By Alya Stationwala
After the cult-horror success of He Never Died in 2015, this Canadian sequel brings a female centric twist to the gory noir comedy that brought Henry Rollins his lead actor debut in a feature film.
Produced and directed by Canadian Audrey Cummings (Berkshire County), a scary movie veteran, She Never Died reintroduces the supernatural creature of a cannibalistic anti-hero through the character of Lacey (Olunike Adeliyi). Caught in the middle of a human trafficking ring, Lacey is discovered by Detective Charlie Godfrey (Peter MacNeill) who is looking to shut down the underground criminal organization. Self-healing and human flesh eating, she agrees to work with the detective as a way to kill Terrance (Noah Danby), one of the leaders of the organization and “the man with the rings” whose fingers she’s been craving to snack on. Along the way, Lacey saves Suzzie (Kiana Madeira), a kidnapped girl, who eagerly joins her on her quest to find Terrance against Lacey’s will.
Olunike Adeliyi as Lacey in She Never Died. (Courtesy of A71 Entertainment)
With an unlikely friendship brewing between an odd collection of characters, Lacey, Godfrey and Suzzie are a fun group of people with very two-dimensional motivations that glue them together. Lacey serves her undeniable cannibalistic urges by searching for morally corrupt people, Godfrey has a vendetta against the trafficking ring because that’s how he lost his daughter, and Suzzie is fresh off being kidnapped with nowhere to go and an attachment to the woman who saved her, Lacey.
While He Never Died relied on their starring actor’s presence, Cummings’ reinterpretation filled the gaps with supporting characters that push the protagonist forward in her pursuit. As Cummings said in an email interview with CanCulture, “It’s a strong female-driven film with a female protagonist, antagonist and bubbly sidekick. Thematically there are some strong storylines about women supporting women and the fight against misogyny and human trafficking.”
However, it’s not without fault. The characters, from the trio of good guys to the villains, are caricatures — an exaggerated representation of common archetypes. They have little to no development and thus there is little to no motivation to root for any of them. Terrance and his sister Meredith (Michelle Noldan) are cartoon villains, teasing the protagonist with false superiority but no proof that they have any power to succeed. Suzzie serves as the upbeat tone in an otherwise dark story, offering a “reluctant friendship between [her and Lacey]. I felt it would create such an interesting dynamic if they were like yin and yang,” said Cummings.
However, relying on Lacey’s complete disinterest towards Suzzie to get a laugh out of the audience is a note you can only hit a few times before it gets old. Even Godfrey is a classic old detective lost in the rabbit hole of a case he could never solve — something done many times before.
The most interesting person to follow is Lacey because of the air of mystery around her character. She was inspired by the mythological creature of Lilith, “Adam’s first wife [who] refused to be subservient to him. She wanted equality and for that, was cast out of the Garden of Eden. Ultimately she was an independent female figure that challenged the system,” said Cummings.
The corny relationships Lacey shares with characters who keep bothering her, even though she prefers to be alone, hide an underlying depressing storyline of someone who is being wrongfully punished. Despite never really getting this explanation of her character in the movie itself, there is both an interest sparked and a deterrent created by the lack of information provided. Much like He Never Died, minimal dialogue and an enigmatic main character keep you invested in trying to decipher what’s happening. However, with no actual answer to the question without a little biblical knowledge, one has to ask whether it was worth sitting through the film to try and figure out.
In the end, the acting is what shines through She Never Died. Olunike Adeliyi leads this film fiercely in a strong female role that lets the audience play bystander to casual acts of violence and enjoy it. Cummings clearly “found the balance between having just enough gore and not enough,” something she said is difficult to find. Lacey is disinterested in most things and bland like the porridge she eats, but her creativity shows through the egregious ways she kills her opponents which leave you waiting to see what she will do next. Her short and abrupt chime ins are cute and quirky one-liners and allow you to feel less terrible for rooting for more gore. Adeliyi really pulls this otherwise dull movie out from the shadows and makes She Never Died an enjoyable horror-comedy worth your time.
Courtesy of A71 Entertainment