Fun, but keep your brain at home Cinemax
Horror films, even more so than other film genres, often require us to engage in “suspension of disbelief,” also known as “suspension of doubt.” This term, which applies to film, television, theater, books and other media, refers to the ability of consumers to ignore the degree of plausibility, realism or logic of the story or the basic assumptions that are part of it in order to be able to enjoy it even when the story is problematic. When I saw the description of the film “Play Dead”, and in some words also while watching it, I couldn’t help but think of the theoretical studies in cinema and communication, which exposed me to concepts like this.
That’s because this little horror thriller forces you to put your brain aside, or, to paraphrase the film’s foreign title: pretend to be “dead.” Those who do it for more than an hour and a half will be able to enjoy a film that mostly manages to be entertaining. All the details in this “Play Dead” review.
The logical illogic of “Play Dead”
My first doubt arose from the rather basic plot description of “Play Dead.” The film is about a criminology student named Chloe (Bailee Madison, who we’ll talk about later), who faces complex financial difficulties following her father’s suicide. Chloe has a brother named TJ (Anthony Turpel), who one day decides to commit a robbery with his partner Ross (Chris Lee), who happens to be Chloe’s ex. The heist goes wrong, Ross is killed and TJ escapes. Very quickly, he discovers that Ross’s cell phone, on which they had been sending text messages about robbery intentions – because that’s precisely what you do on your cell phone – had been left at the scene.
Chloe thinks of a solution: sneak into the local morgue to steal her sight, assuming (which is explained in the film in a way that didn’t convince me) that the cops won’t come for her until the next day. The problem is that the morgue is behind a high fence and ferocious dogs, so the only solution is for Chloe to overdose, which would result in her being declared dead. She will arrive at the morgue as a full-fledged corpse, wake up, take the mysterious phone and return home happy while saving her brother from spending most of his life in prison.
I am not an expert on drugs, criminology or medicine. You may have doubts about Chloe’s plan to stay alive. Leaving this evidence in the morgue overnight is far from logical, but I’m not a police officer. Maybe it doesn’t matter because usually in films of this type I prefer not to try to verify the truth of the inner world (unless it’s a catastrophe). Luckily, at some point – after I froze my brain in the morgue or something – the movie got better.
As can be inferred from the trailer – which, like other horror films, shows a little too much than it’s supposed to – at one point, Chloe discovers that the morgue isn’t as innocent as it seems. The pathologist has very diabolical plans: keeping patients alive to sell their organs. From this moment on, a game of cat and mouse begins between the pathologist and Chloe, based mainly on short and suspenseful scenes.
Of course, not all of these scenes work (in fact, I found the suspenseful “will Chloe find a bathrobe before the makeshift towel she wears after waking up naked” sequence from the “death” sequence falls on her to be one of the most effective in the film), and many of them don’t make sense. There are a few twists and turns, some are far from convincing, but the film remains enjoyable, thanks to a few elements.
Bailee Madison: More than meets the eye
Here it is worth stopping and talking about the two main actors. Bailee Madison is part of Hollywood’s new generation. Like actresses her age, she began her career at two weeks old in a commercial for “Office Depot” and landed her first significant role in the world of horror (in general) in “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” a very likeable 2010 horror film starring Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce. In the film, Madison plays Sally, who moves with her father and his girlfriend into an old house and discovers that malicious creatures are inhabiting it. She impressed and was nominated for Best Actress at Fangoria Magazine’s Texas Chainsaw Awards.
Luckily, Bailee Madison’s movies and TV shows have a connection to horror. In 2016, she starred in a small, fairly casual horror film called “The Night Before Halloween,” in which a group of young people must deal with a curse that kills someone the day before Halloween unless they can convince another person to kill someone else. In 2018, she was quite impressive as one of the members of a family pursued by three brutal killers in “The Strangers: Prey At Night”, the sequel to “The Strangers”.
In 2022, Madison starred in “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin”. The series, a horror spinoff of “Pretty Little Liars,” takes it into the realm of a modern teen slasher. In the series, which has received generally positive reviews and will also receive a second season, Madison plays one of the main roles as a member of a group of girls haunted by a tragic act committed by their mother 22 years ago, or if you prefer: “I still know what your parents did a few decades ago.”
In “Play Dead”, according to the author of these lines, Bailee Madison is undoubtedly impressive. Even if she has to deal with mediocre dialogue (especially at the beginning of the film) and a script that doesn’t always make sense, she has enough charisma and tenacity to carry the film on her shoulders. We would love to continue seeing Balee Madison in horror movies and TV series because she has all the potential to be a great final girl.
Jerry O’Connell does the job again
Before her stood Jerry O’Connell. We remember O’Connell mainly as Kevin Mallory from the series “Sliders” and for some very likeable horror roles in the decades that followed: among other things, we saw him as Sidney Prescott’s friend in “Scream 2” and in some reasonable films such as “Piranha 3D” and “Wish Upon” with Joey King and more. Beyond the fact that O’Connell has looked the same for decades (that’s a compliment, right?), he manages to create a fairly convincing character here.
Our pathologist isn’t the smartest you’ll find at the morgue. It’s obvious that in some cases the storyline has him making bizarre choices to provide an excuse for Chloe to continue hiding from him and, later, fight him. His motivations are explained, but sometimes not very convincingly, and the attempt to create some humanity in him through the well-known trick of “Oh, look. He’s a family man because his kids ask him when he’s coming home!” does not work well.
But O’Connell makes the most of the role, being both menacing and psychotic. Don’t expect an unforgettable villain role here, but one whose presence is a little more significant compared to a large part of the horror films that have arrived in our region in recent years.
“Play Dead” could be deadlier
Films of this type rely, to a large extent, on the director’s ability to sweep us away with captivating scenes and tense sequences. Patrick Lussier is an established director of horror films and, in the best tradition of today’s Hollywood, also a producer, editor and in some cases screenwriter. During his career, he directed several rather banal sequels to Dracula (“Dracula 2000”, “Dracula 2” and “Dracula 3”), the sequel to “White Noise” (“White Noise 2: The Light” from 2007), as well as the mediocre innovation “My Bloody Valentine” and the film “Drive Angry” with Amber Heard, which cannot be considered a film in horror because we all learned what happened when she drove angry.
Lussier shows his experience and does a decent job in the film, which had a relatively minor budget (we couldn’t find exact information on its budget) and consisted mainly of a single location. The film doesn’t feel “cheap” in any way, although I think the location or scenes that take place there could have been constructed in a slightly scarier way.
Overall, a morgue can be a reasonable basis for horror films (“The Autopsy of Jane Doe”, “The Possession of Hannah Grace”, “Pathology”), some of them about the connection between life and death (“The Lazarus Effect”, “Flatliners” and others). “Play Dead” doesn’t go all the way on these points, and that’s a shame. The film could have taken a slightly more extreme direction in terms of gore (which appears here mainly towards the end), scares, or humor, but the same can be said of many films today.
The Bottom Line from the ‘Play Dead’ Review: Let Your Brain Be Dead
So should you watch “Play Dead”? Much depends on your expectations of the film, which lends itself very well to light evening home viewing (the film received limited distribution in the United States and grossed less than half a million dollars).
“Play Dead” is of course far from a masterpiece. Some of you may refuse to accept the lack of logic or plot holes or find it difficult to survive the problematic beginnings or less successful moments throughout the film. For those who like thrillers and horror films that give our brains a rest, enjoy effective chases, ridiculous twists, scary scenes and a bit of puppy dog, “Play Dead” may do the trick.
You can watch or purchase “Play Dead” on Amazon (Note: We may earn a commission for purchases made through this link)
