The Dead Thing

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1:50

The Dead Thing

2024

1h 35m

Horror

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

83%

Tomatometer

40 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Alex is trapped in a downward spiral of shallow hookups and tepid connections, but she is caught off guard when her dating app swipes lead her into the arms of a mysterious, charming young man Kyle. Despite their passionate night, when the sun rises, the mystery man is nowhere to be found. Alex then sets out to find the one person who made her feel alive. Through her investigation, she reconnects with Kyle, but also digs up a ghastly supernatural secret. The pair quickly descend into a whirlwind of obsession, dependence, lust, and infatuation that has grave consequences.

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Critics Consensus

A potent metaphor for toxic relationships, The Dead Thing unfolds slowly but proves haunting thanks to its eerie mood and Blu Hunt's committed performance.

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Brent Simon

AV Club

While not without its faults, The Dead Thing literalizes the hold of toxic relationships and trauma-bonding in a way that effectively reads as a metaphor about codependency, while also remaining elastic enough to invite multiple related interpretations.

Rated: B

Feb 15, 2025

Full Review

Simon Abrams

RogerEbert.com

Unfortunately, Hunt can only do so much with co-stars who either don’t or aren’t meant to have chemistry with her character.

Rated: 2/4

Feb 14, 2025

Full Review

Phil Hoad

Guardian

The slasher-type direction increasingly taken by the film is a bit silly and awkwardly executed. This is where the film’s Lynchian effects seem most cut-and-pasted. Hunt, though, gives an excellent performance in the lead role

Rated: 3/5

Feb 12, 2025

Full Review

Erik Childress

Movie Madness Podcast

After a promising start and nice work from Blu Hunt, the film loses its way into a supernatural metaphor for toxic relationships and obsession that never really finds a firm foot.

Rated: 2/4

Feb 21, 2025

Full Review

Sarah Vincent

Sarah G Vincent Views

It has the potential to raise a hitherto fore two-dimensional supernatural figure into the romantic status of vampires regardless of the obvious repulsive downsides if “Nosferatu” (2024) is any indication.

Feb 19, 2025

Full Review

Joshua Rivera

IGN Movies

While the movie's points are clear, they're also cliché -- as is the movie's horror. The director's ambition exceeds his grasp, telling a story about characters who are not well-drawn enough to feel either universal or specific.

Rated: 4/10

Feb 19, 2025

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Anna M

This movie moves at a snails pace with a lot of redundant scenes. Cannot recommend.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/16/25

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Aldis H

One of the spookiest and most original horror movies I've seen in years, maybe since Get Out. Maybe some people saw the ending coming, but I didn't. It knocked me out.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/05/25

Full Review

Diana S

So this is completely off the cuff and might sound crazy, but I believe this film is about how the director wants to have sex with the leading actress. It's the only thing that makes sense.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/01/25

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Tom L

The title is a bit misleading; I was expecting pulpish ghouls and perhaps a Tales From the Crypt-style yarn. Instead, The Dead Thing is a ghost story about a toxic relationship between a woman and a ghost. It is slow to get started - it may seem at first like one has accidentally started watching something from the Lifetime network. But things eventually get pretty sinister and the concept is fairly original as the ghost first realizes that he’s dead and then latches onto the main character in a desperate attempt to remain on the material plane. The corpses start to pile up and Alex realizes her dream lover has become a horrible nightmare. The rather predictable ending is a weak point but otherwise this is a pretty solid ghost story.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/25/25

Full Review

Sarfaraz A

Elric Kane directed this film, which stars Blu Hunt, Brennan Mejia, and others. The film is marketed as horror, but I saw nothing like that, and most of it is about s*x scenes. The narrative also doesn't go into depth about what type of entity possessed the man, causing him to get supernatural powers and vanish. Although the acting and direction are satisfying, the plot lacks substance.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/24/25

Full Review

Audience Member

Shudder and director Elric Kane presents another horror film about dating and the horrific aftermath of it Alex is a young woman stuck in a spiral of tedious hookups and tepid connections She meets a man one night named Kyle It seems like an innocent meetcute but something happens to Alex, she wakes up the next day and finds he has mysteriously disappeared She runs into Kyle again but apparently he has no memories of her It’s like the meet never happened at all Alex then starts to lose huge chunks of time wondering if she’s going crazy or not I didn’t find this at all scary and its focus needed to be better But the ideas are cool being able to communicate with another plane of existence but it also being a curse you can’t escape from

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/19/25

Full Review

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Elric Kane

Director

Katherine Hughes

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Blu Hunt

Actor

John Karna

Actor

Brennan Mejia

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Joey Millin

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The Dead Thing: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Alex is trapped in a downward spiral of shallow hookups and tepid connections, but she is caught off guard when her dating app swipes lead her into the arms of a mysterious, charming young man Kyle. Despite their passionate night, when the sun rises, the mystery man is nowhere to be found. Alex then sets out to find the one person who made her feel alive. Through her investigation, she reconnects with Kyle, but also digs up a ghastly supernatural secret. The pair quickly descend into a whirlwind of obsession, dependence, lust, and infatuation that has grave consequences.

Director: Elric Kane
Producer: Matt Mercer, Monte Yazzie
Screenwriter: Elric Kane, Webb Wilcoxen
Distributor: Shudder
Production Co: Coda Films, Rubric Pictures, Slow Draw FIlms
Genre: Horror, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 14, 2025
Runtime: 1h 35m
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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