Tell Me How I Die Aspires To Be The Indie Alternative To Final Destination | Film Review

A clever concept – a hook – is one of the diciest risks a movie can take on. If it works, the director just created a wholly unique idea and can sit back while basking in the glory of the bravos from their peers. If it doesn’t jell or ignores its own carefully laid out rules, prepare to see that director’s potential career fire-bomb into the canyon of missed opportunities.

“Tell Me How I Die” takes place in a remote research facility – a building of isolation deep in the mountains, conveniently encapsulated by a blizzard – as a group of youths offer up their bodies to science, for a tidy profit of course. Under the guise of an experimental drug that could assist Alzheimer patients with memory loss, laconic Dr. Jerrems (William Mapother) and his crew chart the results of the study behind the ethically questionable one-way mirror in the loft that the patients reside.

We, the audience, then follow four archetypes as they slowly begin to experience a deadly déjà vu, one where said vu comes true often minutes later, ultimately leading some to foresee their own deaths at the hands of a serial killer. Our leader, Anna (Virginia Gardner), is the first to question the validity and sincerity of the study, albeit for no initial discernible reason. Of course she has Den (Nathan Kress), the lovelorn martyr swooning nonsensically as he backs her every move. Kristen (Kirby Bliss Blanton) initially fits the bill as a typical ‘dumb blonde’ before thankfully morphing into a character with some damn common sense, while Scratch (Ryan Higa) rounds out our quartet as the requisite comic relief. As the ominous stalker takes to offing the volunteers – with an almost supernatural familiarity of each character’s path – the group bands together to fight a seemingly inevitable demise.

“Tell Me How I Die” relies on a hook centered on fate – If you can see your future, can you ever truly avoid it? And if someone wants you dead, someone who seems to have this same gift, can you even stop them? Sure, there are copious amounts of “Final Destination” creeping in here and there, but director D.J. Viola offers enough twisting of ideals to craft a film that finally settles into its own mold by the end credits.

It is not a seamless blend, as the final reveal could have used fleshing out with either a bit more exposition, a stronger villain or a healthy prologue, but that’s a minor quibble. Are there plot holes though? Let’s just say there is an ample amount of both cheese and grater on display here. Still, the film holds onto its fairly fresh concept and plays with the notion of “fate” through several inventive scenarios – one character sees two possible outcomes from their future actions, which one is true? – which ultimately lead to a pair of nail-biting set pieces. Most importantly, instead of an absurd third act deus ex machina, the film manages to take up residence essentially within the context of its own established structure.

This is not master-class filmmaking, nor is it trying to be. It’s an intriguing indie thriller with a solid concept and a payoff that treads reasonably within the confines of its own rules. In an over-crowded market stuffed to the gills with half-baked ideas and minuscule budgets, “Tell Me How I Die” is a drug worth sampling.