Where the Dead Go to Die

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Where the Dead Go to Die
Who would want Jesus to vanish this shithole for good?
Genre: Animated Horror Anthology Directed by: Jimmy ScreamerClauz Produced by: Jimmy ScreamerClauz Written by: Jimmy ScreamerClauz Starring: Ruby Larocca Brandon Slage Joey Smack Linnea Quigley Denvanny Pinn Distributed by: Unearthed Films Release date: February 21, 2012 Runtime: 95 minutes Country: United States Language: English Sequel: When Black Birds Fly

"I won't say that anything that happens in this movie is justified in any sense of the term, or that Where The Dead Go to Die is an underrated gem that you need to go check out. Even while trying to write this, I feel incredibly uncomfortable. Even though this movie was created large part due to one person, which I want to reiterate is commendable, overall, it's incredibly hard to watch due to the voice acting, audio leveling, and consistent and extremely graphic concepts that the bad animation tries to present."

— That Creepy Reading

Where the Dead Go to Die is a 2012 American animated anthology horror film written, directed, animated, edited, scored, and co-starring James 'Jimmy ScreamerClauz' Creamer.

Plot

The film revolves around a group of kids living on the same block. The kids, named Tommy, Sofia, and Ralph, are being haunted by a talking, black, red-eyed dog named Labby, that takes them on a hellish ride through dimensions and periods. The first segment is called "Tainted Milk", the second is called "Liquid Memories", and the last segment is called "The Mask That the Monsters Wear".

