What Keeps You Alive (2018) Reviews

• Pretty boring

  just_in_case2018-12-19

  I hate when people post "boring" as their review because it's usually for some fascinating slowburn well told story. I just cant think of any other title more on the nose for this film. This film just doesn't sparkle. Brittany allens heroine is supposed to have some sort of complex personality but its not ever shown or hinted at so she makes these kind bizarre painfully plot driven decisions that make you cringe. The big reveal of the film happens in the first couple minutes and so the rest of the movie is a sort of slow cat and mouse game but neither the cat nor the mouse are particularly interesting. The villains motivation is just so drab. Its a shame I think a couple more scenes spent digesting the character portraits could have made this more watchable instead I was just thankful went it ended.

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• A mostly solid film ruined by too much nonsense.

  simonmoon2018-08-25

  This movie looks good, and has good acting. The dialogue is tolerable. There are turns in the plot, that are so nonsensical as to bring the whole project down. I'll overlook standard horror/thriller silliness. Like Jules choosing to run through the woods to the cliff after she has tranquilized Jackie. But why would Jules return to the house after driving off in the Jeep ? The Jeep could have been disabled, and Jules could have had a more serious leg injury to explain why she was unable to leave. The return to the house is inexplicable. It makes this movie a bad bad movie.

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• Cardinal Sins of horror

  bjohn-476662018-10-29

  It's 2018 folks. We can't do "girl running for her life in the woods and making all the wrong moves" anymore. I had hope for this. The trailers promised a hunt with a victim overcoming her attacker. But instead you get a very poor decision making protagonist that continues to deliver herself on a silver platter to the killer. It's a frustrating watch. The cinematography is amazing, acting is pretty solid, the writing.... was the "Scy Fy" team of the movie. So many different directions you could have gone and you went with a sloppy story that leaves no one satisfied.

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• Frustratingly stupid choices Spoilers)

  darrylmsmith2018-08-29

  I REALLY wanted to like this, but the continued emotional connection to someone trying to kill you just seemed ridiculous. Just leave! You have the jeep. Is she supposed to be "empowered" now that she wants to try to kill Jackie. Just not well thought out. Or earlier on the lake, and you are asked are you OK. Scream out. The neighbors are right there. But instead you go back to the house to take a bath because you have invited the neighbors over. Quote from the film "Stupid but brave". How about just STUPID.

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• What a coincidence!

  BA_Harrison2018-12-18

  The night before last, I watched Revenge (2017), in which a young woman is pushed off a cliff by her lover. She somehow survives this ordeal and crawls to safety, where she patches up her wounds. Meanwhile, the lover goes on the hunt for the missing woman, but doesn't account for her lust for life and ability to fight back. Guess what happens in What Keeps You Alive... One notable difference between the two films is the main characters' sexuality, the couple in What Keeps You Alive being gay women. The other big difference is that, while Revenge acknowledges its preposterousness and goes all out for excess, What Keeps You Alive fails to realise how incredibly implausible it all is, aiming for realism. The result is a film that is frustratingly dumb, with both women making unbelievably stupid decisions simply to further the plot. None of it works. Victim Jules (Brittany Allen) does little to help her situation. Instead of using the cover of night to make her escape, she cowers behind a tree and falls asleep until morning. While trying to cross a lake in a boat, pursued by psycho wife Jackie (Hannah Emily Anderson), a neighbour on the shore asks if everything is okay; rather than shout for help, Jules invites the neighbours round for the evening. And when she finally has the upper hand, having stabbed Jackie with a tranquilliser dart, Jules doesn't finish off her attacker (or even incapacitate her): she drives to safety, but then turns around around only to discover that Jackie has woken up and isn't very happy. After much more stuff and nonsense, the film closes with a totally contrived twist that requires Jackie to act in a very specific manner. Had she logged onto her computer before she does, Jules' posthumous plan for retribution (yes, she very deservedly dies!) would have been a complete waste of time. Had Jackie given herself her injection without watching the video, the end wouldn't have made any sense. The way things actually play out is very contrived. Revenge (2017) might be far-fetched, but at least it is fun and doesn't leave the viewer feeling like they've been taken for a fool.

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