AFTER.LIFE (2009)
The question of what happens to the human body after it dies has been with us since the dawn of time. Religions have been founded on it, and philosophies have been based around it.
But in the intriguing 2009 horror/thriller After.Life, we're posed with a slightly different version of the question: what if death brings not heaven, hell, or eternal nothingness, but continued consciousness? The thought of being deposited in the ground for eternity, while still in a conscious state, is almost too much to bear. What if you knew this was about to happen to you, but you were powerless to prevent it?
In this introspective film, a young schoolteacher named Anna (Christina Ricci) is involved in a terrible car accident and wakes up on a mortuary slab. Funeral director Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) seems remarkably unperturbed by his suddenly conscious corpse. Calmly sewing up Anna's wounds, Deacon explains that the car crash was fatal. The kindly mortician informs the increasingly hysterical Anna that he has the ability to communicate with the dead, and no one else can see or hear her. She will be buried in three days, he tells her, and she must make peace with her situation before that time in order to successfully transition to the next plane of existence.
Although friendly and sympathetic to Anna's situation, Deacon has peculiar mannerisms that arouse the suspicions of both Anna and her grieving boyfriend, Paul (Justin Long). Paul soon comes to believe that Anna is still alive and being held captive deep beneath the funeral home, while Anna's own confusion prevents her from distinguishing between fiction and reality. Her body seems to be deteriorating, just as Deacon warned her it would: rigor mortis, or something very much like it, is setting in, while her physical appearance is becoming increasingly waxy. Is this the natural result of her condition, or has Deacon concocted an elaborate lie to make Anna believe she is dead?
It is to the film's credit that we don't find out the truth until the story is almost over, and even then, the movie has additional twists for us to discover. Many facets of the plot can be guessed in advance by a reasonably astute viewer, but other revelations will likely come out of nowhere. It's a fun, if bleak, ride that will throughly engage fans of introspective horror. Top marks for story structure.
Christina Ricci has never been better than she is here. Anna is a demanding, complex character, and the performance Ricci gives is positively fearless. In addition to covering a wide range of emotions, Ricci appears nude for much of the movie, and seems comfortable inside her character at all times. Watching her go from frantic, to confused, to horrified, to accepting of her fate, is both heartbreaking and engaging. Neeson, too, is consistently excellent, and brings gravitas to his portrayal of Eliot Deacon. Long-standing horror fans will no doubt notice elements of Phantasm's Tall Man in his character, and that's a complement. I should admit upfront that both Neeson and Ricci rank among my favorite actors, and I can't pretend I wasn't thrilled to see them in the same movie. Neither disappointed me.
After.Life has been growing on me over the past few days. Having allowed the film a bit of time to percolate inside my head before writing this review, I find that I like it more now than I did immediately after I finished watching it. The bleak tone initially left an unpleasant taste in my mouth, but I realize now that this dissatisfaction was the result of my concern for the Anna character, and my unhappiness at her predicament. It takes a good film to generate that much empathy in the viewer.
One word of warning: fans of modern horror should know that After.Life, just like Adam Green's Frozen, is decidedly old-fashioned in its pacing and structure, which means that impatient viewers may find it a bit slow. This is one of the reasons I like it. The story gives itself ample room to breathe, which allows us time to get to know the characters. If viewers find quality characterization to be a detriment, they may wish to seek their horror thrills in a different film. But it will be their loss.
Enough about the movie! What about the Blu-Ray?
After.Life is presented in a stellar 2.40:1 1080p anamorphic transfer that really shows off the potential of the format. Although much of the movie is lit using the morgue's cool white fluorescent lights, detail levels are superb throughout. The cold, intentionally drab set design comes through brilliantly, allowing the viewer to share in Anna's emotional turmoil.
English audio is provided via a choice of Dolby Surround 5.1 or an uncompressed PCM 5.1 track. Both sound fine, although the front-heavy mix doesn't utilize the rear speakers that often. It's as good as it needs to be.
For an Anchor Bay title, the disc is a bit light in the supplements department. We do get an audio commentary with director/co-writer Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo, who conveys enthusiasm and admiration for the finished film (in heavily accented English), but fails to illuminate anything about it. Wojtowicz-Vosloo appears again in a brief making-of featurette entitled Delving into the After.Life: The Making of a Thriller, which clocks in at under 10 minutes and consists mainly of clips from the finished movie. None of the stars are interviewed, but aspiring directors will appreciate Wojtoewicz-Vosloo's detailed explanation of how she launched her filmmaking career. The movie's atmospheric theatrical trailer rounds out the bonus features. The trailer can also be viewed on the left side of this page.
RATING: B
After.Life was reviewed on Blu-Ray, although a DVD version is also available. Local readers should be able to find it at the Dickson City Borders or Best Buy.
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Comments
Trust me, if I watched this I would be incapacitated for a week, much like Anna. :)
I will definitely see this flick!
Great review! Christina Ricci and Liam Neeson have always been good actors and After.Life definitely explores a new concept that hasn't been overrun by Hollywood yet.
Thanks for, as usual, the detailed review of both the movie & its format. I find the premise intriguing, and think Ricci capable of carrying her part in it. I think I'll put "After.Life" in my Netflix queue.
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