Everyone seems to like a good mystery. Do we not? It is in the essence of a great puzzle. Often times, it is not even about being able to solve the riddle, ourselves, but to see, with baited breath, what the closure truly is to be. Am I wrong? When watching the story of a film unfold, we might not even realize the bizarre nature that awaits, ahead, but when it is uncovered, it completely changes the overall experience of that, said, movie. Would you agree?

Consider all this as you witness “The Death of Dick Long.” Yes, it is, indeed, a funny (and unfortunate) name for anyone to live with. Unless, of course, that individual happens to choose the career path that the name seems to imply or invoke. Frankly, he would not even have to alter his real name for a “working” or “stage” name, in my honest opinion. That was the point, all along, yes?

“The Death of Dick Long” was directed by Daniel Scheinert (“Swiss Army Man”), who often collaborates with Daniel Kwan and has been involved in numerous television programs and music videos, since 2011. He is, certainly, no stranger to dark comedy and this entry is no different, though, I must say, that the execution of dark comedy has taken on a more-subtle tone, these days, and can become difficult to read, at times.

Something unique about this movie is the implementation of rock musicians for the original music of the film. This appears to be a growing trend, but is still not common enough to be considered the norm. In particular, Andy Hull (of Manchester Orchestra) and Robert McDowell (of Gobotron) were the ones hired to provide the atmospheric sounds throughout “The Death of Dick Long,” although a few mainstream rock tunes were included, as well.

The movie stars: Michael Abbott Jr. as Zeke Olsen, a rugged, blue-collar family man in rural Alabama with a dark secret; Virginia Newcomb as Lydia Olsen, the loving and passionate wife of Zeke, torn between the care of she and her child and the forgiving sentiment she has for her husband; Andre Hyland as Earl Wyeth, a close friend and confidant to Zeke who also shares in the deep, dark secret; Sarah Baker (“Mascots”) as Officer Dudley, an inexperienced and seemingly unintelligent woman of the local police force; Jess Weixler (“It Chapter Two”) as Jane Long, the clueless wife of the titular character; Roy Wood Jr. as Dr. Richter, who really should have considered a career in CSI based on his investigative skills in the story; and Sunita Mani (“Wine Country”) as Lake Travis, the apparent girlfriend of Earl, who is also clueless of her boyfriend’s dark secret.

I should mention that the director actually plays the role of Dick Long, although, his part is more of a spiritual presence than a physical one. Also, possibly the most effective performance in the entire film is that of Janelle Cochrane as Sheriff Spenser. She not only provides credibility to the police force, but also smart, dry comedic relief, in a mostly straight, story presentation. There is, also, Poppy Cunningham as Cynthia Olsen. As a child, she has limited time in the film, but plays an important part for the development of key moments in the overall story. When you watch the movie, you will likely see coming what she is about to deliver, but it is appropriate, based on what we know about kids in the real world.

To me, what makes the story intriguing is finding out what really happened to Dick Long. The title gives certain elements away, obviously, but that is not what is important. You will probably assume certain activities took place, only to discover that it was something so outrageous there is no way it could be the truth. What makes this process easy to think is the fact that the perpetrators most-closely involved cannot keep any of their stories straight. They can only jump from one convenient lie to the next and, sooner or later, there is no alternative except the truth, but how can we be sure that it IS the truth, based on their track records, especially Zeke’s track record? At that point, the truth IS shocking.

As much as I enjoyed certain aspects of “The Death of Dick Long,” I did not come away fully understanding what the point of this was meant to be. It was not even clear to me that the movie was even a dark comedy until I noticed some decent payoffs very late in the film. As a society, we know that others are capable of doing some almost unimaginable things, but they are still slightly imaginable because we have heard of such things, even if they are mostly remembered as something of a myth. So, what happens when a myth becomes real? That question might have been answered by Daniel Scheinert. Giddy-up!

Director: Daniel Scheinert
Screenwriter: Billy Chew (inspired by the ‘Enumclaw horse sex case’)
Starring: Michael Abbott Jr., Virginia Newcomb, Andre Hyland, Sarah Baker, Jess Weixler, Roy Wood Jr., Sunita Mani, Poppy Cunningham, Janelle Cochrane and Daniel Scheinert
Music: Andy Hull and Robert McDowell
Distributor: A24
Release: January 26th, 2019 (Sundance) and September 27th, 2019 (USA)