After getting into a severe car accident with his friends Leonard (Alex Harrouch) and Dermot (Aidan Greene), Marshall (Connor Jessup) realizes that, despite evidence pointing to his demise in the car crash, he is completely fine and unharmed. He pulls Dermot from the wreckage and then watches, stunned, as a trapped Leonard dies when the car bursts into flames, only for Leonard to suddenly reappear, like Marshall, without a scratch on him. Leonard and Marshall realize that while Dermot survived the crash, he has been paralyzed. With cops and paramedics on their way, Marshall and Leonard are faced with the dilemma of whether to kill Dermot, in the hopes that he will reappear healed, or leave him alive and paralyzed.
Rob Grant’s What Doesn’t Kill You has a strange premise for sure, but it is executed brilliantly. Nevermind figuring out why the teenagers have been resurrected, or what it all means, the film manages to bring your focus on whether these two young men can murder their friend. Despite all evidence that it will work, and only the best of intentions, it’s still a challenging situation; it’s one thing to die in a car accident, it’s another thing to purposefully end your friend’s life.
The film plays with the dilemma smartly, and the audience is as unsure of how things will wrap up as anyone in the film. For as short as it is, it’s a surprisingly emotional and intense rollercoaster. Coupled with the quality of the cinematography, the energy of the edit and the strength of the performances, What Doesn’t Kill You packs a massive punch.
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