He Never Died is a
recent[1]
film starring Henry Rollins as an immortal, Jack, who discovers he has a
daughter. I’m gonna try to say as little as possible about the plot, because I
think it’ll be much more enjoyable for you if you don't know what’s coming. What
I will say, though, is that it involves mobsters, cannibalism, and a surprising
amount of bingo. What it also involves is a standout performance from Rollins. Jack
is pretty similar to Rollins – or at least, to the image of himself that he
presents – but even accounting for that, Rollins manages to give a nuanced, engaging
portrayal of what could in the wrong hands have been a pretty one-dimensional
character. I’ve never seen Rollins act before, apart from his non-speaking role
in Heat, and I have to say I was
pleasantly surprised. His reaction shots – often a challenge for actors – are
hilarious, and his deadpan delivery brings out the comedy in the film, a
necessary counterweight to the horror elements of He Never Died. I’m hesitant to describe this as a horror film.
Though it deals with a lot of subject matter normally found in horror (gore,
the supernatural, possibly the Devil) the overall intent of the film seems not
to be to scare the audience, but rather to draw them into Jack’s world. It’s
more like a kind of noir character
piece, but without the faux-Raymond Chandler shtick that defines too many
contemporary attempts at noir.
The
supporting cast are pretty solid too. Jordan Todosey and Kate Greenhouse,
playing Jack’s daughter Andrea and love interest Cara respectively, manage to
convey a lot of character through very few lines. That’s something that’s worth
remarking on, actually – there are very few words per minute in this film. In a
world where far too many films feel the need to cram big, unwieldy lumps of
dialogue (much of it pointless) into every scene, it’s refreshing to see that
writer-director Jason Krawczyk knows when to let his characters be silent.
Having said that, there are still some things wrong. This
isn’t Krawczyk’s first feature film, but it sometimes feels like it is. The
first forty minutes is about ten minutes too long. The story briefly gets lost,
and while I don’t want to spoil anything, there’s something Jack does that doesn’t
seem to fit with his character. Also, while Rollins is a good actor, he still
flounders a little in the film’s finale – there are a few lines that he
delivers as if he’s reading them for the first time. Overall, something just
seems to be missing, and I can’t quite tell what. The plot is fascinating, the
characters are well-written, the camerawork is excellent, and yet I still found
my attention drifting at moments when my eyes should have been glued to the
screen. There’s just something about the whole thing that makes it feel like
less than the sum of its parts.
All in
all, I’d recommend seeing He Never Died
if you’ve got 99 minutes to spare. It’s on Netflix, and it’s certainly superior
to most horror films out there at the moment.
Rating: 6/10