Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

She Dies Tomorrow Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 16, 2023

In his visual essay included on this disc as a supplement, Anton Bitel offers a laundry list of sorts of Apocalyptically themed films, though he doesn't get into one kinda sorta hilarious nook and/or cranny of this peculiar subgenre, namely the peculiar preponderance of such outings which are set in Australia. He does at least mention On the Beach in discussing how post global disaster (frequently but not always nuclear) movies have frequently been set "Down Under", since that presumably will be the last place to get "visited" by a radioactive cloud or somesuch weapon of mass destruction. Just drop by my These Final Hours Blu-ray review for a very brief list of just some of the other films which are similarly set in Australia after some kind of holocaust, but one of the interesting subtexts of many of these features is that they offer characters who, by dint of the rest of the world presumably already having expired, know their days are numbered as well, and that aspect rather than setting is the salient point tethering She Dies Tomorrow to some of the Australian set productions.

As Bitel also addresses in his engaging visual essay included on this disc as a supplement, She Dies Tomorrow actually doesn't offer a nuclear disaster subtext, and instead rather bracingly never really explains what may (or may not) be killing people, with, as Bitel mentions, merely talking about one's impending mortality seeming to be the virus that may be wreaking havoc. What this simple but rather provocative setup does in essence is to foreground the very notion of mortality that we all, well, live with but often manage to stuff down in to the unconscious nether regions of our being. Focal character Amy (Kate Lyn Sheil) is evidently sure she's going to expire within 24 hours, though aside from some glittering lights that later seem to offer similar epiphanies about impending mortality to other characters, there's no concrete reason offered.

As such, She Dies Tomorrow is something of a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, but that's probably one of the things that gives this film such an unsettlingly visceral impact. As some of the supplements mention, this is a film built on a very definite dissociative quality and even the ultimate mortality or lack thereof of characters is left uncertain. Some of that uncertainty may come from the semi-improvisatory approach Amy Seimetz adopted for the film, as well as an evidently protracted shoot, but it actually adds to the almost nightmarish paranoiac sensibility that suffuses the story.

She Dies Tomorrow Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

She Dies Tomorrow is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Radiance's insert booklet contains only the following fairly generic information about the transfer:

She Dies Tomorrow was supplied to Radiance Films as a High Definition digital file in the original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 with 5.1 surround sound audio. Amy Seimetz was consulted on the release.

Cinematographer Jay Keitel reportedly used a variety of cameras and lenses to capture the increasingly unhinged, psychedelic aspects of the visual presentation, and there are some rather interesting interviews available online with Keitel as well as on this disc where he gets into things like the varying color temperatures which were utilized to tell this fragmented tale. As such, the palette is almost wildly variant at times, with moments that are completely realistic looking to the point of being slightly dowdy, and then other lush, hallucinogenic moments which are almost drenched in vibrant hues. The transfer preserves the health of the palette and offers generally very secure detail levels.

She Dies Tomorrow Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

She Dies Tomorrow features a subtle but effective DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that helps to establish some of the interior spaces, both in terms of rooms the actors are in, but actually also in terms of the characters' interior spaces, where their sudden revelations can leave the soundtrack devoid of anything but ambient environmental sounds. Mondo Boys' score populates the side and rear channels effectively as well. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

She Dies Tomorrow Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Amy Seimetz and Jay Keitel (HD; 23:02) features the director and cinematographer in discussion.


• Kate Lyn Sheil and Jane Adams (HD; 12:34) is a newly produced set of interviews with the actresses.


• She Dies Tomorrow and the Viral Apocalypse of the Future (HD; 15:11) is an interesting visual essay by Anton Bitel.


• Audio Commentary by Anna Bogutskaya


• Trailer (HD; 1:55)

Additionally, Radiance provides another very nicely appointed insert booklet with essays by Lillian Crawford and Isabel Millar, along with a Q&A session with Amy Seimetz. Packaging features Radiance's quasi-Obi strip.

She Dies Tomorrow Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Let's face it - well all know we're going to die someday, but most of us tend to try not to think about that all the time. What She Dies Tomorrow does quite effectively is thrust that knowledge front and center so that it can't be ignored. The basic premise here is fascinating, and some of the presentational aspects of the film are incredibly striking, but a bit more structured screenplay may have left viewers with fewer questions and more intellectual nourishment. Technical merits are solid, and the supplements very appealing, and at least for those looking for something unusual and provocative, She Dies Tomorrow comes Recommended.