Why This Film Should Die

1. The official trailer says nothing about the film, as it's just a collection of ugly and graphic imagery that tells the audience absolutely nothing about the actual plot and story. Not to mention how there's absolutely zero narration or dialogue that could give even the slightest hints about the plot of the film and what it's about.
2. The story is by far the worst aspect of the film. It's divided into three segments that are completely detached from one another (except during the epilogue, where the characters from each segment meet each other at the well), each with a different protagonist: Tommy, the drug addict in the "Liquid Memories" segment, and Ralph with a covering on his head due to having his unborn Siamese twin attached to it, but the general plot is non-existent due to just how inconsistent the movie is and it's complete refusal to establish anything in or about the story.
3. Everything in the movie makes no sense. Any established plot points get nothing to back up or properly explain them and they're all downright nonsensical (when they're not outright disturbing and messed up). Not to mention that they're quickly swept under the rug when the segment ends and the next one begins, only for even more nonsensical and underdeveloped plot points to be introduced.
4. Abysmal animation that's very glitchy, hideous, and looks downright unfinished even when it's not graphic or shocking. It even has glimpses of things (mainly eyeballs) that look like they were taken from real photos/videos, especially on the design of the Cyclops-like Shadow People. And needless to say, they do not clash well with the already hideous and horrific animation.
   • Even though Jimmy ScreamerClauz produced the animation entirely by himself, which can be considered an impressive feat, it still doesn't help matters.
5. Speaking of animation, many segments are very disturbing and violent. (e.g. The limbs yanked out of bodies like legs, arms, and even genitals, brutal on-screen deaths, child abuse, and even child nudity and bestiality)
   • In particular, there's a scene in which Ralph masturbates to one of Sofia's fathers' porno tapes.
   • The infamous scene in which Tommy loses his virginity to Labby via anal sex in front of his parent's deceased corpses. ENOUGH SAID.
   • Sofia is the worst example of all since she's disgustingly sexualized by her horrible father (who uses her in his illicit sex tapes) in such a horrific way that it makes you wish that a bullet went through your head.
6. The film was intended to be a dark comedy, but little to no viewers found it funny. Instead, most were revolted and frightened because any events or concepts like the ones described in the previous point are absolutely not funny in the slightest, and they can't be made that way no matter how hard anyone tries.
7. Awful voice acting and sound that feels completely out of place. Labby speaks in a very quiet tone and sounds like he's constantly gasping for breath, which can be extremely irritating at various points and makes it almost impossible to know what he's saying. Tommy's voice provided by Joshua Michael Greene sounds obnoxious and rather nasally. And most of the other characters' vocal performances sound either bland, over-the-top (and not in a good way) like they're trying desperately to sound edgy and intimidating, or like they're not even trying.
8. Poor lip-syncing that rarely, if ever, matches what the characters are saying.
9. All of the characters here are terrible. They range from idiotic and prone to going along with whatever others tell them to do with no hesitation (Tommy) to annoying (Ralph and his twin, Tommy’s dad), to the unlikeable and selfish (the murderer from the second shot), the disturbing (Sofia's dad), to the extremely evil and satanic (Labby).
10. Most of the events that occur in the movie are straight-up horrifying and disturbing (as discussed previously in WTDSGTD #5). And while media with mature or serious concepts have worked before, it was because they weren't entirely focused on said mature content. They also took the time to develop the story and characters so that it's not just graphic content, but instead an actual story. And whatever said graphic content was present was for the role that it played in the story, so that there's a reason for why they're in the story other than to make it edgier and more "adult". But that's not the case here. Here, not only is there almost zero plot or character establishment, but the graphic content is there for no other reason than for the sake of pure shock value rather than furthering the story.
11. Awful human character designs that don't look much better than the actual monsters. They range from having giant strands of hair sticking out of their arms, to lacking faces, looking like mannequins, or having their eyes looking extremely creepy and unsettling.
12. Poor-quality sound quality and almost zero audio, almost making this film more of a silent film and not a good one either like most black and white early 20th century films.
13. It features a disgusting use of both Pedophilia and Bestiality that often makes this one of the most creepiest and revolting films ever made since both subjects are known to be disgusting and many people who have committed them have been labeled as evil and disgusting individuals. It also puts a bad image on the film since the way how the film handles both subjects is abysmal as they are actually treated in, we are not joking, a positive light, and can make audiences disgusted and repulsed by this movie and its questionable motives, as mentioned in WTDSGTD#5.
    • Not to mention, the film putting those subjects being in a positive light is seen as pedo propaganda.
14. Similar to Foodfight!, the poster for this movie (which showcases the junkie from the second story in the Church from the said story kneeling over the corpse of the woman who was killed in it, all the while being surrounded by the Shadow People and having multiple tentacles reaching out for him) is extremely terrifyingly abysmal to look at.
15. Horrendous soundtrack from Carlos Bonilla, Flyface, and Jimmy ScreamerClauz which sounds distorted and eerie (when there actually is a soundtrack, because the majority of the film has little to no background music).
16. The title is stupid as it has nothing to do with actually showcasing where the dead go to die but instead shows three completely unrelated and mashed-up stories.
17. Oh, and did we forget to mention that Jimmy ScreamerClauz claimed that he was high on drugs when he produced this movie? That alone basically sums up everything wrong with it and it painfully shows.
18. The pacing is atrocious.
19. Zero morals or life lessons, since there isn't anything to learn from this film since it never thinks about its target audience and instead treats its audiences like garbage. This is meant to be an important part of storytelling and is supposed to give a film something to relate to and can help audiences be attached to the story and its characters, something that this film lacks overall and never thinks about, thus making the film feel shallow and overall lifeless in general.
20. The concept is overall stupid and bizarre, as there isn't an explanation to it since it's so simple and complex at the same time with the film doing an awful job at explaining it, and since the execution itself is already awful itself, it shows how bad the film was already going to be from the start and should've been scrapped from the start of its conception in general.

Reception

The movie gained mixed reviews from critics. It was given positive reviews from sources like Rue Morgue, DVDtalk, and Horror News, but was panned by audiences and YouTubers like Bobsheaux and Headbanger142 for its animation, voice acting, characters, and story. As of 2021, IMDb has a rating of 3.9/10 while Letterboxd has a score of 2.1/5. The film is often featured in listings of the worst animated films ever made, with some calling it even worse than the infamous Foodfight!. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an audience rating of 24%. Only 27% of the Google users liked the film.

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