TILL DEATH Review

A direct-to-video on demand action thriller, starring Megan Fox, from a first time director with a indie-level budget, should be a red flag. Netflix has become the new home for the direct-to-video level movies which star washed-up actors and lack any form of creativity. How else do you think Bruce Willis has stayed rich? Megan Fox hasn't lead a blockbuster type movie for over a decade, instead being unfairly relegated to the direct-to market. Yet somehow, Till Death blows you away at the creativity and calibre on display.

Till Death follows Emma (Fox), who goes away with her husband to their lake cabin to try and rekindle their struggling marriage. Things turn ugly when Emma wakes up to find herself handcuffed to her husbands dead body. Oooooooh, mystery and intrigue.

Megan Fox is delightful as a woman pushed to the edge, barely holding it together and becoming increasingly frustrated with her situation and antagonisers. As she drags around a body tied to her and moving from one sticky situation to another with a constant scowl of annoynace, you can't help but root for her. It is a character that she is best suited to play, with her steely smoulder and snarky delivery, best seen in movies like Jennifer's Body.

Obvious parrallels can be drawn between this and Saw, where a flawed character wakes up in a horrific situtation and must play along to get themselves out. But there are elements of Home Alone and Die Hard in there as well, with an individual fighting off against goons, with a home court advantage. There are genuine moments of tension as Emma is stalked around her house, using her ingenuinity to barely get by. Even annoying plot contrivances, like the inability to call for help, are presented in a logical enough manner to keep you on board.

The overall mystery is an extreme leap in logic, with Emma's past infidelities and traumatic experience, leading to her husband's death. The stalkers are hardly memorable in anyway, except for a personal connection Emma shares with one of them, but that is only made interesting for how Fox plays their interactions.

Till Death is an atmospheric, survival-thriller that is carried by Megan Fox and creatively drawn out moments of tension.