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By Robert Scucci
| Published
Every once in a while, I stumble upon a horror thriller that has all the mechanics of a great movie but is just a little too on the nose. 2023’s You’re Killing Me falls into this wheelhouse, making it a perfect primer for somebody who doesn’t watch a ton of thrillers but wants to familiarize themselves with all the tried-and-true beats. The acting is melodramatic, every single person is a caricature, and there’s never a moment in the film where you’ll find yourself confused about who the good guy or bad guy is.
On paper, You’re Killing Me doesn’t sound like a fun watch, but it’s the perfect crash course for a casual viewer looking for something a little more straightforward and a lot less cerebral than some of its contemporaries.
Daddy’s Baddy Patching Up A Boo Boo
You’re Killing Me starts with a house party and ends in a disaster you see coming from a mile away. Here’s what happens.
Eden (McKaley Miller) drags her friend Zara (Keyara Milliner) to a house party hosted by Barrett Schroder (Brice Anthony Heller). Barrett is the spoiled rotten son of Congressman Schroder (Dermot Mulroney), and he’s pulling out all the stops while his parents are out of town. Though Eden qualifies for a scholarship at Pembroke University, she’s been waitlisted and hopes Barrett can use his father’s influence to get her bumped up the list.
Since the party is at a prominent public figure’s house, Barrett’s friend Kendra (Morgana Van Peebles) collects everybody’s cell phones upon entry. How convenient!
At the party, Barrett is a total jerk, but he warms up to Eden, who refuses to take no for an answer. Meanwhile, Zara gets overserved by Barrett’s best friend Gooch (Wil Deusner), the kind of kid who seems like he regularly overserves guests at parties like these. Later in the evening, Gooch stumbles upon a sleeping Zara and starts taking selfies next to her for social media clout or something, but he gets startled and drops his phone when Eden walks in on him.
As luck would have it, Eden sees a video of Barrett, Kendra, and Gooch harassing a girl named Melissa, who recently went missing. Unable to finish the video before the battery dies, Eden reasonably assumes they had something to do with her disappearance and possible death. When Gooch realizes what happened, he fetches Barrett and Kendra, who quickly shut down the party and send everybody home, knowing that Eden and an unconscious Zara are locked in one of the bedrooms upstairs.
The rest of the film goes about how you’d expect. Eden and Zara have access to a video that could expose what Barrett and his friends may or may not have done to Melissa, and Barrett will stop at nothing to break the door down and destroy the evidence. With daddy’s reputation on the line, he’s willing to kill and fully aware that his family will cover it up if things go too far.
Everything Is Done Well Here, But…
When assessing movies like You’re Killing MeI always try to think about the target audience. I watch more thrillers than anybody I know, so this really didn’t do much for me. I mentioned at the top of this piece that the acting is melodramatic, but I think that’s exactly what directors Beth Hanna and Jerren Lauder were going for. In other words, yes, some of the performances are unapologetically over-the-top, but I honestly couldn’t see this story playing out any other way. Everybody is reliably doing what they’re supposed to be doing, so I can’t really fault them for that.
As for the good guy/bad guy dynamic, this is where You’re Killing Me is at its most egregious. I totally get that the whole “affluent kid can get away with murder if he wants to” angle makes for a compelling story, but it’s beaten over our heads. Everybody is unbelievably evil here. If you’re looking for a real-life comparison, I’d tell you that the Schroder family dynamic mirrors many of the reports you’ve probably heard about Alex Murdaugh and his family, who have been the subject of countless documentaries and true crime podcasts at this point.
I believe people like this exist because we hear stories about them in the news all the time, but translated into fiction, the social criticism loses some of its impact because everybody is so cartoonishly awful. The film never truly examines the systemic issues that allow people like this to operate in the first place, so it always feels like it’s saying, “Yeah it’s like that sometimes, deal with it.”
Then again, this is a breezy thriller, and it’s never not escalating. I was personally underwhelmed by You’re Killing Mea title that’s worked into the dialogue by its primary antagonist enough times to make you say, “Really?” But if you’re looking for a straight-up hostage situation where the worst kind of people do something horrible and try to get away with it, it’s structurally solid enough to serve as a valid entry point to the genre.
YOU’RE KILLING ME SCORE
As of this writing, you can stream You’re Killing Me on Netflix.
