‘Death is in da house!’
Are We Dead Yet? is a 2019 British crime comedy horror film about a robbery that goes wrong and a haunted castle.
Written and directed by Fredi ‘Kruga’ Nwaka, the movie stars Jessica-Jane Stafford, Tim Faraday, Faisal Mohammed and Elijah Baker.
Plot:
A robbery goes horrifyingly wrong when five criminals take refuge from the police in an old castle. What starts out as ‘one last job’ quickly becomes a night of ghostly misfortunes…
Reviews:
” …the story was too muddled and it was too long. There’s so much going on in the film that it lacks focus and the huge cast of characters leaves no room for any to be developed. Nwaka’s direction is solid enough and parts of his script are sharp but the film could have done with another pair of eyes to streamline it and play more to its strengths.” Entertainment Focus
” …most of the laughs come from the former residents of the house; there are some very weird and wonderful characters to behold in this line-up. It’s not the type of comedy that everyone will get on board with as it skews very close to the silly, farcical side, but it may still induce the odd belly laugh or two.” The Hollywood News
“The plot required to get the protagonists to the house – which involves real and fake cops, and cross-purposes criminality – is frankly a mess, and mostly lets the actors claw their bits of screen time for a few jokes … but things get more interesting as the backstory of the haunted house tumbles out and the inept crooks keep blundering into equally clueless apparitions.” The Kim Newman Web Site
“It felt confused, haphazard and the characters, for the most part, were irritating. There was no reason to root for anyone, nothing to keep you involved. The score even felt like something a bloke decided to throw together in ten minutes in his spare bedroom on a Sunday morning. It all just feels very amateur.” Nerdly
“The plot seems to shift to whatever the needs of the next set piece or gag is rather than a story that progresses in a specific direction. There have been many comedies that have a static situation and stick with it rather than telling a well-developed story, but if you do that, you’ve got to have jokes that land. As it is, the ending is a very pat, but seemingly emotional resolution that comes from out of nowhere.” Nightmarish Conjurings
“Nwaka’s film takes advantage of the climate recently created by Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017) to reinvest and refresh the horror genre with black critiques and perspectives. It is just a pity that in other respects Are We Dead Yet? is so messily unfocused. The ongoing sub-Ritchie criminal capers never sit well with the more supernatural material…” Projected Figures
Cast and characters:
Jessica-Jane Stafford … Madison
Tim Faraday … Bobby ‘Brickwall’ Sanderson
Faisal Mohammed … Mace
Elijah Baker … Micky
Fabrizio Santino … Police Officer James
Colin Murtagh … Police Officer Nicholls
Khali Best … Kai
Paul Danan … Gavin
Sharon Lawrence … Mrs Drakelow
Winston Ellis … Mr Drakelow
Eloise Henwood … Chloe
Professor Green … Police Officer Bryan
Fredi ‘Kruga’ Nwaka … Smoke
Annabel Davis … The White Witch
Bradley Turner … Parksy
Technical details:
94 minutes
Trailer:
YouTube reviews:
