A Beautiful Letdown: Fall Is a Good Time to Die Misses Its Mark Despite Striking Scenery

Joe Hiatt stars as a haunted ranch hand seeking revenge in Dalton Coffey's visually ambitious but narratively thin thriller.

Review: Fall Is a Good Time to Die

⭐️⭐️½ (2.5/5)

Dalton Coffey's Fall Is a Good Time to Die is a stark, slow-burning revenge drama set in the wide, lonely landscapes of South Dakota. Anchored by Joe Hiatt as Cody, a young ranch hand on a quest to right an unspeakable wrong committed against his younger sister, the film opens with promise—both in premise and visual language—but ultimately struggles to bring its heavy themes to a satisfying boil.

On paper, this is a classic small-town thriller rooted in grief, vengeance, and moral reckoning. And visually, Coffey delivers. The film is filled with distant, beautifully composed shots that capture the isolation of the American plains. But while the cinematography has an undeniable eye, it too often keeps the audience at arm’s length—when we should be inside Cody’s fractured headspace, we’re left watching from afar.

Jennifer Pierce Mathus turns in a solid performance as Jane, the town’s sheriff, and there are moments when both leads feel like they’re teetering on the edge of something powerful. But the film’s narrative doesn’t give them enough room to push past the surface. There’s an emotional core here, but it’s buried beneath long silences, underwritten dialogue, and structural choices that prioritize mood over momentum.

We’ve seen similarly themed films—Blue Ruin, Cold in July—stick the landing by aligning narrative stakes with escalating tension. When things get dark, they feel dark. When violence arrives, it has weight. Fall Is a Good Time to Die hints at this kind of storytelling but doesn’t quite get there. The tone flattens out, the plot fades into ambiguity, and what should be an emotional climax becomes a narrative shrug.

This is a film that tackles real-world horror—pedophilia and familial trauma—within an artful framework, but the execution doesn’t meet the gravity of its own subject matter. It’s a difficult watch not just because of its content, but because of how that content is handled. Moments meant to speak volumes often land as whispers.

There’s no question Dalton Coffey has an eye for cinematic composition. The technical promise is here. But the story, characters, and emotional payoff feel underfed. With stronger scripting and a clearer narrative spine, this could have landed much harder.

As it stands, Fall Is a Good Time to Die is a visually handsome but dramatically undercooked film—one that leaves more on the table than it delivers.

— Travis Brown

@HMUNCUT

Writer/Director: Dalton Coffey

Producers: Dalton Coffey, Abbie Coffey

Featuring: Joe Hiatt, Jennifer Pierce Mathus, Joey Lauren Adams