Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me; the carriage held but just ourselves and immortality” – Emily Dickinson　　If Death took a holiday, the guns would go silent in Iraq, the slaughter on our nation’s highways would cease, and the news media would be compelled to cover positive events in the humanities, arts, and sciences. Unfortunately, Death has not had a vacation in recorded history, but Mitchell Leisen’s 1934 fantasy, Death Takes a Holiday, allows us to consider the possibility. Co-written by Maxwell Anderson and Gladys Lehman and based on the play La Morte in Vacanza by Alberto Casella, Death Takes a Holiday stars Frederic March as the Grim Reaper who takes on human form in an attempt to discover why men fear him so much. Why he has waited 5,000 years to satisfy this curiosity is not explained.　　[Spoiler] After a brief tryout as a shadowy figure who scares the daylights out of those that cross his path, Death shows up at, of all places, an upscale party at an Italian villa, posing as the mysterious Prince Sirki. Only one person knows who he really is, the host Duke Lambert (Guy Standing), and he is sworn to secrecy. Sirki proceeds to fascinate the guests. Given to bursts of wit and poetry, he can just as quickly turn sullen and threatening, and some soon find out that it is better not to look too deeply into his eyes. During the three days in which the Prince is at the villa, however, people all over the world miraculously escape death and potential suicides are doomed to frustration.　　To see what’s behind all the conversation about love, the suave but naïve Prince Sirki falls for the irresistible Grazia (Evelyn Venable), the daughter of one of Duke’s friends. Grazia knows who Death is but does not fear him, much to the chagrin of her fiancé, Corrado (Kent Taylor) who has developed a strong disdain for Prince Charming.　　More sinister than Brad Pitt in the 1998 remake Meet Joe Black, March turns in a very convincing performance as the creepy yet strangely appealing guest. Although the ending is melodramatic, the emotions are very real and the suggestion that Death may in reality be a friend disguised as a foe is quite touching.　　(Howard Schumann, talkingpix.co.uk)　　In this wearisome and predictable plot line, Death falls in love and bores us to death talking about it.　　(Dennis Schwartz, homepages.sover.net)　　I've heard DRACULA was advertised with the tag line The Weirdest Love Story ever told! (this is probably a paraphrase), but at heart, I've never felt that you could honestly call that movie a love story. The tag line would be much more appropriate for this one, since it ultimately boils down to what amounts to a love story. This movie is very good indeed, particularly if you consider that it is built around a concept that could have easily been handled in a cute or facile manner. Instead, it is handled as seriously as possible, with some real thought put into how death would try to come to terms with a life and an outlook that was to that point totally unfamiliar to him; much of the credit does go to Fredric March in the title role. It's quite scary when it needs to be, particularly during the first twenty minutes. From then on, it deals with its themes with subtlety, a quiet wit, an enduring sadness, and an everpresent tension on how Death might react if crossed. It's not perfect; some of the dialogue is self-conscious and artificial, as if the writers knew they were dealing with weighty issues and were trying to be profound. But I am certainly glad they didn't try to turn it into a musical comedy of sorts.　　(Dave Sindelar, scifilm.org)　　See also the remake Death Takes A Holiday (1971)

《死神假期》是一部2019年上映的中国悬疑惊悚电影，由知名导演张三福执导，由王大志、李小龙、张美美等演员主演。

故事讲述了一对青年情侣小明和小红在一次度假旅行中意外遭遇车祸，小明不幸身亡，而小红却神秘失踪。几天后，小明的尸体被发现，而小红的下落成为迷。

警方开始对这起案件展开调查，然而他们却发现了一个离奇的现象：所有涉案者在案发后都得到了一个神秘的电话，电话中传来了死神的声音，告诉他们他们即将死亡。而随着调查的深入，越来越多的人离奇死亡，警方也被卷入了这场神秘的死神游戏中。

在这个过程中，警方侦探不仅要面对无数的谜团和困难，还要面对自己内心的恐惧和疑惑。他们逐渐发现这一切似乎与一个名为“死神假期”的神秘组织有关，而这个组织似乎掌握着他们的一切。

最终，警方侦破了这个案件，揪出了“死神假期”的幕后黑手，打破了他们的阴谋。然而，在这一切的背后，隐藏着更加诡异和危险的真相。

电影《死神假期》不仅令人紧张刺激，还融合了悬疑、惊悚等多种元素，让观众在紧张的情节中感受到一场扣人心弦的死神之旅。同时，影片也通过对人性的探讨和对社会现实的思考，引发人们对生死、命运和正义的深刻思考。

总的来说，电影《死神假期》是一部具有独特魅力和深刻内涵的影片，不仅展现了导演对影视艺术的独特理解和创新精神，还为观众呈现了一场扣人心弦的悬疑之旅，让观众在观影过程中不断思考和感悟，收获感动和震撼。