By George & Josh Bate
True crime obsession gone wrong is on the menu in Dinner to Die For, a new South African horror movie premiering at this year’s Fantastic Fest.
Marking the feature debut of Dianna Mills Smith, Dinner to Die For takes place entirely in a single location: our lead character Hannah’s (Shamilla Miller) gorgeous, modern home. Hannah is a culinary photographer struggling to make her big breakthrough. In her downtime, Hannah enjoys watching true crime documentaries with her friend Evan (Steven John Ward), who clearly wants to be more than just friends with Hannah. When the lively girl-next-door Blaire (Nina Erasmus) moves in, Hannah and Evan take their fascination with true crime to deadly new heights.
The title of Dinner to Die For (plus the fact that it made its world premiere at the predominant genre film festival Fantastic Fest 2025) immediately signals to viewers that they’re in for a feast far more thrilling than your average weeknight dinner at home reheating leftovers. Frustratingly, however, Smith’s film takes far too long to get to its more sumptuous main course, which itself is of disappointingly small portion size.
Dinner to Die For is a lean, single-location thriller. The film only features three characters and takes place entirely within the confines of one home (we don’t even get to see the street on which the home is situated). The house itself is both beautiful and intimidating, much like our lead Hannah, with a minimalist yet sophisticated quality. Hannah keeps her cards close to (and Evan far away from) her chest. She is career-focused, driven, and doesn’t indulge Evan in what are clearly attempts to evolve their relationship into something more sexual. This side of Hannah appears to be more awakened in the presence of Blaire, the lively girl-next-door who seems to be the only person to actually elicit a genuine smile in Hannah. The trio make for a twisted and unusual love triangle, one that subverts conventions of this trope with its decidedly stoic and emotionally detached lead. Miller plays Hannah with an emotional distance from others (and the audience), making it difficult to discern what she truly desires.
Much of Dinner to Die For plods along with conversations between Hannah and Evan ranging from mundane to awkward. The two seem to have a shared interest in true crime, although, for Evan, it is unclear if his interest more accurately lies in Hannah rather than the genre of television they watch together. Their conversations begin to dabble in unusual (possibly kinky) role play about true crime that has the audience questioning whether they are merely having fun or being serious in their talks of bringing grisly true crime documentaries to life. Miller and Ward play off another with fitting stiltedness, but the screenplay lacks a certain sharpness to make this role play land as either sexy or intriguing.
After a number of these grueling conversations and a rather abrupt shift in personality for our lead, Dinner to Die For finally converges on its titular dinner with a far more engaging final act. At a lean 75 minutes though, the film only feels like it’s just getting started when, rather than letting the tension and suspense linger, it speeds toward its rather predictable conclusion. The film desperately cries out for an additional twist or turn to its story, or perhaps a more poignant commentary on true crime obsession, but neither come to fruition. Smith’s film lacks any substantive messaging about true crime (if you’re looking for this, turn to Dexter: Resurrection), other than a simplistic warning of the pitfalls of such an obsession.
The film also has some difficulties reconciling Hannah’s core interests. Culinary photography and true crime are quite disparate parts of this puzzle for much of the runtime, before finally coming together in bizarre and unsatisfactory fashion. This difficulty is indicative of a larger issue with Dinner to Die For – the case of having lots (but not quite enough) of interesting ingredients that fail to come together for a satisfying dish.
VERDICT: 5/10
Making its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2025, Dinner to Die For ponders the implications of true crime obsession across a frustrating meal of arduous conversations that only begin to get tasty when the fleeting main course arrives. Director Dianna Mills Smith’s feature debut excels with its lean cast, story, and single-setting location and dabbles with some interesting ideas about our culture’s obsession with true crime and the blurry lines between dangerous and fun role play. Unfortunately, a screenplay lacking in sharpness sees the conversations that encompass much of the film fall flat, rather than sexy and intriguing. Eventually, things pick up in a more engaging final act, but, rather than let the tension and suspense linger, the film speeds toward a rather predictable conclusion far too quickly. Between the twisted love triangle (featuring a queer romance), attempted commentary on true crime obsession, and role play that blurs all kinds of boundaries, Dinner to Die For toys with all sorts of intriguing ingredients that never quite come together to make a satisfying dish.