#REVIEW: “TILL DEATH”

Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong

Emma (Megan Fox) is stuck in a controlling marriage to Mark (Eoin Macken). On their 11th Anniversary, Mark brings Emma to their secluded lakehouse for a romantic evening. However, everything changes when she wakes up the next morning handcuffed to Mark’s dead body. Emma quickly learns this is all a twisted plan Mark created. Now she finds herself trapped and isolated at the lakehouse. But when a pair of hired thieves come to crack open a safe, Emma is set on a quest for survival.

We’ve seen single-setting Thriller’s multiple times before, but Writer Jason Carvey manages to make it fresh. The set-up is straightforward, or so we think. A woman is having an affair and the husband is going to act out his pain on her. But that theory is questioned when Emma wakes handcuffed to her dead husband. Instead, we are taken on Mark’s sinister plan filled with thrills. This is where the skilful direction of S.K Dale comes into play. His ability to build tension in the simplest of scenes makes this one suspenseful ride. His use of sound, lighting and close-up shots places us into Emma’s stress.

With single setting films, especially thrillers, it’s hard to keep-up the momentum. But Till Death manages to do just that. This is thanks to the obstacles put into place with Mark’s plan but also the setting itself. Carvey’s decision to set this icy Thriller in the dead of winter aides to the suspense. Before the thieves arrive, Emma is on her own trying to find a way back to civilization. This could easily become mundane, even as she is dragging her dead husband around. Yet, it doesn’t. This is thanks to the obstacles she faces with the freezing weather and her lack of shoes. Another reason these scenes don’t grow stale is due to Fox who turns in a compelling performance.

Fox is fantastic as a woman fed up with her controlling husband who is continuing to burden her after his death. She does this while still expressing the fear Emma experiences when being hunted and Emma’s determination to survive. Thankfully, Emma is a multi-dimensional female role. Emma doesn’t flail around and make stupid mistakes. Instead, she makes calculated, intelligent decisions and repeatedly dupes her hunters. Additionally, Carvey has written Emma to show her flaws. She is having an affair with a man who works for her husband. Through the story, we learn the reasons why Emma did that and if her crime warrants the punishment.

VVS Films release TILL DEATH on August 24, 2021.