The Day I Died (Rifftrax Shorts)

Rifftrax Year:  2013
Riffers:  Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett

Whew boy.  This is a dark one.

This "DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE" warning film is about a teenage boy who has a wild day at the beach with friends and gets hammered.  Deciding to drive his way home, he gets into an accident is dies at the scene.   The rest of the short deals with him looking down on seeing his loved ones at the funeral while whining about how unfair it is.

Filmed with so much slow motion that you'd think it was directed by John Woo, The Day I Died was either a film shown to kids to warn against drinking alcohol, a film shown in Drivers Ed to warn against intoxicated driving, or possibly both.  I get that it's an important lesson to learn, and the film goes sooooooo far to hammer the horror of this story into your skull.  Deservedly?  Probably.  But as casual entertainment through a comedy website the melodramatics of the production are wild and kinda funny on their own.

Objectively, for those looking for some black humor, you could do worse than The Day I Died.  Mike, Kevin, and Bill aren't afraid of this thing, as they tease the frolicking teenagers at the beach, the (intentionally) incoherent accident scene, and point out how not-upset the friends and family are, despite the narrator insisting they are.  One of the better lines comes at him observing how shaken up his dad is, to which Mike quips "What are you talking about?  He looks like a tall, bland 70's newscaster."

That said, they do ride on "Time to die" riffs a little too much in the first half.  While it's funny at first because the short is upfront about telling the story of a boy's death, they do come a bit to frequently until the accident actually happens.  After that the short can get a bit overwhelmingly somber as well, which can drown out the riffers.

I'm of two minds on the subject.  I've known people who have died in car accidents, both friends and family (not while drunk, but still).  I'm sure there are other Rifftrax fans who have as well.  For that, The Day I Died treads on a fine line.  If you have a problem with them mocking tragedy that might hit too close to home then you might want to pass this short up.  But those open to what Rifftrax in a darker place can do, there are laughs to be had.  To those folks I recommend this one, because it is pretty funny.

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