Halloween 2016 Movie Special, Day 7: “He Never Died”

Happy Halloween! Our movie special shouldn’t simply end with the resurrection of classics, so here’s the surprisingly weird and wonderful newcomer He Never Died.

He Never Died
(USA 2015, director: Jason Krawczyk)

Jack, a man who likes to keep to himself throughout the ages because he can’t die, soon has to rescue his daughter from a gang of mobsters, while he tries to keep his hunger for blood at bay.

Movies about people who can’t die are usually about zombies or vampires, sometimes involving superheroes who regenerate quickly. Even if He Never Dies never feels like any of them, it’s still about the blessing or curse of immortality. In the case of the main protagonist who is anything but a hero, because he’s rather egoistical, this means that one can get pretty depressed about people and also a bit hungry when being around them, as the only sustenance is human blood or flesh.

If all this sounds like a drama (as in Neil Jordan’s great Interview with the Vampire or rather disappointingly dull Byzantium), this couldn’t be further from the truth, as there’s a lot of (dark) humor in it. One should get used to Henry Rollins’ acting to fully enjoy it, though, because his monotone voice and blank facial expression when delivering the lines could be mistaken for some pretty bad acting. Knowing that he usually portrays tough guys who shout a lot, it’s refreshing to see him in such a quiet role, because the writing is as great as the awkward situations he finds himself in.

However, despite being humorous and offering enough memorable scenes, the overall story or even his background are pretty boring. It’s difficult to relate to any of the other characters or even find some suspense, as there’s not a lot happening besides violent outbursts and gory shootouts, knife fights and tearing trough people’s flesh. Still, as an alternative anti-superhero immortal movie, it’s an entertaining bad taste of filmmaking, in a good sense.

Score: 7/10

imdb

Buy the BD on
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Amazon USA

Official WVG Medien Website

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