Jack Bayless takes his experience as a special effects artist to new heights in My Only Friend’s A Corpse. The 70-minute horror film is Bayless’s writing and directing debut. The story begins with a convenience store worker taking a smoke break. He encounters a random person, but refuses to engage. But the man soon winds up dead, as that person is actually a living corpse who needs to kill.
Onto this scene of death strolls Danny (Sam Christensen), a punk kid with no friends. After witnessing the macabre display, he tries to leave. However, The Corpse (Christensen as well) stops him and begs for his help. The Corpse convinces Danny to aid his quest to track down and kill God. The human boy makes the undead being promise not to kill him, and a deal is struck. The journey takes the duo to a diner where the Corpse kills everyone, as well as encounters with demons who possess sacred daggers, angels, and a whole lot of dead bodies. But can anyone, even Danny, trust a corpse whose main goal is murder and more murder?
My Only Friend’s A Corpse does have a few lines of humor, but the premise and characters are largely played straight. This is a smart move on Bayless’s part, as it allows the somewhat absurd situation to be bought into by all audiences. This means that the horror of the situation is felt at all times and is truly intense. The aforementioned diner scene is a great example of how the comedy, drama, and horror feed into and bolster each other up. After the massacre, Danny understandably freaks out, as his fingerprints are on the door, the booth, the utensils, and whatnot. While that sounds like a small thing, and it is, it shows the care the director put into when and how the horror is handled and how its dramatic impact on the lead character turns out.
“The Corpse convinces Danny to aid his quest to track down and kill God.”
The other element that sells the film’s horror, of course, is the special effects. I don’t know what Bayless’s budget was, but he put all that money into the film. The cinematography, by Isaiah Thornburg, is great, playing with the highly stylized lighting and shadow to excellent effect. But the corpse, various blood, guts, and other viscera stand out. They look gnarly, disgusting, and creepy. The effects here put big studios to shame in just about every way, as with hopes, prayers, and dreams, the filmmaker and his talented crew, including the makeup on the demons and other otherworldly beings, impress from beginning to end.
The acting throughout My Only Friend’s A Corpse plays the horror and drama properly as well. Christensen plays Danny with the right amount of anger, fear, and fun. A line at the end about the Corpse’s promise is very heartfelt. He plays off himself as the Corpse brilliantly. The deep, scratchy voice used for the undead being makes him sound scary but interesting. The supporting cast is also great, bringing the overacting to a level that makes everything silly but scary.
The last part of the film to highlight is Riley McCandless’s score. The music excels at underscoring the horror, drama, and wild adventure of the plot. It sounds ethereal yet creepy, which is the right way to mesh the scary and otherworldly elements in an audible way.
My Only Friend’s A Corpse is a great, creepy watch with a very memorable ending (I really want to dive into that, but no spoilers!). The acting is strong and sells the on-screen world with ease. The score and cinematography are fantastic and help the film’s tone immeasurably. But it is the special effects that take this from very good to damn near perfect. Movie buffs who want to support original independent works need to find and watch Bayless’s excellent little title as soon as possible. Anyone who does will not be disappointed.
For more information, visit the official My Only Friend’s A Corpse Facebook page.
"…put[s] big studios to shame in just about every way..."
