Death Becomes Her

Play trailer

Death Becomes Her

PG-13

1992

1h 45m

Fantasy

Comedy

Horror

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

58%

Tomatometer

60 Reviews

62%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

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 which grants eternal life to the person who drinks it. The actress follows suit, but discovers that immortality has a price.

Critics Consensus

Hawn and Streep are as fabulous as Death Becomes Her's innovative special effects; Zemeckis' satire, on the other hand, is as hollow as the world it mocks.

Read Critics Reviews

David Denby

New York Magazine/Vulture

05/11/2021

The target of the movie's jokes is female vanity, but since Zemeckis exhibits not a trace of affection for the actresses (or for any of the men, either), one feels humiliated merely watching his crude-spirited wit.

Go to Full Review

Jay Boyar

Orlando Sentinel

01/03/2019

This new horror-comedy has to be one of the most heartless mainstream pictures ever made.

Go to Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

01/03/2019

If there were something resembling genuine satire of human behavior beyond the simple pretexts for fancy special effects and relentless sadism, I might have found some of this funny.

Go to Full Review

Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

Apr 21

2.5/4

... the central idea is tantalizing and the cast is having so much fun...

Go to Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Jan 1

2.5/4

The script by Martin Donovan and David Koepp never lacks for cleverness, but it's ultimately more frantic than funny.

Go to Full Review

Noah Gittell

Washington City Paper

02/11/2025

It’s funny, horrifying, and tightly plotted. It goes down a little too smooth, but it may have been all that was possible at the time.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Olga

Apr 19

An absolute classic - I'm in awe with everything in this movie same as I was some 30+ years ago upon its release.

See more

J T

@RT90449799 Apr 23

So funny a great critque on the shallow things women are expected to value today.

See more

Jelisije J

@jjosifovic Feb 24

An enjoyable wacky comedy where revenge takes a weird turn.

See more

Lair H.

@Fenrazor Feb 13

If you havent seen it, see it NOW! FANTASTIC PRACTICAL FX!

See more

Jonathan C

@jonathan8888 Jan 8

Funny. Clever. Great special effects. Vicious. Catty. Witty. ...and now, a brilliant musical on Broadway.

See more

timmy b

@TimmyBlue Dec 15

Before there was the Film "The Substance" there was "Death Becomes Her". Such a brilliant, funny and thought provoking Movie for the time. It really was, in its own way, a foretelling of sorts of what Hollywood and the 1st World would be like 35 years later. Obsessed with youthfulness but with no substance. How ironic. Robert Zemeckis Directed this brilliantly. Meryl Streep really was incredible. Goldie Hawn shines brightly and Bruce Willis gives a Career Highlight.

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

POST RATING

Robert Zemeckis

Director

Meryl Streep

Madeline Ashton

Bruce Willis

Ernest Menville

Goldie Hawn

Helen Sharp

Isabella Rossellini

Lisle Von Rhuman

Ian Ogilvy

Chagall

Death Becomes Her: Official Clip - Helen Pays Ernest a Visit

1:30

Death Becomes Her: Official Clip - Plotting Madeline's Death

2:00

Death Becomes Her: Official Clip - Eternal Youth

2:59

Death Becomes Her: Official Clip - Medical Mystery

2:59

Death Becomes Her: Official Clip - Madeline Takes a Fall

2:35

Death Becomes Her: Official Clip - Shovel Showdown

2:48

Death Becomes Her: Official Clip - Ernest's Escape

2:35

Death Becomes Her: Official Clip - Madeline's Revenge

2:58

Death Becomes Her: Official Clip - Friends Forever

1:18

Death Becomes Her: Official Clip - At Home With Helen

1:54

View more videos

Weird Science

60%

69%

Weird Science

Watchlist

Gremlins 2: The New Batch

71%

59%

Gremlins 2: The New Batch

Watchlist

Erik the Viking

50%

58%

Erik the Viking

Watchlist

Stranger Than Fiction

73%

85%

Stranger Than Fiction

Watchlist

Junior

37%

22%

Junior

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Know Your Critic: Dani Bethea, Pop Culture Writer and Horror Connoisseur

20 Great Performances in Rotten Movies

Sydney Pollack dies aged 73

View more photos

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 which grants eternal life to the person who drinks it. The actress follows suit, but discovers that immortality has a price.

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Producer: Steve Starkey, Robert Zemeckis
Screenwriter: Martin Donovan, David Koepp
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Universal Pictures
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy, Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 31, 1992, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 17, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $58.4M
Runtime: 1h 45m
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo