FrightFest 2024: ‘The Dead Thing’ dies a slow death

Dating in the modern world can be the pits. Emotional detachment roots itself in iPhone apps, where you’re only as desirable as your profile pic. In his debut solo feature, The Dead Thing, filmmaker Elric Kane examines online dating and the desperation for authentic human connection. Kane plants these seeds in rich soil, but mangled ferns and grasses sprout in their place. There’s something to be said about hamfisted twists that actually deflate a film’s thesis – leaving you hungry and yearning for more.

The Dead Thing tells the tale of Alex (Blu Hunt) and her turnstile dating habits. She flips through matches on an app and goes on countless dates, hoping for love but left with nothing but meaningless sex. When she meets Kyle (Ben Smith-Petersen) over drinks, she’s immediately struck by his charm. One conversation turns into a one-night stand, during which the two sketch each other’s portraits, snuggle, and share their love of music and movies. When the morning breaks, Kyle and Alex begrudgingly part ways – provoking both to wonder if they believe in love at first sight.

But Kyle ghosts Alex, who grows increasingly obsessed and starts stalking him. Leaning into the classic stalker thriller, The Dead Thing shows great promise in its premise. Alex tracks down his workplace and even, on one occasion, follows Kyle on one of his numerous dates. As she spirals, reality and fantasy blur. Alex loses track of time, which begins to affect her work life and personal relationships. When Kane throws a curveball into the mix, the film loses itself in an increasingly muddled storyline with unexplained intentions and mixed messaging.

Desperate to love and be loved, Alex’s toxic obsession sets up the film to be one thing before transforming into something else entirely. The Dead Thing often feels like two drastically dissimilar ideas spliced together. Where the first chunk of the film offers up a discussion about ghosting and its rippling effects, the back half fails to meet the same thematic requirements as the characters contend with much more than their disastrous dating life. Stakes are raised for inexplicably murky reasons and do little to move the needle forward.

For her part, Hunt dazzles onscreen, perfectly portraying a woman on the cusp of insanity. She digs around in the material to find the nuances and (mostly) succeeds in beckoning the viewer into her fragile mental space. Smith-Petersen complements her performance with an appropriately layered one of his very own. Bursts of acting excellence keep the film buoyed even as the ship continues to sink into the third act.

Despite it all, The Dead Thing possesses great appeal in its filmmaker respects. Cinematographer Ioana Vasile injects a psychedelic technique to mimic Alex’s emotional undoing with distorted images pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle. Visual cues accentuate the characters’ state of being and boost the film’s otherwise lifeless material. Glimmers of brilliant ideas get lost in too many cogs clogging the creative machine, and the viewer must then sift through the mess on their own.

The Dead Thing possesses cool thematic elements and strong lead performances, yet somehow feels detached from what it’s actually trying to say.

The Dead Thing screened at this summer’s FrightFest.

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