OVER YOUR DEAD BODY movie poster | ©2026 IFC

Rating: R
Stars: Jason Segel, Samara Weaving, Paul Guilfoyle, Timothy Olyphant, Juliette Lewis, Keith Jardine, Jake Curran
Writers: Nick Kocher & Brian McElhaney, based on the 2021 Norwegian-language film I ONDE DAGER (THE TRIP) written by Tommy Wirkola & Nick Ball & John Niven
Director: Jorma Taccone
Distributor: IFC
Release Date: April 24, 2026

Directed by Jorma Taccone and scripted by Nick Kocher & Brian McElhaney, OVER YOUR DEAD BODY is based on the 2021 Norwegian-language film I ONDE DAGER (THE TRIP) written by Tommy Wirkola & Nick Ball & John Niven.

OVER YOUR DEAD BODY starts with unhappily married couple Don (Jason Segel) and Lisa (Samara Weaving) planning a weekend vacation at the isolated woodland cabin of Don’s father Michael (Paul Guilfoyle).

Even viewers who come in somehow not knowing any of the premise will be able to guess, from his extremely lame attempts to establish an alibi, that Don is planning to kill Lisa on the trip. The advertising clues us in on Lisa’s plans.

Then there are plot twists, which include characters played by Timothy Olyphant, Juliette Lewis, Keith Jardine and Jake Curran. There are some big surprises and inventive violence. Occasionally, there are laughs.

Allowing for the possibility that something has been lost in translation from the Norwegian original, OVER YOUR DEAD BODY suffers from the same problem that plagues a lot of English-language movies that have similar trajectories.

Stories where likable protagonists darken tend to be tragi-comedies. Stories about characters who are vile all the way through work when the characters, or what happens to them, or both, are fascinating.

Stories – sorry, bit of a spoiler here, but we can tell where we’re heading pretty early on – where characters start as malicious and not very bright and are then expected to win our sympathy as we proceed need to be exceptionally sharp and dexterous. It is a difficult feat, and OVER YOUR DEAD BODY doesn’t pull it off.

This is partly because director Taccone and stars Segel and Weaving are so very good at convincing us that Don and Lisa are shallow, short-sighted and outright cruel. People can grow apart into boredom and not listening to each other. This, however, is next-level viciousness (with bouts of idiocy) that is established hard and fast. Our inclination is to rebel when the film indicates we should set this assessment aside.

For those who have an aversion to such things, it should be mentioned that there is an extended attempted rape played for laughs. Once in a blue moon, such things work – see HAPPY! – but OVER YOUR DEAD BODY doesn’t have the absolute insanity to provide a suitable framework.

There are clever stretches in OVER YOUR DEAD BODY. Weaving fans who want to see more action from her after the READY OR NOT films will be gratified and there’s enough going on to keep us in suspense and hold our attention. The movie is just neither cynical nor ingratiating enough to fully succeed on either side of the tightrope it tries to walk.

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