‘I’ll Take Your Dead’ (2018) Is A Brilliant Look At The Nature Of Loss

From Chad Archibald, the director of Bite (2015 – read our review here) and The Heretics, comes a new film called I’ll Take Your Dead, where the horror elements take a back seat to human relationships. The film stars Aidan Devine (Suicide Squad 2016), Ava Preston (Odd Squad TV series), and Jess Salgueiro (The Boys TV series).

Synopsis:

A farmer makes a living disposing of bodies. One day, 3 bodies are delivered – except the young woman is still alive. If set free, the gang’ll come after him and his daughter.

The farmer, William (Devine), obviously hates his job. He is disgusted by the three bodies that are dropped off, and his discovery that the woman, Jackie (Preston), lives leaves him with an impossible choice. He is not the type of person who can just kill her, but he can’t let her go, either, as that will put his daughter at risk. William’s daughter, Gloria (Preston), has been exposed to nearly all of her father’s “business” most of her life, and is literally haunted by the spirits of the bodies he has disposed of. At first, she becomes fascinated with and then sweetly fond of Jackie as time goes on, making her father’s situation even more complicated. Soon, Jackie’s past will catch up to endanger them all.

I’d like to take a moment to discuss the incredible cast here. I have seen Aidan Devine in a few TV projects, and he has always been a solid actor. He does an incredible job here. You can see his anguish as he struggles to try to make the right choices in an impossible situation. Jess Salgueiro does a fine job as Jackie, who has to balance a tightrope of desperation to escape and finds herself caring for Gloria more than she realizes. The real revelation here is Ava Preston. Her Gloria is both lonely and deeply haunted, and then inquisitive and softly yearning for connection with a mother figure in Jackie. It is a star making performance. I hope to see more of her in the future.

I went into I’ll Take Your Dead knowing absolutely nothing about it, which was a good thing. People who go into this film looking for a blood-soaked horror will probably be disappointed. That’s not saying there isn’t any blood here. There certainly is enough for any horror fan! The supernatural elements are deftly handled, and the effects are great.

But the true genius of this film lies in the human relationships and long, quiet moments of people who are searching for a connection after losing someone they loved. The three protagonists – sad widower, a motherless girl, and a wounded woman – become a bizarre family in a way.

There are two critical moments in I’ll Take Your Dead where William makes choices that will change the course of his family’s lives, and they are made out of compassion. He is a man who has suffered through the loss of his wife and doesn’t want to experience any more grief, even if they will cost him his life. This is a film that begs to be seen, so get out there and watch it!

Watch I’ll Take Your Dead right now!