To you Last Death – 2019 – a bloody animated horror
Before I even realized that To You Last Death was an animated film I thought the cover art was totally awesome. Then, when I realized that animation was the thing I was kinda discouraged. It took me a while to get into the right mood. But I’m glad I finally got around to watching it! It’s a very entertaining movie to be sure! I like the animation style and it’s very bloody and violent without going over the top and becoming silly. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t funny, Because the violence and the gore and splatter are kinda funny. In the way, a murder can be innovative and funny in a slasher film for instance. You should never transpose the plot and events in this kind of movie to reality. No, it might not be realistic, but isn’t the entertainment factor the important thing?
The plot
How to explain the plot then? Well, there are these siblings coming to their multimillionaire father for a visit. Their father is obviously a control freak and does not approve of the way his children have decided to live their lives. What follows are violent deaths in various ways. But that’s not all. Suddenly in the aftermath, a woman turns up and tells our protangist that she can turn back time and try again to play the “game” in a different matter. That she, with her beforehand knowledge can change the outcome. There are some rules though. It must be entertaining and this mysterious woman can come in and change things at any time. There is some other stuff too, but those are the most important ones.
Ok, so, now we start over. Things play out in a slightly different way, not necessarily for the better. We later find out that there are intergalactic gamblers playing on the outcome of the events. And that this mysterious woman is the one controlling the game.
It starts over some more time from various points in the flow of events. So far this is kinda a sci-fi/horror animated film but then again, We, as the audience, question if everything is really real or if things play out only in the head of the main character. There is some evidence to support this theory and when you have seen quite a few movies using that idea you kinda know what to look for. But it keeps being in the twilight between reality and mental illusion. You might decide what is the truth after you see the last few frames of the movie. I’m not sure what I think yet.
Character resemblance
There are a few well know actors doing the voices but only really one that is animated to look quite similar to the actor doing the voice. I think that is a nice touch and it would’ve been too much if every actor was a lookalike. I wouldn’t want to see William Shatner in there for instance.
Kinda look like Ray Wise don’t you think?
The violence is quite entertaining and there is some machinery that reminds me of what couldäve been in films like the Saw franchise. Some really gruesome torture devices. I could only wish that there were more of these. Because if you can make it gore with special effects in an ordinary movie, it’s nothing against what can be made with animation. There’s really no limit to what can be done. The trick is to come up with the ideas I guess. I like this quite a bit but the nature of the story made it a little too repetitive and I also think the themes could have been explored a bit more. But if you’re only going to see one animation horror film this year, choose this one!
