Helen's Dead

Helen’s Dead is dead on arrival, and there’s no reason to care about who else lives and dies

It takes more than having the right ingredients to cook up an enjoyable murder at a dinner party movie. The mystery will draw audiences in and there are some laughs, but the characters do not go beyond their quirky traits. 



The problem isn’t the deceased, but those who survive for the duration of this labored murder mystery, which apparently aims for screwball farce with abrasive characters who are neither amusing nor endearing.

Yet another play on the Agatha Christie trope – characters trapped in an isolated space when a murderer strikes. Its chaos thanks to plot holes and staccato pacing. It doesn’t pull together like a good bread dough but falls apart like dry meringue. 


[F]or the most part, co-writer/director K. Asher Levin's movie wastes too much of its potential to be effective.

The writing adds turns and confrontations to keep things interesting, but the picture mostly tests viewer patience, offering little in the way of inspired madness as things go from bad to worse for the guests at a doomed gathering.