This pretty much sums it up.
He Never Died is a 2015 horror/comedy written and directed by Jason Krawczyk, starring Henry Rollins and Steven Ogg.
The story centers a mysterious man who goes by the name Jack. Jack lives a curious and isolated existence, sleeping most of the time, frequenting a diner every single day, and playing bingo. He also pays a local medical student for packages that he stores in his refrigerator. When the medical student gets mixed up with the wrong crowd and a former fling reveals that he has a teenage daughter, Jack is forced to come out of his shell and reveal some unsettling things about himself.
He Never Died contains examples of:
- Ambiguously Gay: Interactions between Alex and his doorman suggest that they're lovers.
- Artistic License – Religion: Jack is implied by the poster and the scars on his back to be a fallen angel, but Cain was not an angel. He was the first son of Adam and Eve and the first human to commit murder. Oddly enough, some folklore has Cain as a Nephilim and the son of Lucifer, so it could be
Accidentally-Correct Writing. - Asshole Victim: Everyone Jack kills in the movie pretty much has it coming. Ultimately also true of Jack; it's hard to say he doesn't deserve the curse he's under.
- Avenging the Villain: Alex torments Jack to get revenge for Jack murdering his crime lord father.
- Biblical Bad Guy: Jack reveals that he is actually Cain and has been cursed to stay alive as a cannibal since killing his brother.
- Big Bad Friend: Alex seems to be one of the closest things that Jack has to a friend, or at least a former friend, but turns out to be the primary villain.
- Bingo: Jack goes to the bingo game at the local church at least three times a week. He only plays two cards at time though, since he doesn't like to have to keep track of more than that. It's a sign of his growing agitation when he's later seen playing with at least thirty cards.
- Boom, Headshot!: Ones of the thugs in the diner does this to Jack at point blank range. Jack's rather annoyed that it was only a 9mm round, as he prefers bullets that go right through him so he doesn't have to dig them out.
- Bullying the Dragon: Even though the crooks know what Jack is capable of, they keep tormenting him. Alex's whole plan of kidnapping Jack's daughter was designed because he knows that shooting Jack doesn't really work.
- Cain and Abel: Jack reveals that he is the biblical Cain.
- Cash Lure: Jack deliberately drops a hefty sum of cash on the sidewalk as he walks past some unsavory looking fellows, in an effort to provoke them into mugging him so he could justify eating them. It doesn't work the way he planned when one of them picks up the cash and politely gives it back to him.
- Cement Shoes: The gangsters try a variant of this on Jack, wrapping him in chains and hauling him to the river bank. Subverted in that Jack pulls one of the thugs in with him, and then demonstrates his Super Not-Drowning Skills by hauling himself out of the river some time later.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Derrick spends most of his time on the phone with Jack cussing him out in this manner.
- Complete Immortality: Given that Jack has no reaction to getting shot repeatedly in the head, there doesn't seem to be any way to kill him, no matter how much he wants and begs to die.
- Deadpan Snarker: Jack, so, so, much:Andrea: Seriously? Someone shot you? With a gun?Jack: That's how you get shot."
- Death Seeker: Jack begs and harangues the mysterious Goateed Man to finally permit him to die, but the man refuses to even say a word to Jack.
- Diner Brawl: Jack takes out an entire diner full of goons off screen in the middle of the movie.
- Disposing of a Body: After Jack attacks Ben, his noisy and irritating neighbor, he's next seen dumping a rather heavy and suspiciously body-shaped trash bag into a dumpster. Oddly, this scene in the trailer comes right after a shot of Steve tied up in the bathroom, implying that it's Steve that's being disposed of.
- Every Man Has His Price: Cara refuses to give Jack a ride back to his apartment after the fight at the diner, until he promises her 1 million dollars in cash. Later he offers her a duffel bag full of money to help him rescue Andrea. This time the cash isn't sufficient incentive, as she's still freaking out from the earlier violence. Still, one Gilligan Cut later, she's taking him to the nightclub where Andrea is being held.
- Every Scar Has a Story: Averted. Jack has some really prominent scars on his back (that look suspiciously like where wings would be on a Winged Humanoid), but they never come up in the story, and he doesn't scar up from any of the copious other injuries he gets.
- Eye Scream: Several. Jack gets pepper sprayed right in the eyes by Steve. He gets revenge of sorts when he injures Steve's eye in a later encounter. Steve wears an eyepatch from then on.
- Fallen Angel: The movie posters portray Jack with wings, but we can see scars from where they've been cut off while Jack is getting dressed.
- Fingore: Played for a bit of dark humor in that the person Jack takes a pair of pruning shears to is already dead, and Jack is just getting some finger food as a snack to go.
- Flat-Earth Atheist: Revealed of Jack at the end, during his Rage Against the Heavens towards the man with the goatee. He insinuates that God doesn't exist, despite the fact that he is literally a character from the Bible who was cursed with immortality.
