Dead Still (2014)

Brandon Davis inherits his grandfather’s estate, which includes an old camera his great grandfather used to do post mortem photography in the 1800s.  The great grandfather had some notoriety with exhibits of his photography and Brandon thinks perhaps using the camera will help him get noticed.

Brandon is estranged from his wife and his son Bobby goes to speech therapy because he doesn’t speak. Brandon doesn’t think anything is wrong with him, but I would argue not speaking when you’re a preteen signifies some issues. 

When he’s booked for a wedding, he brings his great grandfather's camera with him.  Bringing a massive stand up camera to a wedding is not practical. He’s got to bring chemicals, glass plates, and make sure they are not exposed to light or broken after exposure.  Does he have enough plates to make it worth while? How safe are the chemicals to have in a party setting? The care and handling seem excessive to use in this situation.

Weirdo Professor Jay McClaren is writing a book about Brandon’s great grandfather and reveals rumor has it, you’ll die if the camera takes your picture.  When Brandon looks at the pictures from the wedding, the bride and groom look like they’re melting.  He’s confused but thinks it’s a technical issue, not that he has a murderous camera. Because that would be insane.  The other photos from that night also look bad.

Brandon convinces his wife and son to let them take their photo at the old estate in Victorian clothing so it looks like the photos from his ancestors time.  When he later learns the bride and groom are dead, he tries to call his wife to warn her.  But in a typical indirect warning, when he gets her voicemail he asks her to call him, which doesn’t betray the urgency needed if you think someone might die.  Just once it would be nice to hear a message that hits all the points, such as hey this sounds crazy but my assistant died and I think the camera is cursed because the people whose photos I took at the wedding died too. Now I’m afraid for you so please call me as soon as you get this.

It’s not clear how his great grandfather was able to get away with this. Photography in the 1800s was a big deal since only photographers had cameras.  How did no one notice that a little girl went in for a photo and ended up dead?   And we won’t even talk about how Bobby ends up sucked inside the camera where his Dad needs to try to rescue him, and that he can speak in this alternate world.

Ridiculous dialogue

Professor Jay: Oh and Miss Monroe? I would stay away from that camera if I were you.

Ivy: Really. Why is that?

Professor Jay: Because a lot of people tend to die around it. Have a nice day. 

His wife always looks pained

Usually the wedding photographer doesn’t drink while working

All the wedding photos look like this

This is an ungainly set up to take to a wedding

This type of camera would show the photo upside down

He’s too old not to speak