10 Recent Horror Movies Which Broke The Fourth Wall To Scare You
8. The Dead Don't Die
Indie film stalwart Jim Jarmusch is known for his unique and stylized explorations of irreverent characters who find themselves in spaces infused with distinctly Americana imagery and themes. This is why his detour into the world of horror was rather unexpected, if not welcome.
His 2019 effort in the genre did not reach the heights of gems such as Stranger Than Paradise and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai but it still served as an amusing and unapologetically meta zombie invasion movie. The small town of Centerville finds itself under attack from zombies who were reanimated after polar fracking disrupts the Earth's rotation, which also has expected effects on day/night patterns.
Therefore, it falls on the town's top cops Cliff Robertson (Bill Murray) and Ronnie Peterson (Adam Driver) to stop the invasion. If the plot sounds absurd, that is because it is supposed to be, and in typical Jarmusch fashion feels off, even for a parody/metatextual effort.
Speaking of meta, the picture is not terribly frightening, but it does break the fourth wall when Peterson reveals that he got the movie's entire plot from the writer/director himself. It is supposed to be amusing, but it also takes on a darker tone when the officer reveals he knew that the invasion would not end well for all the involved parties.