Immortality Has Its Consequences
31 Days of Movies for Spooky Season
Welcome back to Spooktober, dear readers! Day 19’s movie is in my opinion, such a classic. If you gravitate towards horror comedy and camp, this is a must-watch.
Title: Death Becomes Her
Directed By: Robert Zemeckis
Release Date: July 31, 1992
Where to Watch: Tubi
Synopsis: When a novelist loses her man to a movie star and former friend, she winds up in a psychiatric hospital. Years later, she returns home to confront the now-married couple, looking radiant. Her ex-husband's new wife wants to know her secret and discovers that she has been taking a mysterious drug granting her eternal life to the person who drinks it. The actress follows suit but discovers that immortality has a price.
Non-spoiler thoughts: Bruce Willis, Meryl Streep, and Goldie Hawn…need I say more? This trio brings many laughs and keeps the viewers entertained while portraying a spooky and a little kooky tale. I love this movie so much.
WARNING: The following summary contains SPOILERS.
You have been warned…
In 1978, a narcissistic fading actress, Madeline Ashton, performs in a Broadway musical. She invites her long-time frenemy, the meek aspiring writer Helen Sharp, backstage, along with Helen's fiancé, the famed plastic surgeon Ernest Menville. Smitten with Madeline, Ernest breaks off his engagement with Helen to marry her.
Fast forward seven years: a lonely, obese, depressed, and destitute Helen is committed to a psychiatric hospital, where she obsesses over taking revenge against Madeline.
Another seven years later, Madeline and Ernest live an opulent but miserable life in Beverly Hills. Madeline is deeply troubled by her age and withering beauty, while Ernest, now an alcoholic, has been reduced to working as a reconstructive mortician. After receiving an invitation to a party celebrating Helen's new book, Madeline rushes to undergo beauty treatments. Desperate to look younger, she receives the business card of Lisle Von Rhuman, a mysterious, wealthy socialite who specializes in rejuvenation.
At Helen's party, Madeline and Ernest discover that Helen is now slim, glamorous, and youthful, despite being fifty years old. Jealous of Helen's appearance, Madeline watches as Helen tells Ernest she blames Madeline for his career decline. Later, Madeline visits her young lover, only to find him with a woman his own age. Despondent, she drives to Lisle's mansion. The youthful Lisle, claiming to be seventy-one years old, offers Madeline a potion that promises eternal life and youth. Madeline drinks the potion, which reverses her age and restores her beauty, but Lisle warns her that she must disappear from the public eye after ten years to avoid suspicion of her immortality, and she must treat her body well.
Meanwhile, Helen seduces Ernest and persuades him to kill Madeline. When Madeline returns home, she belittles Ernest, who snaps and pushes her down the stairs, breaking her neck. However, she inexplicably survives. Ernest takes Madeline to the hospital, where the doctor's analysis shows she is clinically dead. He considers her reanimation to be a miracle and uses his skills to repair her body at home.
Helen arrives and overhears their conversation about the murder plot. In a fit of rage, Madeline shoots Helen with a shotgun. The blast leaves a large hole in Helen's torso, but she remains alive, revealing that she has also taken Lisle's potion. After a brief fight, Madeline and Helen apologize and reconcile. Depressed by the situation, Ernest prepares to leave, but the women persuade him to repair their bodies first. Realizing they will need regular maintenance, they plot to have Ernest drink the potion to ensure his permanent availability.
The pair knock out Ernest and bring him to Lisle, who offers him the potion in exchange for his surgical skills. Although tempted, Ernest ultimately rejects immortality, fearing he would outlive anyone he cares about—forcing him to spend eternity with Madeline and Helen—and he is concerned about the physical consequences they have already suffered. He flees with the potion but becomes trapped on the roof. Helen and Madeline implore him to drink the potion to survive an impending fall. However, realizing they only want him for selfish reasons, he throws the potion away. Ernest survives the fall after landing in Lisle's pool and escapes, leaving the pair in despair at the realization that they will have to depend on each other for companionship and maintenance—forever.
Thirty-seven years later, Madeline and Helen attend Ernest's funeral, where he is eulogized for achieving true immortality by living an adventurous and fulfilling life and having many children and grandchildren. Now grotesque parodies of their former selves, with cracked, peeling paint and putty covering most of their grey and decrepit flesh, Helen and Madeline mock the eulogy and leave. Outside, Helen trips and falls down a flight of steps, dragging Madeline with her. Their bodies break apart, and Helen sardonically asks Madeline if she remembers where they parked their car.
