After a painful break-up, struggling horror novelist Rian seeks seclusion at a long-forgotten and nearly abandoned roadside motel with the intention of burying himself in writing the conclusion to his latest work; the story of a young woman who is being pursued and tormented by a murderous mailman. However, Rian soon finds himself a part of his own story when both of these characters also arrive at the motel. This is the general premise for I Know Exactly How You Die, a recent indie psychological thriller from writer Mike Corey and director Alexandra Spieth (2022’s Stag), which releases (in the US) on VOD sites today. I Know Exactly How You Die is distributed by MPX.

Rushabh Patel, who also produced the film, makes what appears to be his film debut as “Rian”. The audience’s introduction to the character is not through any visual means, but instead auditory, with the viewer listening to the multiple voicemails that he leaves his ex, Sarah, as we follow his drive to the motel from an aerial view. These calls tend to escalate from general sadness at his fate and begging for a “second chance” to bargaining for her love (by buying concert tickets to her favorite artist), before eventually chastising and berating the girl for not returning his calls. If the audience manages to find this man annoying, pathetic, or potentially dangerous just from this opening sequence, think of how Sarah must feel.

It’s also safe to assume that the reason Rian is struggling with his writing is because his isn’t particularly invested in it and finds himself easily distracted, spending most of his time doing anything but writing. (Been there, done that.) This includes playing vintage arcade games with a teenage girl in the lobby, swimming in the motel’s pool, drinking in its bar, or chatting with its owner and operator, Naja (Rawya El Chab); an older woman who “inherited” the business after her husband passed away years prior. Personally, I found El Chab’s performance to be the most engaging, but the character is secondary to the plot as a whole. 

Before long,  the motel receives another guest; a drug counselor named Katie (Stephanie Hogan), who somewhat coincidentally shares the same name as the character from Rian’s unfinished story. Perhaps not so coincidentally, Katie also happens to share a shocking resemblance to Sarah.* Somehow even less coincidentally, this particular “Katie” is also on the run from a psychotic serial-killing mailman who has taken an unhealthy interest in her. Naturally, or as “naturally” as situations like this allow, Rian begins to question if his fiction is bleeding into reality. If so, will he be able to change his story’s already predetermined ending?

*We never actually see “Sarah”, so this is all based off of Rian’s dialogue. I also have no clue if I am spelling the character’s name properly, but it’s really not important.

I Know Exactly How You Die is being marketed as an “indie horror” film, and its trailer (included at the conclusion of this review) is edited in a way that presents it as something more akin to a “slasher” film. However, I Know Exactly How You Die is much slower paced than your stereotypical “slasher”, focusing more on character development and less on violence and gore. That’s not to say that these moments aren’t present, with what I consider to be the film’s most brutal “kill” occurring during the opening moments, but they do tend to be less frequent and the gore less gratuitous. Honestly, many might call the film quite “tame”.

There is some argument to be made (mostly by me) that maybe there was too much attention paid to character development as I Know Exactly How You Die frequently seems overly drawn out and often felt significantly longer than its sub-ninety minute runtime. Katie’s history of dealing with drug users (and possibly having been one herself at one time) comes into play in a tense scene early in the film… only to seemingly be ignored or forgotten about for the rest of the film, thus essentially rendering the scene more than a little inconsequential. While this plot element doesn’t exactly hurt I Know Exactly How You Die in any way, the time not spent on other lackluster aspects may have.

Perhaps just as detrimental to my enjoyment… while I was able to sympathize for the character of “Katie” and the situation that she unwillingly and undeservedly found herself in, I can’t say that I didn’t want to see her die. Slowly. Painful. Honestly, I just found the character’s constant yelling to be irritating, unnecessary, and more than a little ill-conceived. I get that the paranoia and immense stress of such a situation can cause a person to act irrationally, but I would think that when hiding from a deranged killer, silence is your friend. Maybe not. I don’t know, nor would I want to. I also don’t want to sound like I am damning Hogan as the actress does show some range and charisma, but is clearly hampered by poor dialogue that features just as many “f-bombs” as your standard Rob Zombie script, and nearly as over-emphasized. I frequently felt the urge to yell “Shut the fuck up!” at my TV, as if the character would hear me. See? It’s got me dropping my own “f-bombs”. My apologies… bitches.

However, if Katie is unlikeable, then the character of “Rian” is almost loathsome. Despite taking no responsibility for his life and little accountability for his words (both literally and… uh, literally), Rian may initially seem affable and even charming; the “loveable loser” who we’ve cheered for countless times. Yet, those earlier phone calls (as well as a few later choices) reveal the character to not only be self-centered and emotionally immature, but also vindictive, obsessive, and potentially (at least, verbally) abusive. So, while Rian may spend the film trying to save Katie’s life, he is very much NOT the hero. All this said, Patel undeniably does a solid job… of making me hate his character. I believe that still counts as a quality acting performance.

I Know Exactly How You Die‘s “killer” (Bobby Liga, who also co-produced the film), on the other hand, is rather non-descriptive and (as such) somewhat forgettable. He just looks like your ordinary, “run of the mill” white dude, although I do believe the character is named “Hector”. There is some concerted effort to push the “deranged” aspect of the character in the film’s final act by throwing in things like captives being bound and hidden away or bathtubs filled with the blood of his victims. Sadly, these moments feel rather forced and seem rather contrary to the more patient and deliberate manner the character demonstrates earlier in the film. While I do believe that these scenes do drive the film a little further into “horror” film territory, I’m still choosing to label I Know Exactly How You Die as a “psychological thriller”, even if that particular categorization has become more than a little vague over the years.

In conclusion, I know that it reads as if I hated I Know Exactly How You Die. While I definitely won’t go to those extremes, I will admit that I was left somewhat underwhelmed. The film does have some rather intriguing ideas at play. It’s just not particularly adept at bringing them all together. Many plot points lead to dead ends while others seemingly lead nowhere at all, resulting in an interesting film, but one that feels more than a little unpolished. While many questions are answered, just as many are raised by the presented resolution. As such, while I won’t be telling you to skip the film, I also won’t be compelling you to watch I Know Exactly How You Die either. Some reviewers seem to have highly enjoyed the film. I, while happy that the plot didn’t take more predictable routes, occasionally found it to be meandering and unfocused… just like its lead character.

I Know Exactly How You Die releases today on Digital Video, and is currently available to rent on Fandango At Home or Amazon Prime Video for $4.99. Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/4ctv3zz