It Won’t End Well – Review of “Dead Corpses”

I approached the film with an open mind, trying not to suggest the director’s cinematographic achievements to date. The main motive on which Jarmusch decided to base his film was a little haunted by me. After all, what can be surprising about a zombie apocalypse? There is probably no other such a hackneyed and domesticated topic than the masses of the living dead arising from the graves. Even post-twilight vampires aren’t nearly as depleted as zombies. Well, as you can guess, Jarmusch would not be himself if he served us another shallow story about dead men, but more on that in a moment.

„And the streets look so empty in the morning”

The story revolves around Centerville, a small town like many, located in the United States. This “good place to live” – ​​as is the slogan of the village – is patrolled by two local policemen: Cliff Robertson and Ronnie Peterson. The role of the first officer was played by none other than the master of comedy, Bill Murray. Despite the passage of time, the actor still feels good in his genre, which can be seen from his role in Dead Man . Murray plays a somewhat tired, fatigued and elderly police officer. So Cliff is an almost overly skeptical old man who, after all, doesn’t care. His companion, played by Adam Driver (known for his role as Kylo Ren in the latest installments of Star Wars)), at first glance, he seems to be the archetypal, silly sheriff’s assistant that we see often and densely in movies and series, but these are only appearances. Ronnie is the one who hits the fourth wall time and time again, drawing attention to the film’s script. The special status of the hero played by Adam Driver persists until the very end of the production, when the enlightenment showers on his companion, Cliff. Meanwhile, stranger things are happening in Centerville. The background to the presented events are drilling conducted by oil companies at the Earth’s poles. As a result, the planet’s axis is shifted, which eventually turns the world upside down. Animals die, the hours of day and night change, and electronic devices seriously fail. Most importantly, however, the dead awaken and began to hunt for the living. Jarmusch winks at the viewer again and again, serving such delicacies as the character of the courier “WU-ps” played by rapper RZA (a member of the Wu-Tang Clan formation), or referring to such classics of the horror genre as George Romero. As the action unfolds, we also meet new characters, played by actors such as Steve Buscemi (who plays a typicalrednecka ), Tilda Swinton (an eccentric funeral home owner with amazing abilities), Danny Glover and Selena Gomez. The idyll, during which we wander around the town, does not last long and soon death appears on the streets of Centerville.

„But the dead’ll still be walking ’round”

The death spiral spins when the first two dead bodies emerge from the local cemetery. To make it more interesting, one of them is played by Iggy Pop himself. Then it’s basically downhill, and the first to come up with the idea that zombies are the source of the gruesome deaths in and around Centerville is none other than Ronnie. No wonder, he was finally reading the script, but not the entire script, as it turns out later. So some heroes arm themselves up to their ears, others barricade against the living dead, but eventually they die anyway, and others … they just die. The corpse is thick, but it is not overly exposed. Yes, there will be a few scenes that interfere with the gore cinema, but the zombies themselves always crumble to dust (could the analogy to: “You rose from dust, you will turn to dust”). It means roughly as much that the emphasis in the case of the living dead is on a different dimension. They are not just monsters hungry for blood and brains, created as a result of infection with some strange virus. Here, zombies have a substitute for dying humanity, which is manifested, among other things, by their behavior. They differ from the standard undead in that even when they rise from the grave, they return to things that were closest to them during their lifetime. It is a metaphor that Jarmusch finally utters directly through the character of a hermit who turns from an observer into a narrator. The end of the film, in addition to the arrival of aliens and the kidnapping of Tilda Swinton, provides a summary, if perhaps even more of a complaint, about current society. The man of the 21st century is guilty of being a soulless creature, focused only on thoughtless consumption, just like a zombie. They are not just monsters hungry for blood and brains, created as a result of infection with some strange virus. Here, zombies have a substitute for dying humanity, which is manifested, among other things, by their behavior. They differ from the standard undead in that even when they rise from the grave, they return to the things that were closest to them during their lifetime. It is a metaphor that Jarmusch finally utters directly through the character of a hermit who turns from an observer into a narrator. The end of the film, in addition to the arrival of aliens and the kidnapping of Tilda Swinton, provides a summary, if perhaps even more of a complaint, about current society. The man of the 21st century tends to be a soulless creature, focused only on thoughtless consumption, just like a zombie. They are not just monsters hungry for blood and brains, created as a result of infection with some strange virus. Here, zombies have a substitute for dying humanity, which is manifested, among other things, by their behavior. They differ from the standard undead in that even when they rise from the grave, they return to things that were closest to them during their lifetime. It is a metaphor that Jarmusch finally utters directly through the figure of a hermit who turns from an observer into a narrator. The end of the film, in addition to the arrival of aliens and the kidnapping of Tilda Swinton, provides a summary, if perhaps even more of a complaint, about current society. The man of the 21st century tends to be a soulless creature, focused only on thoughtless consumption, just like a zombie. Here, zombies have a substitute for dying humanity, which is manifested, among other things, by their behavior. They differ from the standard undead in that even when they rise from the grave, they return to the things that were closest to them during their lifetime. It is a metaphor that Jarmusch finally utters directly through the character of a hermit who turns from an observer into a narrator. The end of the film, in addition to the arrival of aliens and the kidnapping of Tilda Swinton, provides a summary, if perhaps even more of a complaint, about current society. The man of the 21st century is guilty of being a soulless creature, focused only on thoughtless consumption, just like a zombie. Here, zombies have a substitute for dying humanity, which is manifested, among other things, by their behavior. They differ from the standard undead in that even when they rise from the grave, they return to things that were closest to them during their lifetime. It is a metaphor that Jarmusch finally utters directly through the figure of a hermit who turns from an observer into a narrator. The end of the film, in addition to the arrival of aliens and the kidnapping of Tilda Swinton, provides a summary, if perhaps even more of a complaint, about current society. The man of the 21st century tends to be a soulless creature, focused only on thoughtless consumption, just like a zombie. they return to things that were closest to them during their lifetime. It is a metaphor that Jarmusch finally utters directly through the figure of a hermit who turns from an observer into a narrator. The end of the film, in addition to the arrival of aliens and the kidnapping of Tilda Swinton, provides a summary, if perhaps even more of a complaint, about current society. The man of the 21st century is guilty of being a soulless creature, focused only on thoughtless consumption, just like a zombie. they return to things that were closest to them during their lifetime. It is a metaphor that Jarmusch finally utters directly through the character of a hermit who turns from an observer into a narrator. The end of the film, in addition to the arrival of aliens and the kidnapping of Tilda Swinton, provides a summary, if perhaps even more of a complaint, about current society. The man of the 21st century tends to be a soulless creature, focused only on thoughtless consumption, just like a zombie.

„After life is over… The afterlife goes on”

Many accused Jarmusch of making himself small, throwing such banalities, and at least in a vulgar way. There were arguments that it was completely unfit for an artist with such achievements to express himself creatively in this way. However, apart from the end of the movie Dead Dead , which is not really about another zombie production, maybe it would be worth considering if there is at least a bit of truth in all this? The living dead looking for WiFi, or making caricature poses like cheap Instagram stars, radio messages in which the authority denies any responsibility. Doesn’t that sound somehow weirdly familiar? But I hope this time Jarmusch is wrong, and that, unlike his Dead Men… , it will all end well .On the other hand, this movie provides a good dose of laughter and entertainment. Like every production by this director, this one also has a degree of weirdness, but that is his charm rather than a flaw. The soundtrack, the foundation of which is, of course, the piece Dead don’t die Sturgill Simpson fits perfectly into this whole .

We would like to thank the Cinema City chain for the opportunity to watch the film.