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Film: The Dead Thing
Year: 2024
Director: Elric Kane
Writers: Elric Kane and Webb Wilcoxen
Starring: Blu Hunt, Ben Smith-Petersen and John Karna
Review:
This was a film that I learned about due to it streaming on Shudder. To my knowledge, I haven’t heard anyone talking about it. I added it to my watch list for when I couldn’t get to the theater for a 2025 horror release. Due to the birth of my second child, I decided to make this a Featured Review for Journey with a Cinephile.
Synopsis: a young woman lost in a series of meaningless connections falls in love with a charismatic and sensitive man, who hides a dark secret that turns her affair into a dangerous obsession.
We start this off with a montage of sorts. We’re seeing Alex (Blu Hunt) as she goes on a date, hooks up and then gets a ride home. She met this guy through an app on her phone like Tinder or Bumble. Like the synopsis said, she isn’t finding a meaningful connection. We see her as she meets up with various men looking for that spark.
That is until she matches with Kyle (Ben Smith-Petersen). Something interesting during their date is that this is the first time we hear Alex speak to my knowledge. These two hit it off. They have a magical evening and stay up all night. The next morning, they go their separate ways. Alex texts Kyle, but doesn’t get a response. We see that she continues to try and it appears she’s been ghosted.
It is from here that she stalks him, trying to find out why he hasn’t responded. She goes to his work and leaves a note. It doesn’t help either that she lives with Cara (Katherine Hughes) who is dealing with a relationship situation of her own. She was engaged to Paul (Bernnan Mejia) and something happened. These two women have grown apart since then. There is also a co-worker, Mark (Joey Millin), who has a crush on Alex, but she doesn’t share the feeling.
Things all change when Alex sees Kyle on a date with another woman. She follows them as he goes home with her. She then gets an idea to delete the app, start a new account and see if she can rematch with him. There is also another secret that she learns that will turn this whole situation upside down. She must decide what is a dealbreaker and what the repercussions of red flags are.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is a modern take on dark romance. As someone who met their wife from a dating app, I’m one of the success stories. I’ve also gone out with my fair share of women that I’ve met through using these apps, with varying degrees of success. If you just look at it from that point of view, we have an interesting enough story. We are seeing toxic relationships, bad dates and just navigating the dating world. That can be terrifying enough. There is an element that goes into the horror realm. I don’t want to spoil it, but just know it is there.
Now that I’ve set that up let me delve more into our lead of Alex. She and I are of different sex, to state the obvious. Despite that, I can still connect with her about going on dates trying to find someone. She is a modern woman so as long as the date goes well enough, she hooks up with him. I can’t fault her there. She has needs to fulfill. I love how this movie shows this as monotonous and that it is just a revolving door where the person, she goes out with is interchangeable. That is until she meets Chris. I’ll say here that Hunt is great in this lead role.
The other frustrating aspect of dating is finding someone you think you have a genuine connection with and it not working out. They had this great date then she got ghosted. I’ve had this happen to me to varying degrees. It hurts to get rejected. There is more to this though and this is the aspect of the story that I loved. If I was Alex, I could be forgiving in knowing the truth. This then shifts into the idea of toxic relationships. What I’ll say is that Alex and Kyle do meet up again. It is from there that we see his jealousy cause him to be violent. This is a scary situation, especially for women. This is partially where the horror comes from as she can’t get away from it. It is interesting that she stalks Kyle as well, which shows this can be a two-way street. I’ll also include here that Smith-Petersen is solid in his role. He has a good look about him plus he just has a charm that feels real.
There isn’t much more to go into for the story so let me finish out with the rest of the acting performances. A character I haven’t brought up yet is Chris and he is played by John Karna. He is a new co-worker that Alex gets. These two also hit it off and it is more natural due to working together. What I love here is that it shows she wasn’t interested in Mark and gave him a line to let him down easier. Karna is also charming and he plays well with Hunt. Hughes works to help develop backstory for Alex, while also having her own problems to deal with. Meija is included there. Other than that, Millin and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
All that is left then is filmmaking. Overall, this is well-made. They do interesting things with the cinematography and framing. The use of reflections, whether it is in a mirror or a window. I did like that. It is used to reveal something. That feels like it is borrowing from mythology so that was a good touch. This is limited in the effects that are used, but it also isn’t that type of movie. It doesn’t necessarily need them. They did go practical where they could there. I did like the editing, especially setting the stage with the early montage. Other than that, the soundtrack fit what was needed.
In conclusion, this isn’t a great film. I do think that it is exploring interesting ideas. It is a modern take on the dating scene and then incorporates supernatural aspects. I like the themes and ideas that it explores with the dating world as well as toxic relationships. The acting is good here to bring this to life. Hunt leads the way with Smith-Petersen, Karna and the rest of the cast pushing her to where things end up. I’d say that this is made well enough. No issues there. The best parts being the cinematography, framing and the editing. This won’t be for everyone. It is horror in a subtle way, but that comes with the nature of the sub-genre that this falls in. I’d recommend it if what I said here sounds interesting to you.
My Rating: 7 out of 10