Play Dead is directed by Patrick Lussier,
written by Simon Boyce and Adam Mason, and stars Bailey Maddison, Gerry
O'Connell, Anthony Turbell, and others. Music by Steve Moore, cinematography by
Mac Fisken, and film editing by Tommy Agard.
Director Patrick Luzier's Play Dead tells the
story of Chloe, whose father runs away from home. Unfortunately, he left her no
money. Chloe, a criminology student played by Bailey Madison, fakes her own
death to enter the morgue to retrieve evidence linking her younger brother to a
wrongful crime. Once inside, she quickly learns that the eccentric Coroner,
played by Jerry O'Connell, is using the morgue for a sick and twisted business.
As a terrifying game of cat and mouse unfolds, Isabel discovers that the
scariest thing in the morgue is not the dead, but the living.
Her younger brother TJ, played by Anthony Turpel,
and his ex, Ross, played by Chris Lee, have a plan and are going to rob rich
people to pay off the mortgage. This kills Ross and leaves TJ in trouble, as
Ross's phone contains texts implicating him in the crime. Now it's Chloe's turn
for a brilliant idea. She fakes her own death and takes her to the morgue,
where she plans to get Rose's phone to save her brother. The only problem is,
the Coroner is working late and she’s not the only one in there who’s been
declared dead but is still alive thanks to his side hustle selling organs.
Now, it might not be the sharpest tool in the
shed, but if you die on the street like you ran away and you suddenly come back
alive as if nothing happened, we know some questions will be asked or something
will happen. "A good way to spend the rest of your life in a house. Or
write a script like Play Dead," which "significantly slows down"
your brain function.
Aside from the stupidity of the central concept,
Play Dead is a rehash of an old and overused plot. If Play Dead offered
thrills, I'd take it, but even those are hard to come by. In the first few
minutes, after she wakes up in the morgue, the only suspense is whether Chloe's
sheet will slip before she finds some scrubs. Once she finds them, the film
turns into a cat-and-mouse thriller, with a twist that spoils the trailer and
you wouldn't have guessed it before the film reaches the morgue. O'Connell
plays it straight as a delusional villain whose hypocritical lines of right and
wrong justify his actions by exterminating the undeserving to help the
deserving. His dialogue is very melodramatic and emotionless.
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