narrow of a view on what's considered a 'horror movie'. so when it comes to a lot of people, A Horrible Way to Die will mostly likely disappoint because it doesn't follow a humdrum and redundant horror movie formula: blood, guts, haunted places, monsters, deranged psychopaths stalking people, etc...watch this movie if you're looking to watch a GOOD movie in general. it's the kind of horror movie that shows you a glimpse into a somewhat practical situation. a lot of movies out there tend to skimp on one vital part of making a movie: the story. and because the horror genre is vast, it seems too many people make horror movies with only blood and guts in mind (which isn't always a bad thing). the story in this movie is attentive to appreciating the craft of MAKING a good story.generalized example horror plot (that has nothing to do with this film):a movie about someone breaking into a house and terrorizing the family inside.it's a basic concept that's been done a million times and will be made a million more times. BUT, that doesn't mean you CAN'T make a good movie about that specific scenario. it's a terrifying concept that isn't too outlandish to conceive. unfortunately this makes a lot of filmmakers lazy. they slap together a 'screenplay' and depend on generic situations that other people have done over and over again to do the work. fortunately, there are some great films out there using that concept. and those films involve a well thought out story. instead of throwing buckets of blood around hoping the more blood, the better the movie, some people would rather switch the buckets of blood with an actual STORY. the horror springs from the reaction of characters involved, and how they react towards each other.THIS is that kind of movie.