15 Second Review: I Didn’t Come Here to Die (2012)

I Didn’t Come Here to Die is very cheap, and I mean that both in the senses of ‘inexpensive’ and ‘trashy’. The latter is not intended as a criticism: ‘trashy’ is exactly what I Didn’t Come Here to Die needs to be. The plot is standard “teens in the woods” fare for the most part. The ingenious twist is that there is no masked killer. Carnage ensues regardless. The result is quite dull at times, but when the film is fun, it is a whole hell of a lot of fun. Unlike many of his peers, writer-director-editor Bradley Scott Sullivan understands the relationship between comedy and horror. Most of the violent incidents are sudden and likely to inspire a sharp intake of breath from the most jaded of viewers. It is not that the film is “extreme”. The gore effects work well inasmuch as they are unrealistic, that just means they are funny. The violence works well because the comic timing is so acute.  I Didn’t Come Here to Die is hardly Three Colours: Red, but then it never tries to be. The film is brutally honest about what it is, and that is ultimately what makes it worth checking out.