Dead Eyes' First-Person Scares Mostly Make Up For Its Narrative Flaws
Written and directed by Williams, Dead Eyes centers on Sean, a man with a troubled past involving the death of his sister Lilly, who drowned in a lake in the middle of the woods, where they were raised by their scientist father, Paul. When Paul suddenly vanishes, Sean ventures into the remote forest with his fiancée Grace, his party-loving friend Eric and Eric's nature-averse girlfriend Kate.
Shortly after their arrival, Sean begins experiencing a variety of strange visions, both from his past and of Lilly seemingly still alive. After stumbling upon an apparently abandoned shack, the group are terrified to discover that Paul has actually been cloning Lilly in an attempt to bring her back, which has instead resulted in the creation of numerous cannibalistic little girls, all with the goal of becoming the "real" Lilly.
From its opening moments, Williams does a remarkable job of immersing viewers in the world of Dead Eyes through its first-person lens. Beginning with a recurring nightmare Sean has been experiencing in the lead up to heading into the woods, the filmmaker brilliantly puts audiences on the back foot with the chilling visual appearance of the woods and the creatures that lie within it. The first-person perspective also proves to be a very effective tool for the movie's jump scares, even if they begin to feel familiar as the movie goes on.
...each scene so smoothly changes between each other that a lot of it feels like one continuous shot.
Even more impressive is just how seamless almost every scene transition occurs in the film. Whether it's the action-packed thrills of Hardcore Henry or the psychologically terrifying Maniac, most movies shot from the first-person perspective go for very simple cuts when jumping from scene to scene, which Williams smartly uses sparingly. Instead, whether it's Sean being knocked out, turning his head to look across the horizon, or putting his hands over his face, each scene so smoothly changes between each other that a lot of it feels like one continuous shot.
However, Dead Eyes' first-person format is not without some of its flaws. Characters often feel like they are looking at what would be the top of Sean's head rather than in his eyes, clearly going back to the classic filmmaking rule of not looking into the camera. Additionally, the limitations of the format are shown in moments in which Sean gets more animated, and yet the camera stays far too still.
But where Dead Eyes really finds itself struggling is in its narrative, which becomes a little too ambiguous and heady for its own good as the film proceeds. Williams seems to want to deliver some kind of commentary on the nature of the soul with the Frankenstein-like machinations of Paul's experiments on Lilly, but it's unclear what he actually wants to say with the material. Even worse is that the film's ending leaves too many questions and many of its characters' fates unclear.
There's always an argument to be made for a horror film to leave some mystery for the proceedings and create discussions among viewers, like the aforementioned Blair Witch. But with the rest of Dead Eyes' plot failing to actually deliver many surprises, Williams almost would have benefited from going with a more straightforward, close-ended narrative. At the very least, though, his unique directorial style combined with some chilling creature design and moving performances from Rijen Laine and Ana Thu Nguyen elevate it to be an immersive and somewhat scary time.
Release Date
March 12, 2026
Runtime
81 Minutes
Director
Richard E. Williams
Writers
Richard E. Williams
Producers
Richard E. Williams
Pros & Cons
- The first-person perspective style is very well-executed and utilized for the movie's scares.
- The creature designs are haunting.
- Rijen Laine delivers a great vocal performance, while Ana Thu Nguyen is very moving.
- The plot doesn't quite evolve in an accessible or engaging way.
- Some of the first-person format's limitations are felt.
English (US) ·