Diagnosis: Death is set in New Zealand where English teacher Andre Chang (Raybon Kan) is diagnosed with a rare & terminal form of cancer, Chang is told he has less than three months to live but there is hope as experimental drug trials are currently being held. Chang volunteers to be a guinea pig & test the new cancer drugs, while in hospital he meets schoolgirl Juliet Reid (Jessica Grace Smith) who also has terminal cancer & is there for the trials. The two quickly form a close relationship but start experiencing strange hallucinations as they become convinced that the ghost's of previous patients are trying to tell them something...
This New Zealand production was edited, co-written, produced & directed by Jason Stutter & I presume Diagnosis: Death was meant to be some sort of hip modern horror comedy full of references to pop culture, one-liners, medical gags & scary ghostly images. Well, it isn't. In fact I thought it wasn't funny at all & the entire concept of a straight comedy about terminally ill cancer patients just seemed wrong to me & I honestly do not believe cancer is a laughing matter but I guess we all have different senses of humour. I will say right now that I did not find one single scene in Diagnosis: Death funny or amusing or even slightly witty but I am sure some will. I guess Diagnosis: Death is also a slow moving drama as the friendship between two terminally ill cancer patients grow until Chang breaks the law & has sex with a schoolgirl, again not funny or clever & ever so slightly repulsive. Between the romantic interludes & unfunny gags there's also a ghost story here which is never really explained to any great degree, why did Nurse Bates kill her sister & her son again? Why did they get to come back as ghost's while no-one else did? Surely lots of people had died in that hospital so why wasn't the place overrun with ghost's? What significance did the mirror have? The final ten minutes tries to tie up loose ends as quickly as it can but it just felt empty. At 82 minutes long with the end credits taking up a couple of minutes Diagnosis: Death probably runs less than 80 minutes & even then it felt slow at times & the happy ending where Chang suddenly & miraculously recovers from cancer says it all. Keep watch as the end credits roll as after there's a brief extra scene at Bates funeral.
The whole hook of Diagnosis: Death is that it stars the guy's from the comedy show The Flight of the Choncords but they have nothing more than cameo's so don't be fooled by the DVD packaging. The whole film has a competent but bland look, there's no real gore except a cut hand, a mouldy skeleton & a head impalement on a stool leg. The entire film takes place in virtually the same location & only features about three main character's that have anything more than a cameo.
Filmed in New Zealand the production values are decent enough I suppose but it's still not funny or scary enough. The acting is mixed, Raybon Kan is just wooden & speaks with the same tone all the time while Suze Tye is quite good as the villain.
Diagnosis: Death is a horror comedy drama that is neither scary, funny or heartfelt enough. That says it all really, while some will stick up for it I doubt many viewers out there will get much entertainment value out of this.
This New Zealand production was edited, co-written, produced & directed by Jason Stutter & I presume Diagnosis: Death was meant to be some sort of hip modern horror comedy full of references to pop culture, one-liners, medical gags & scary ghostly images. Well, it isn't. In fact I thought it wasn't funny at all & the entire concept of a straight comedy about terminally ill cancer patients just seemed wrong to me & I honestly do not believe cancer is a laughing matter but I guess we all have different senses of humour. I will say right now that I did not find one single scene in Diagnosis: Death funny or amusing or even slightly witty but I am sure some will. I guess Diagnosis: Death is also a slow moving drama as the friendship between two terminally ill cancer patients grow until Chang breaks the law & has sex with a schoolgirl, again not funny or clever & ever so slightly repulsive. Between the romantic interludes & unfunny gags there's also a ghost story here which is never really explained to any great degree, why did Nurse Bates kill her sister & her son again? Why did they get to come back as ghost's while no-one else did? Surely lots of people had died in that hospital so why wasn't the place overrun with ghost's? What significance did the mirror have? The final ten minutes tries to tie up loose ends as quickly as it can but it just felt empty. At 82 minutes long with the end credits taking up a couple of minutes Diagnosis: Death probably runs less than 80 minutes & even then it felt slow at times & the happy ending where Chang suddenly & miraculously recovers from cancer says it all. Keep watch as the end credits roll as after there's a brief extra scene at Bates funeral.
The whole hook of Diagnosis: Death is that it stars the guy's from the comedy show The Flight of the Choncords but they have nothing more than cameo's so don't be fooled by the DVD packaging. The whole film has a competent but bland look, there's no real gore except a cut hand, a mouldy skeleton & a head impalement on a stool leg. The entire film takes place in virtually the same location & only features about three main character's that have anything more than a cameo.
Filmed in New Zealand the production values are decent enough I suppose but it's still not funny or scary enough. The acting is mixed, Raybon Kan is just wooden & speaks with the same tone all the time while Suze Tye is quite good as the villain.
Diagnosis: Death is a horror comedy drama that is neither scary, funny or heartfelt enough. That says it all really, while some will stick up for it I doubt many viewers out there will get much entertainment value out of this.