Shudder’s Dead Mail tells a bizarre tale that unfolds after a piece of dead mail reaches a postal office. Set in the 80s, the crime thriller has the right amount of absurdity and intrigue to make it a compelling watch. In the opening scene, we witness a man crawl up to a postbox to deliver a message written on a blood-stained sheet of paper. It was evident that he was trying to escape from his captor, but how did he end up there? Well, that’s pretty much what the film is about.
Spoiler Alert
How did Josh become Trent’s victim?
Josh met his captor, Trent, for the first time at a synthesizer merchant market, where he was possibly the only American looking for funding to develop his instrument. Trent felt pity for Josh when he watched the enthusiastic musician accept defeat after his potential clients looked unimpressed when he played his ‘work-in-progress’ synthesizer. Trent wanted to give Josh a chance, something that he had been searching for all his life. Josh was visibly pleased when Trent dismissed the fact that the Japanese were way ahead of him in terms of technology. Josh’s dream was to work closely with the big players, even though he did not approve of every advancement they made. Trent insisted he take a bet on the boutique market, but Josh believed that beyond the creation of sound, there was a lot of work involved in making a musical instrument, and he was not certain if he was entirely up to the task. Trent suggested that they partner up and together build the device of his dreams. Considering he didn’t have many options in hand, Josh readily accepted the offer.
Josh was glad that there was someone out there who believed in his vision and was ready to bet their money on it. Trent took an unusual pleasure in watching Josh in his element, and he even insisted he play the synthesizer on a call so that he could hear the music and have his favorite ice cream for comfort. He shuffled through a photo album and paused when he came across a photograph of a Black man. There was clearly a past connection between Trent and the stranger, and it had something to do directly with his interest in Josh. Trent was hopeful that Josh would forever look up to him for his undeterred belief in his innovation. But things took an uncomfortable turn when Trent discovered that a Japanese company had shown interest in Josh’s work and had invited him to their office in Japan to work on his device. Trent was heartbroken when he discovered the news; he couldn’t believe that Josh would walk away from him even though Trent had provided him with whatever he’d asked for. He was determined to convince Josh to stay—so he bought Grade A products for Josh to continue building his synthesizer. While Josh was impressed seeing the lengths Trent was willing to go to continue with their partnership, he was legally bound to work with the Japanese company, and he’d packed his belongings, ready to move countries. But Trent refused to take no for an answer— he knew that Josh might not agree to his deal, so he’d set up a plan to trap him. He locked the basement door and kept a close watch on him through a floor window.
Josh was devastated— this was not how he thought he would end up during the most crucial phase in his life. He was so close to fulfilling his dream, but unintentionally he’d crossed paths with a man whose mental health was in shambles and who hoped to find a more profound meaning to his existence through him. Days had passed, but Josh refused to work until one day he decided to at least try to find a way out of the mess. He used a blowtorch, hoping to break open the door, but unfortunately his plan didn’t work, and he lost consciousness as a result of the smoke. Trent second-guessed his plan and decided to keep Josh locked up in his tiny washroom. He blamed Josh for trying to outsmart him, and he decided to punish the engineer by barely providing him enough food for survival. Trent’s partnership plan had clearly failed; there was no way something remarkably creative would be born out of a hostage situation, but then again, what would Trent’s next course of action be?
Why was Jasper killed?
Josh took note of Trent’s day-to-day movements, and one day he successfully unchained himself and crawled out of the washroom into the living area. He grabbed hold of a pen and scribbled a rescue message on a piece of paper along with a rough address. He dragged his body through the front yard and managed to make it to the postbox right on time. As soon as he dropped the paper in the box, Trent grabbed hold of him. He knocked out Josh and locked him in the washroom again. Trent desperately tried to get hold of the paper from the box; he couldn’t. He thought of using the blowtorch as well, but the postman cleared the box before he could execute his plan. In a desperate attempt to get his hands on the letter, he went to his local postal branch at Glen Avenue. When he mentioned that he’d mislabeled an important package he’d mailed, the girl at the front desk, Bess, told him that he didn’t have to worry because they had an expert who ensured that the letters always reached the right recipient. Bess spoke proudly of Jasper, their dead mail investigator who always ensured that the mail was redirected to the right address. It was a highly investigative and research-based work, and Jasper enjoyed solving the puzzles. He was also reclusive, and he preferred staying out of the limelight.
