Darby and the Dead

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Riele Downs, a Canadian actress, is my favorite female character from Henry Danger; a Nickelodeon show. She is one of the many characters that made my childhood interesting. I remember how my friends and I would always sit in front of the television to watch a marathon of Henry Danger. Honestly, those days were the best. Not only do I like Riele Downs’ Canadian accent, but I also love her voice and acting skills. Her role as Charlotte in Henry Danger is impeccable. Her facial beauty is also a plus. I’ve read about her lifestyle off screen, she seems like a genuinely good person.

Yesterday, I was feeling super bored and wanted to watch a movie. I picked up my phone and started scrolling through different movie options on a website. I came across a movie titled “Darby and the Dead.” The one thing that caught my attention is Riele Downs' picture on the cover image. I have been a big fan of Riele Downs since I was in high school. I have seen almost all her movies, surprisingly I’ve not seen this one. Guess what? She is the main character of the movie. I knew the movie would be interesting and so I proceeded to download it. I didn’t watch it immediately. I saved it for later. I didn’t want to sleep early because of the Zealy contest going on. I needed something to keep me awake.

PLOT SUMMARY

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmPj2ZVfx29CyQ3w5NkLJPqYxi1oGVt2Ut9frxpmrtPDCt/498d1623_c418_4479_9431_7e1c40ac5c5f.jpeg) [Source](https://resizing.flixster.com/jjQ2jnpYzheoQls4liECxfH7Qpo=/300x300/v2/https://resizing.flixster.com/efiZBT6AlQIZVZoUAsS_JVKpBgk=/ems.cHJkLWVtcy1hc3NldHMvbW92aWVzLzNmYzBjMDMzLTIyNjQtNDAwMS04NWU3LWMxYzI0OWJlOGFhMS5qcGc=)

The movie “Darby and the Dead'' revolves around a teenage girl named Darby Harper. Just like her mother, Darby had plans to become a cheerleader. She didn’t just want to be a cheerleader, she wanted to be the best in her school, just like her mother was the best during her time. She did everything following in her mother’s footsteps. One could say she was living her best life with her mom and dad by her side. Everything was going perfectly alright until the family went on a vacation to the beach. While playing in the ocean, Darby and her mom drown. Fortunately for Darby people around were able to resuscitate her back to life. Sadly, her mother didn’t make it. That day, something about Darby changed: she gained the ability to see and interact with dead people.

Although she didn’t freak out in the movie, if it were to happen in real life, she would’ve yelled her lungs out. With this ability, Darby opened a new business on Friday nights to help the dead people move to the afterlife and also grant them their last wishes. She named the dead people “deados.”After the death of her mother, Darby becomes an introverted person. She prefers to spend her time with her dead friends rather than her peers. She spends most of her time playing chess with Gary, a janitor who died when she was a freshman.

In school, Darby’s arch-enemy is Capri- the queen of the school. The hottest girl in the school and the head of the cheerleaders. Unlike every other person, Darby doesn’t give in to Capri’s bullshits. They were close when they were in fourth grade, but someone they fell off. Darby meets Alex who happens to have the ghost-seeing ability (unknown to Darby). While using her electric hairdryer in the ladies’ bathroom, Capri electrocutes herself and dies. After she dies, she goes to Darby to pass her on to the next world. However, there’s a catch. For Capri to pass on to the afterlife, Darby must host her 17th birthday. After lots of persuasion and pestering, Darby finally agrees to help her. To do this, she must become social so she would join her friends (Capri’s gang). Capri charges Darby’s social life. She teaches her how to dress like a “hot girl.” She also helps her rediscover her cheerleading ability.

With the help of Capri, Darby becomes the school hottest girl. Alex (the new guy who she meets) tries to make friends with her, but she keeps snubbing him. To make the plot more interesting, Darby attracts the attention of James, Capri’s boyfriend whom she likes so much. On the day of Capri’s 17th birthday, Capri humiliates Darby which made her confess her secret to everyone (although no one believes her.)

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Again, Darby becomes the girl who was always ignored by everyone. Capri agrees being friends with Darby. She brings her mother and the two day their goodbyes. Darby returns to cheerleading and starts living a better life with her friend, Alex.

MY COMMENTS

First off, the plot is amazing. I like the way I was glued till the end of the movie. I watched the movie around 12am, and my eyes were widely open till the end of the movie. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this movie a solid 7. I recommend this movie to ever movie lover.

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If there's one way I love to relax, it's to watch a teen comedy. When I saw this film's poster, I was reminded that it'd been a while since I watched one. Sometimes I like to indulge in a teen flick for the fun of it, to remind myself of the funny things I did a short while ago as a teenager and to catch up on any latest teen trending behaviours so I'm not 'old school. Hehe.

Darby And The Dead (2022) is an American supernatural teen film focused on a high school girl, Darby, who drowned as a child with her mother. She survived but her mother did not. Due to the accident, she could see ghosts and speak to them. She took on the job of helping them make amends and pass on to the afterlife. She preferred the company of the 'deados' to her fellow teenage friends and schoolmates and thus became an introvert.

Typical of high schools, the queen bee, Capri, was always mean to Darby. Eventually, Capri died in an electrocution accident and runs to Darby to help her make one more mark on her schoolmates before passing on. Do you think Darby will be willing to help her nemesis?

^{_{*[Source: YouTube](https://youtu.be/B34KREZ-r0E)*}}

Review

Teen movies are always fun to watch because they are full of energy, excitement and humour. Adults are reminded of how life was when they were younger. Darby And The Dead has all of these and reminds me of the Mean Girls and similar films.

Like most teen films, subjects of peer pressure and self-esteem were explored and some lessons were protrayed for viewers to learn from. One part I did not fancy that got me a little emotional was the scene of Darby constantly being bullied by Capri even after she was dead. I know it is part of the reality in high schools, yet I wish teenagers would learn to stand up for themselves and fight back.

I enjoyed the cast's acting, especially the strong performances of Darby (played by Riele Downs) and Capri (played by Auliʻi Cravalho). The story is brilliant but undone by inept character development and rushed resolutions of the subplots. I wish the director had paid more attention to the development of her characters and made them more realistic.

A clear example of the rushed resolution was the scene where Darby's dead mother appeared from nowhere when she should have been present all through the film to give life to Darby's struggle. Instead, the scene was clumsily wrapped up like viewers should automatically know why she was absent for the better part of the film.

I feel the main plot was unnecessarily stretched and the subplots became tiresome at some point. Viewers feel like they have seen this same thing in most teen movies, so what makes Darby And The Dead special. Teenage audiences may find this film appealing, but still, they deserve a well told story for which I'll give the director an average grade.

One part the director did a good job was keeping the story light with humourous scenes despite the morbid subject —death. The 'deados' are not treated as scary, dirty monsters or given a ghostly appearance. Instead, they are made to look just like characters whom only Darby can see. I think that's a fine touch considering the young audience that would be interested in the film.

Overall, it's a good film and worth watching if you want something supernatural-related and light-hearted. I give it 3.9 stars out of 5 stars.

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^{_{Other images are screenshots from the movie}}

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