MovieChat Forums > A Horrible Way to Die (2011) Discussion > A horrible way for who to die?

A horrible way for who to die?

posted 11 years ago by Timos
6 replies | jump to latest

Unlike most people here (it seems from reading other threads) I really enjoyed the camera work and slow build up. I was very disappointed with the reveal (I normally like twists but just didn't buy this one), but thought I knew where it was going, that they would all kill each other and she would be left hanging there in the middle of nowhere with no hope of escape, hence a horrible way to die; but being released and ending with her walking away seems to make the title a bit of a farce. It's not a big budget movie where audiences would expect a nice happy ending, it seems like a missed opportunity to me.

[–] angelabordack 9 years ago

I know it's an old post but here goes. It's a horrible way for her to die. I don't mean the way they were going to kill her in the movie, but WHO was supposed to kill her in the movie. She was scared to death of her ex, she changed her name and where she lived, so she could start over again. She meets her new love interest, and he takes care of her; She feels safe, She trusts him. It's a horrible way to die because her current love betrayed and tricked her and served her up to her murderous ex. It would be pretty horrible for your love to offer you up to your murderous ex-love because they are his groupies. That's my take on the title. It's not how would have died, it's by whom.

[–] guardian_owl 9 years ago

Now the post is even older, but that's not the real reason. According to the commentary, in the original script during the conversation when Garrick asks her how she would want to die her answer continues, "not in a way that I die slowly."

Then in the final scene, Garrick would have died before cutting her down, and the movie would have ended with her still tied up upside down screaming for help and a wide shot of the cabin. This would imply she is going to die how she feared, slowly due to dehydration or hypothermia when the generators kicked off. They changed the concept early, but decided to keep the name even if it no longer made any real sense. So you we're right OP, that is how it originally went.

[–] essex9999 8 years ago

She was scared to death of her ex, she changed her name and where she lived, so she could start over again. She meets her new love interest, and he takes care of her; She feels safe, She trusts him. It's a horrible way to die because her current love betrayed and tricked her and served her up to her murderous ex.

Not to mention the irony that Sarah was in no danger from her ex, who, it turns out, clearly still loved her and ended up saving her life. So not only would her death have been the result of deception and betrayal, it would have been completely unnecessary because Garrick would never have hurt her anyway.

The other post explains that the title is based on an earlier version of the ending, but the explanations above at least give it a little meaning to save it from being completely random.

[–] whoyaaah 8 years ago

I was thinking the exact same thing; that the "horrible way to die" would be hanging upside down, unable to escape, with four dead guys starting to rot....

I thought a better title for this movie would be "She sure can pick 'em"!! LOL

“I’m into, oh, murders and executions mostly. It depends.” I shrug.
“Do you like it?” she asks, unfazed.
“Um… It depends. Why?” I take a bit of sorbet.
“Well, most guys I know who work in mergers and acquisitions don’t really like it,” she says.
“That’s not what I said,” I say, adding a forced smiled, finishing my J&B. “Oh, forget it.”

[–] Geddles 8 years ago

THIS ^^^

Yet I didn't mind the compassion, at all. There is hope for even the vile to sometimes do the right thing.

[–] fatpie42 8 years ago

SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY. ;)

I don't know about "horrible", but I think it's all down to the scene where they talk about how they would like to die. She says she would want to die quickly, but it's actually his claim that he would want to die like a kamikaze pilot. He rushes in to save her and is badly wounded in the process. I don't think he's expecting to get far.

But I think actually the horrible side of it is that he ends up killing so many people on the way there. He doesn't like killing people. He sees it as a weakness both as a boyfriend and as a human being. He would rather be in prison so that he has a structure where he can live and not have to worry about succumbing to his urges (parallels with alcoholism I guess). Each time he murders someone we see him regretting it, only to see him inevitably do it again and again.

I thought it was a really cool twist that he left prison somewhat against his will. He wanted to stay in prison, but he owed it to his girlfriend to take down the 'fans' sending him notes. That it would be his fault if his girlfriend was killed by them.