I Could Just Die, and That Would Be All Right
2023 · 19m · USA
Directed by A.K. Espada
A suicidal woman living in Southern Gothic suburbia offers herself to a flesh-eating creature roaming the woods near her neighborhood, but instead of dying she wakes up as an undead immortal — forcing her to confront the life she tried to leave behind.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Suicidal woman wakes up undead immortal after offering herself to a forest creature — Southern Gothic horror with depression-as-allegory could be powerful or could be exactly the metaphor it tells you it is. The title is too on-the-nose for me.
Espada's Southern Gothic creature-as-suicidal-ideation allegory occupies the same productive territory as Ana Lily Amirpour's Girl Walks Home Alone and Remi Weekes's His House. The horror metaphor is genuinely earned.
19 minutes is long for a horror-creature-as-suicidal-ideation metaphor, but Espada committing to undead immortality as the OUTCOME (rather than the threat) inverts the usual genre move. 19K views on SOTW suggests it sustains; without more page detail I'm reading the conceptual swing.
Reviews
The writing does a great job explaining deep depression... the acting is super good. A dark, broody atmosphere pervades the runtime, blending modern-day anxieties with folklore creature horror elements.
A thrilling fusion of the supernatural and the subconscious that boldly places psychological undertones front and center, creating a fresh and exhilarating dynamic to the horror short.
Festivals
- FilmQuest 2023, Minerva Award
- HollyShorts Film Festival 2024, Nominated for Best Horror Short
- Nevermore Film Festival 2024, Best Long-Form Short, Best Actress