You’re Killing Me (2023)

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Posted By: brian@brianschell.com April 18, 2023

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

There’s a lot of good here. The acting, cinematography, settings, and special effects are all top-notch. But the story is contrived, people make choices that aren’t logical, and sometimes some simple communication would fix things up – it’s not a great script.

From the publisher:

Don’t miss McKaley Miller, Anne Heche and Dermot Mulroney in the pulse-pounding thriller YOU’RE KILLNG ME. When Eden attends a heaven or hell party hoping to get a letter of recommendation to an elite university from the wealthy parents of her classmate, the party quickly turns into a fight for her life. YOU’RE KILLING ME is available now to buy or rent.

Synopsis

Detective Mitchell comes to class and says he’s investigating the disappearance of one of the girl students. Eden walks out of school as the credits roll.

Eden walks up to Schroder and asks him if his dad, the congressman, is still on the board at Penbrook. She wants him to put a good word for her or a recommendation. He’s a snob and says that’s not how this works. She asks him if he’s still having a Heaven & Hell party tonight, and he says that he is. Eden tells her friend Zara that they’re both going to that party tonight, invited or not.

The two arrive at the party wearing angel wings. Eden says she has a plan, and this will all be over quickly. Zara says that Schroder sucks and is a snob. They walk inside and are told to put their phones in a box because the congressman is there. Or because it’s his house. Or some contrived reason to deprive our duo of their phones. They have a quick dance montage, and then Eden spots Schroder. Zara talks to Gooch, Schroder’s friend, and tries to get him alone.

Gooch and Zara actually seem to hit it off. Eden sees a girl outside screaming, “Did any of you see my sister?” Tanya is out there screaming at everyone. She’s the sister of the missing girl the cop was talking about. Eden drives Tanya home and then returns to the party.

Schroder asks Eden for “her pitch” to get into Penbrook. Zara gets drunk and wants to go home, but Eden takes her upstairs and puts her to sleep in a bedroom. We see Gooch in the bathroom getting very, very high. He notices the unconscious Zara and approaches…

Downstairs, Schroder agrees to get Eden her letter.

Upstairs, Gooch is taking selfies with the sleeping Zara, and Eden catches him in there. Gooch leaves his phone when he runs out, and Eden finds an incriminating video of Tanya’s missing sister, Melissa, on it. It’s got Gooch, Schroder, and Kendra, the girl who collected their phones on it, but the battery dies before she sees where things ended. Meanwhile, Gooch is downstairs telling Schroder about his missing phone; the two of them, along with Kendra, come upstairs. How dumb do you have to be to leave an incriminating video on your phone that doesn’t even have a passcode to unlock it? Gooch dumb, that’s how much.

She admits to the bad kids that she saw the video. She threatens to start screaming unless they slip her a charger under the locked door. Schroder goes downstairs, cranks up the music, and ends the party, sending everyone home.

Zara wakes up, confused, and sees Gooch outside her window, which she opens for him. Eden knocks out Gooch but still doesn’t tell Zara what’s going on or why she’s acting like this. Would “Those guys maybe killed Melissa” have been too much to say?

Elsewhere, Eden’s dad talks to some of the kids who were just at the party and learns that the party has ended.

Now locked in the bathroom, the girls have Gooch tied up in the bathtub, and they dangle a hairdryer over him to get the others to go away. Schroder cuts the power. Kendra tries climbing the ladder to the bathroom, but she falls and gets impaled on her own knife.

Eden climbs down the ladder, and she tells Zara to follow her before the others break in the door. Eden finds Kendra on the ground and takes her phone to call 911, but it’s locked. Schroder finds Kendra but refuses to call 911 till they get Gooch’s phone back.

Back in the bathroom, Eden tells Zara what she saw on the phone, but she still hasn’t seen the end of the video. Zara, who’s soberer now, wants to give the phone back to Schroder, and the two argue.

Eden’s dad arrives at the house to pick her up. He hears the girls fighting upstairs. Schroder beats him over the head until Zara gives him the phone.

Suddenly, the congressman, Schroder’s dad, comes in and wants to know what’s going on. Everyone has a brief, tense standoff, and Schroder’s mother and father smile and look at each other. Everyone tells dad and Astrid, Schroder’s mother, what’s been going on. Then they find Kendra upstairs, dead.

Everyone is still sitting around downstairs talking, no one is calling for the police, not even Eden’s dad, who was clearly assaulted. Astrid fixes everyone some drinks. The congressman pulls out his checkbook and offers to fix everything for all of them with generous payoffs and a job contract for Eden’s dad that would set him up very well financially, and of course, a glowing recommendation for Eden to get into college. Eden still wants to see what’s on the phone, but Zara says it doesn’t really matter anyway.

Eden insists on watching the video, so we see that. Schroder ran over Melissa with his car with Gooch and Kendra there. Then they panicked and threw her body off the bridge. Back at the house, all the good guys have been drinking spiked drinks, and they all pass out. The congressman and his wife go all villainous on them, gloating and monologuing.

Everyone goes for a drive in the country (Why wouldn’t they just kill them all while they’re asleep?). Eden and Schroder talk in the car once she wakes up – though she can’t really move – and he says his mother wouldn’t allow him to go to the police. The congressman gets Eden’s fingerprints on the knife that killed Kendra, who is in the trunk, and then Schroder uses it to kill Gooch. They load everyone into one car and then push it into the river.

The next morning, Eden and Zara wake up on the bank. Apparently, Eden’s dad drowned in the car. Eden has another plan, but Zara ain’t having that.

We see the congressman watching the news reports about the “accident” as Eden comes up behind him with an ax. He seems resigned to his fate. Mrs. Congressman puts up more of a fight, stabbing Eden, but Astrid meets an electrifying end.

Schroder comes home and finds both his parents dead and grabs a gun. He comes outside after Eden, who drives right over him. They’re both wheezing and bleeding, and Schroder is about to kill Eden, but then Zara shows up just in time and whacks Schroder over the head with the gun, which finally kills him.

Commentary

Would anyone really go to all that trouble to go to a party to hook up with a guy so that his father might write you a recommendation letter for a college that you haven’t been accepted to yet so that you just might get some classes with your high school friend?

The acting is quite good as are the cinematography and design. It looks great. The problem is the story itself is super contrived and unbelievable. So many of the actions, choices, and situations are just ridiculous.

And in the end, Eden and Zara are probably still going to prison for murdering the congressman and his wife.