Written and directed by Seabold Krebs, after failing to keep his wife’s dying wish, a series of tragic events leads Henry to believe she’s returned to get revenge. Starring: Devon Terrell, Charlotte Hope, Makenzie Leigh, Roxanne Hart, Richard Bekins, Mike Houston and Elisha Lawson.

No matter the style, genre, era, there’s one fatal mistake that any film can make, which is revealing too much in the trailer, and that’s exactly what Bury Me When I’m Dead did. So, if you haven’t seen it and do want to watch the film, avoid it at all costs. There’s basically one major event in the entire film and it’s spoiled within seconds of the trailer opening. Although, it’s definitely not the only flaw this film has to offer because very little else happens. The crux of this story is the death of Henry’s (Devon Terrell) wife Catherine (Charlotte Hope) but even that doesn’t occur until almost halfway through the film.

There’s an interesting premise at work with Bury Me When I’m Dead, one that mixes supernatural hauntings and unnatural forces, with karmic retribution but we don’t really get to see any of that at work. It doesn’t hold the expected intensity, it moves very slowly, it struggles to build a suspicious or curious atmosphere. There are also some hints here and there that it wants to be funny but Seabold Krebs never commits to that. Even when it does finally arrive at the ending, the sound of it patting itself on the back is almost deafening, you can feel how desperately it wanted to pull off something clever but it’s so obvious, and too little, too late.

Another key issue is the characters, all three of the main characters within this story are surprisingly bland. However, it does bring up an interesting question of whether viewers assume characters are good people until they find out otherwise, or are we reserving judgement? Because Henry is definitely not a good person, as he demonstrates quite quickly and repeatedly. Something that adds yet another obstacle because it’s a little hard to care about what happens to him. It’s the supporting cast who bring through the personality here, particularly Roxanne Hart and Richard Bekins as Catherine’s parents who are top notch. As well as Mike Houston’s quirky and unexpected Buck.

While the atmosphere feels rather non-committal to the thriller and supernatural side of things, Krebs’ direction does a decent job. There are some unusual shot choices, adding some personality and energy to the equation. The cinematography is absolutely solid and the sound and score work are all ticking the right boxes. That’s what’s most frustrating about Bury Me When I’m Dead, the ingredients are there, you can sense what it was it meant to be but ultimately, it went way off track.

Bury Me When I’m Dead takes too long to get to the point and doesn’t have much to bring to the table once it gets there. There’s not enough happening to take this where it needed to go, the basic foundation is there but the execution is confused and lacking. The cast can only do so much with characters who have little personality, it feels like Devon Terrell could have happily taken Henry down twisted a rabbit hole of madness, but he never got the chance. There are sparks here and there of something more gripping but they’re unfortunately short lived.

Verdict: ✯✯ | 4/10

Available on Digital & VOD from July 18