- The Fog of Ages: Jack doesn't know how old he is, and he's not even sure if he had parents.
- Gallows Humor: When asked at one point where his daughter is, Jack replies, "She's probably with her mother at this point." Except that he had been told earlier that Andrea's mother had been killed during Andrea's kidnapping, and that Andrea herself would be killed if Jack wasn't at the docks at midnight. Which was 50 minutes ago.
- Greasy Spoon: The Times Square Diner comes complete with jukebox and checkerboard floor.
- Groin Attack: Several. Jack likes using this as a means to incapacitate someone temporarily while he deals with another situation, like a second gunman or finding a hidden room.
- Half-Human Hybrid: If Cain is indeed a fallen angel, then Andrea, Jack's daughter, would be an example. Exactly what this means is unknown, but at one point he can be seen trying to peer at her shoulderblades — presumably checking for wings. She's able to see the entity that's presumably Death when alive and safe, to Jack's surprise.
- Hates Small Talk: Jack hardly ever speaks except to answer questions asked by other people, or to go on an enraged tirade.
- Healing Factor: Jack feels pain, but shrugs off injuries rapidly.
- Heel Realization: Implied at the end, when Cara talks Jack into saving Andrea.
- Inconspicuous Immortal: Jack tries as hard as he can to be this trope, but extenuating circumstances (and a lot of armed thugs) manage to pull him out of his quiet, solitary routine.
- Ineffectual Loner: See above.
- Invisible to Normals: The Goateed Man is this, as Alex can't see him (at first) and asks who Jack is talking to. Jack is astonished that Andrea can see him. It's implied, but never outright stated, that the Goateed Man is Death.
- Jack of All Trades: Over the course of his long existence, Jack has done just about every job imaginable except waiting tables. His reaction to Cara's joke about how this makes him a Jack of all Trades implies that he may have picked his alias for this very reason. He also omits his original job according to the Bible: Farmer."I was kind of a bodyguard for a while. Then I sold antiques, which probably made me the most. I owned a few businesses. Uh, construction for a while. Truck driver. Teacher for a while, history most of the time. Military took up a good part of my life. Manager for a whole slew of businesses. Landscaper. Fisherman. I bootlegged for a while. Wreck diver. Miner for coal, silver, gold. Stunt man for movies for a while. Nurse. I was a medic for a while. That's when I was in the military. Cook. Prison. There's a good amount of prison in there. Professional gambler. Horse breeder. Potter, I made pots for a while. Tinsmith, then a blacksmith. Retail for almost everything. Mechanic..."
- Julius Beethoven da Vinci: As well as being Cain, dialogue also reveals that Jack was Vlad the Impaler.
- Kavorka Man: Jack is not physically unattractive, but he's rude, solitary, deeply unsettling, and apparently disinterested in human interaction at all. Nonetheless, diner waitress Cara has an obvious crush on him, and Jack has a daughter from a prior relationship.
- Loan Shark: Jeremy took out a loan from a loan shark to pay off his student loans. When he couldn't pay it off, the shark's thugs tried to find him, and they made the mistake of trying to strongarm Jack into telling them where Jeremy was. The rest of the plot kicks off from there.
- Made of Iron: Alex takes a pretty brutal beating from Jack, but he lives through it and manages to keep snarking at Jack the whole time.
- Mook Horror Show: Steve, a low-level thug hired to "handle" Jack and his daughter, survives a couple of these at the hands of Jack — in all the carnage, he only loses an eye and counts himself lucky — and in the end pretty much goes along with whatever Jack wants just so he can keep breathing. He ends up tied to a chair in Jack's shower, but that's far better than what happens to the other mooks that Alex hired to take out Jack.
- Mugging the Monster: Jack tries to invoke this several times after he falls off the cannibal wagon, only to be met with helpfulness and politeness. He finally succeeds with a gang of teenage punks after a Vomit Indiscretion Shot over their shoes.
- Mutilation Interrogation: Looks like this is about to happen to Steve, but ends up being averted when he cooperates completely, and tells Jack everything he knows.
- Normally, I Would Be Dead Now: Jack acknowledges that the injuries he's received would have killed a normal person, but since he's immortal, even the bullet in the forehead only concerns him because if he leaves it in, he'll get migraines.
- No-Sell: Jack punches the Goateed Man in the face as hard as he can, but succeeds only in hurting his own hand. Jack himself has shrugged off beatings, stabbings, and repeated gunshot wounds with only mild annoyance throughout the film to this point.
- No Sense of Humor: The brooding protagonist doesn't even smile.
- Oblivious to Love: Cara is obviously interested in Jack. Andrea picks up on this immediately and starts playing The Matchmaker. Jack has no clue whatsoever, until Cara gives him a hug. Being who and what he is, he promptly freaks out.
