Kate Lyn Sheil freaks out in She Dies Tomorrow
The Malco Summer Drive-In is the place to see movies with an audience right now, and this week’s lineup features some cutting-edge new releases and bona fide classics.
She Dies Tomorrow is a new arthouse suspense horror from actor-turned-director Amy Seimetz. It follows Amy (Kate Lyn Sheil), a depressed young woman who, after a traumatic breakup, becomes convinced she’s going to die. Her Thanatos anxiety spreads to those around her. The film, which co-stars Jane Adams, is presented with Indie Memphis as the organization’s first in-person screening since the pandemic started. Seimetz will join Indie Memphis artistic director Miriam Bale for an online discussion of her new film and notable career on Tuesday, August 11 at 8:30 p.m. You can sign up to participate at the Indie Memphis website.
She Dies Tomorrow Leads Packed Weekend at the Drive-In
Over on Screen 3, will be an all-time summer movie classic. The blockbuster era may have started in 1975 with Jaws, but for my money, the first truly “modern” summer movie was The Empire Strikes Back. It was a sequel, for one thing, to a proven franchise. It set the now-familiar pattern of stretching out the characters and situations introduced in the first film, freed from the necessity of an origin story. And while 1977’s Star Wars was an unexpected hit, Empire arrived with an unprecedented marketing and merchandising juggernaut.
It is also, arguably, the greatest independent movie ever made: It was distributed by 20th Century Fox, but George Lucas created his production company Lucasfilm and took out a bank loan against the box office returns and the ranch that later became the Marin County HQ of Lucasfilm and Skywalker Sound to finance the $33 million production. Directed by Lucas’ USC film professor Irving Kirshner, it remains the best of the Star Wars films, and an example all modern blockbusters aspire to. Check out the uncharacteristically enthusiastic Harrison Ford voiceover on this 1979 trailer.
She Dies Tomorrow Leads Packed Weekend at the Drive-In (2)
All tickets at the drive-in are double features right now, and screen 2 has the strongest pair of films. 2018’s Black Panther, directed by Ryan Coogler and starring the dynamic duo of Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa and Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger, is the best of the Marvel films, and #13 on my 25 Best Films of the 2010s.
She Dies Tomorrow Leads Packed Weekend at the Drive-In (3)
Black Panther is paired with a genre-defining classic. Enter The Dragon was Bruce Lee’s final film, released weeks after his untimely death in July 1973. Made in Hong Kong for less than $1 million, it grossed a whopping $350 million during periodic re-releases over the next decade, and was almost single-handedly responsible for the explosive popularity of martial arts films in the West. Just check out this scene, the most basic fight in the film, in which Bruce Lee makes his kung fu debut on the secret island of Han (Shih Kien). I defy any modern action picture to match this primal artistry.
She Dies Tomorrow Leads Packed Weekend at the Drive-In (4)
Showtime at the drive-in is 8:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the Malco website.