What Keeps You Alive (2018)
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A young woman must fight for her life when she discovers her wife's murderous intentions.
The story
Jackie and Jules, a young married couple, are celebrating their first anniversary at a remote cabin belonging to Jackie's family. The atmosphere shifts when Jackie's childhood friend, Sarah, arrives and addresses Jackie by a different name. While the couple appears to reconcile, Jules begins to notice inconsistencies in Jackie's behavior and history. As the tension builds in the isolated setting, Jules must navigate the growing suspicion that her wife's intentions are not what they seem, leading to a desperate struggle for survival as the truth about Jackie's past and her current motives begins to surface.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
While celebrating their first anniversary at a remote cabin, Jules becomes suspicious of her wife, Jackie, after a friend reveals Jackie's previous name was Megan. Jackie claims she changed it for personal reasons, but the tension escalates when Jules learns about a childhood friend, Jenny, who drowned in the nearby lake. Jackie claims she was blamed for the accident, but the truth is more sinister. Jackie eventually reveals she never loved Jules and intended to murder her for her life insurance policy. After a series of violent confrontations where Jackie kills their friends Sarah and Daniel, Jules manages to escape a final confrontation by using a tranquilizer dart. In the final struggle, Jackie knocks Jules out and throws her off a cliff. Jackie then attempts to commit suicide by injecting herself with insulin, but she discovers Jules had replaced the insulin with hydrogen peroxide. The chemical reaction causes Jackie to suffer a stroke and die in the woods, while Jules survives at the bottom of the cliff.
- First release year
- 2018
- Runtime (minutes)
- 98
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Colin Minihan
- Writers
- Colin Minihan · writer
- Cast and characters
- Hannah Emily Anderson · Jackie / Megan; Charlotte Lindsay Marron · Young Jackie; Brittany Allen · Jules; Martha MacIsaac · Sarah; Joey Klein · Daniel
- Genres
- psychological horror; thriller
- Themes
- survival; vengeance; deception
- Premise and plot tags
- psychological horror; serial killer; survival; lesbian
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews from critics, with some praising its subversion of the 'Final Girl' trope and its visual appeal, while others criticized its lack of psychological complexity for the antagonist.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 66 · scale: 100 · review count: 15; IndieWire · score: B+; The Globe and Mail · score: 3 · scale: 4
- Production trivia
- The film was originally developed with a heterosexual couple as the main characters.; Brittany Allen composed the film's score.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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