Jasper lived at a men’s home, and Trent followed him there. Jasper was advised by his colleague, Ann, to put himself out there and try to make friends at the men’s home. So, when Trent struck up a friendly conversation, Jasper assumed maybe it was the beginning of a new friendship. Jasper had no idea that his roommate was keeping an eye on him and had stolen the key to his office chamber. When Jasper sat down at his work desk, Trent approached him. Jasper was on the phone with a foreign intelligence agent, Renee, who helped him solve the mysteries of the dead mail. He had already mentioned the address on the bloody letter over the phone, and he wanted the names of the individuals living in the area. Just when Jasper was writing down the names, Trent instructed him to hang up the phone, and when he didn’t oblige, Trent killed him. He grabbed hold of the letter, but before he could make it out, another employee had come searching for Jasper, and Trent ended up strangling the man to death.
During the whole Jasper episode, one might wonder why someone like him was living at a men’s shelter. Considering the work he did and the importance of his job, presumably he was paid well. The two plausible reasons could be that Jasper had a criminal record and maybe he couldn’t yet afford a decent lifestyle, or perhaps he was a homosexual man living in the 80s. Maybe he lost his partner to the AIDS epidemic, and he decided to move out of the house they shared after his partner’s death. Staying at the men’s home helped him feel a little less miserable about himself, and perhaps he hoped to connect with people over time.
How did Ann and Bess solve the mystery?
After Jasper and Brooks’ bodies were found at Jasper’s office, the cops deduced that Brooks killed Jasper before he hanged himself. But Ann and Bess, who worked at the postal office, had doubts about this conclusion. But they realized their suspicion was valid when they received a call from Renee, informing them that there was someone else in the room when Jasper and Brooks were killed. He’d overheard their conversation, and he was convinced that it had something to do with the dead mail Jasper was investigating. He’d narrowed it down to a few names with the help of the address Jasper had passed down to him. Renee had also figured out that the man knew Jasper, which meant that they had met somewhere before, possibly the men’s home. Ann stopped by the home, and after going through the names of the people who’d been there, she deduced that there were four men who lived in the area mentioned on the letter who’d also been to the men’s home.
During Dead Mail’s ending, Ann arrived at Trent’s house. Trent recognized her from the postal office, and he figured that she was still trying to solve Jasper’s murder case. The police had given up, but thanks to Renee, Ann and Bess still had some hope left. Bess waited for Ann outside in her car, but the minute she saw Ann entering Trent’s house, she realized Ann was making a terrible mistake. Trent asked Ann to wait, and in the meantime, Ann noticed the red mail tag on the floor. She recognized it, and she immediately knew he was the killer they were searching for. She tried to leave, but the main door was locked. She entered his room, only to find a floor window through which she saw Trent standing in the basement with a hammer in his hand. She tried to find another escape route, and that was when she came across Josh. With Ann’s help, Josh was finally free. Trent was waiting outside the washroom with his hammer, but he figured out that he would be overpowered, and letting Josh escape was a more convenient option than murdering two people and covering it up. Trent didn’t intend on becoming a serial killer; he wanted company, but unfortunately things had taken a nasty turn. Josh and Ann made it out of the house successfully.
Did Trent kill himself?
In Dead Mail’s ending, Trent consumed the poisoned food he had cooked for Josh. He’d realized that the partnership he’d hoped for was impossible to achieve, and killing himself was the only option he had left. Since he’d allowed Josh and Ann to escape, it meant he would either have to die or else he would have ended up behind bars. Trent chose to kill himself, perhaps because he had lost all hope. Trent always felt like a boy stuck in an oil drum—he was all alone, invisible to the world, and abandoned. But one day, when he was studying at university, a man noticed him (the one from the photo album). Trent was then a javelin thrower, and that was when he met an incoming discus thrower, Reggie. And even though they were supposed to be rivals, they ended up becoming friends. For the first time, Trent felt seen and admired, and it was all that he’d wished for in life. Trent assumed they would be loyal companions all their lives, but unfortunately one evening he discovered that Reggie had qualified for international competition, and he’d made up his mind to leave. He wanted to beg Reggie to stay, but he didn’t, and Reggie eventually left.
Trent never moved past the incident, and he ended up becoming invisible to the world once again. When he came across Josh, he could relate to him. Here was a man trying to convince the world that he was worthy, and while no one noticed him, Trent thought he was different. He noticed this other man hiding in his drum (Josh), but instead of abandoning him like the rest of the world, he wanted to help Josh step out of his shell. But the problem was, Josh didn’t need saving. He was nothing like Trent. He was simply having a bad day, and maybe he would have worked on his creation even if Trent hadn’t funded him. Trent wanted to be a benevolent man, but he ended up a killer. It had always been him who needed saving, and he hoped that maybe Josh would relate to his pain, and together they would become the best of friends. But unfortunately that didn’t pan out how he’d imagined, and he was left with no choice but to consume poison and give up on his life. Also, don’t be fooled by the end credit sequence. The film is a work of fiction, and the sequence is purely meant for entertainment! The directors merely take a guess on where their characters might have ended up after the incident.
