‘Play Dead’ is a horror thriller centering on Chloe – a criminology student who plans to break into a morgue to retrieve evidence tying her younger brother T.J. to a crime. After getting in, Chloe learns that the Coroner is using the morgue as a front for his own business, and has to fight to get out alive.
The film opens on Chloe as she receives a call from her bank, informing her that her house will be repossessed. Unable to cover the mortgage payments, Chloe is in dire straits as she has lost both of her parents and the insurance company is not paying out.
At the same time, T.J. and his friend Ross prepare to rob a pharmacy to cover the mortgage payments. The stick-up goes wrong, Ross gets shot and T.J. escapes. Returning home to Chloe, the two realise they have to get Ross’s phone as it may tie T.J. to the crime.
Chloe fakes her own death and manages to get into the morgue. As she searches for Ross and the evidence locker, she witnesses the Coroner harvesting organs from the recently deceased and sells them on the black market. Shocked, Chloe tries to find what she needs and get out. Searching through the facility, Chloe finds Ross. Wanting to say goodbye, she approaches him and finds him to still be alive. The two then plan to escape. After finding the evidence locker and managing to steal the Coroners keys, Chloe leads Ross to the exit, but the two are found out and the Coroner subdues both of them.
On awakening, Chloe and Ross are tied up and the Coroner harvests Ross’s liver, killing him. Distracted by a phone call, the Coroner leaves and Chloe manages to escape. Getting to the evidence and managing to call T.J., her brother calls the sheriff and the two head into the morgue to help Chloe. The Coroner and town sheriff are revealed to be working together, and T.J. and Chloe are then chased down by the two.
The Coroner’s contact from earlier, Mannix, returns to pick up the liver to be sold on. Mannix is shot in a stand off, but T.J. and Chloe help him escape. In a cat and mouse chase, Chloe and T.J. manage to take out the sheriff and the Coroner, and help Mannix escape the morgue, who in turn pays them for their help. The film closes on the three driving away from the morgue as day breaks.
‘Play Dead’ is a fairly ordinary January horror release – dropped during a quiet period presumably due to it abysmal substance and low prospects of performing well. The film contains little by way of substance in terms of story, character development and tone. The film is classified as a horror/thriller, but provides a poor impression of such a film.
With a fairly intriguing premise and initial potential for an original horror, the tone of the film never quite manages to establish any tension and fails to deliver in suspense. We get to follow Chloe, played by Bailee Madison, as she is quick on her feet in figuring out what needs to be done to preserve what’s left of her family. The opening of the movie veers towards a fast paced thriller, yet falters as soon as the heroine awakens in the morgue.
Even though the story may not be classified as uneventful, the action never seems to amount to much, with little by way of surprises and fairly predictable turns in the story. Most damningly perhaps, the film seems to drag when it should be ramping up towards its climax, puttering along until the expected and unremarkable conclusion.
The film tries to raise a few philosophical ideas, with the most prominent being the Coroner’s views on harvesting the organs of people he has deemed unworthy and best suited in aid of other, seemingly more important people. The discussion surrounding this feels strained, with Chloe and the Coroner forcing their way through the dialogue, with the conversation ending abruptly and never being raised again. Perhaps further exploration of the Coroner’s reasoning would have given the character more pathos, yet he remains a superficial evildoer.
Without anything new to add to the pantheon, ‘Play Dead’ does not leave a lasting impression. Poorly executed action sequences, one-dimensional characters and an uneventful story amount to little by way of excitement or scares, and is best avoided.
Score: 1/4
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