- Off the Wagon: Jack needs to eat human flesh in order to maintain his sanity but he is addicted to the eating of flesh from living or freshly killed people. He tries to stay "clean" by only eating the flesh of medical cadavers and only the minimal amount he needs. When the thugs try to kill him one too many times, he snaps, kills one and eats his flesh. After that he is constantly struggling to not attack and eat people around him.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Cara seems to think that Jack is a vampire. Other than immortality and feeding on humans, Jack doesn't have much in common with traditional vampire lore. Cara asks why he doesn't have "the teeth," and Jack asks, "Why would I need them?" Indeed, Jack doesn't suck blood, he just eats human flesh, and human teeth are perfectly suitable for it. Although, given his statement that he impaled thousands of people in Wallachia just to watch them die, it's implied that he was Count Vlad "Dracula" Tepes, the historical inspiration for the legendary vampire, so there's that.
- Papa Wolf: Played with. Jack tries to ignore the kidnapping and potential murder of his daughter — who he never wanted and who intrudes upon his orderly life — but eventually decides that he just can't let her die. It's one of the few signs that he is still a human being.
- Posthumous Character: Alex's father, whom Jack once served. Jack killed him when he threatened to take Jack's identity public.
- Pretty Freeloader: Andrea. She even lampshades it at one point when she tells Jack that she got free drinks and a place to stay for the night because she was a girl.
- Punch-Clock Villain: When Jack is interrogating Steve, Steve makes it quite clear that he's just hired muscle, doesn't know anything important, and is happy to tell Jack what little he does know. This arguably saves his life.
- Punk in the Trunk. Jack puts an unconscious Steve in the trunk of Cara's car so he can interrogate him as to Andrea's whereabouts. Cara is not happy about this.
- Rage Breaking Point: Jack is fairly stoic though the film, until the very end when he see the Goateed Man sitting at the bar with him just as he's about to kill Alex. The ensuing screaming fit is impressive, given his previous deadpan reactions to everything.
- Really 700 Years Old: When Cara jokes about his interest in bingo, Jack protests, "I'm less than 100 years old!" In reality, he's at least 4,000 years old, as old as humanity itself.
- Revenge Before Reason: Alex is at least partly aware of what Jack can do but he still decides to try to get revenge on Jack.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Jack does go on one in the latter part of the film, but not for the reason Alex, his target, thinks. Alex thinks it's because he kidnapped and tortured Andrea, but that's not what set Jack off. He just wanted to be left alone, and Alex's revenge stunt made him fall off the (cannibalism) wagon.
- Shaped Like Itself:Jack: "Have you seen a young lady with a lip ring in here today?"Bartender: "What did she look like?"Jack: "A young lady with a lip ring."
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Jack has seen and done a lot of horrific things through the centuries, so it's no surprise he comes off as this.
- Slipping a Mickey. One of the gangsters drugs Jack's drink so they can dump him in the river as revenge for interfering with them. They are quite surprised at how long it takes before it kicks in. This is one of the first clues that Jack is not quite normal.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: The Goateed Man does this all the damned time!
- Student Debt Plot: Jeremy kicks off the plot by borrowing money from a loan shark to pay off his student loans. The loan shark then comes to find him after he falls behind on payments, but they find Jack instead and try to intimidate him into telling them.
- Super-Toughness : Jack is immortal, heals quickly, and tends to ignore any non-obvious wounds. He doesn't even notice the icepick in his back until it's pointed out to him.
- Too Dumb to Live:
- Jeremy borrows money from a loan shark to pay off his student loans. He trades a low interest loan from a reputable bank for a high interest loan from a criminal. If he had trouble paying off his student loans, he would never be able to pay off the much bigger debt to the loan shark and a bank is less likely to send two thugs to work you over.
- Most of the mooks that try to kill Jack are way too eager to stick around even after they see what he is capable of. A smart criminal would have made a run for it after seeing Jack take a shotgun blast to the chest and be unfazed. These guys decide to taunt and insult Jack instead. Steve is the only one to wise up and very politely cooperate with Jack once he realizes just how screwed he is. This saves his life.
- Twisted Ankle: Invoked deliberately and taken to a horrific extreme when Jack twists Alex's ankle until it breaks in order to get Alex to say put until Jack can come back and finish dealing with him.
- Voice of the Legion: The Goateed Man demonstrates a super creepy one with his only spoken word.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: We are introduced to Jack as he is getting out of bed to answer the door, sans shirt. It shows off most of Henry Rollins's impressive set of real tattoos (he had the prominent sun tattoo on his back covered by makeup for the film, though), and some suspicious scars on his back.
- We Have to Get the Bullet Out!: Justified in this case. Jack's immortal, so if he leaves the bullets in his head, they'll heal over and he'll get migraines.
- Who Wants to Live Forever? Jack's current life is remarkably boring, and Jack seems to want it that way after thousands of years of suffering.
- Would Hurt a Child: Jack states that he's killed 9 year olds for no reason at all.
