AfterLife

Genre: Horror/Thriller

Director: Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo

Screenplay: Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo, Paul Vosloo, and Jakub Korolczuk

Starring: Liam Neeson, Christina Ricci, and Justin Long

Anna Taylor wakes up in a morgue finding out that she’s dead according to the funeral director. He explains to her that she had been in a terrible car accident and had died. He can talk to her, because he can speak to the dead. Anna has a hard time believing that she is dead and tries to fight it even attempting to contact her fiancé. The funeral director tries to help her accept her fate, so that she’ll move on and not be trapped forever in a coffin. The only problem is that Anna just doesn’t believe she’s dead.

I, personally, am a fan of scary or weird films. I believe that it is much more of a challenge to make something completely fantastical believable. To be honest there are a lot of movies that barely make a scream believable and come off as campy. Even though their bad, I still find enough to make fun of to be entertained. That being said there is a limit with bad films, where even I cannot find a smidge of entertaining value.

I eagerly picked up this film because I thought that it would be decent being that Liam Neesonn is in it. He’s a solid actor that is usually in good films. While this film was not terrible, it was not a great memory either. The first thing I will always remember about this film is how naked Christina Ricci is throughout it. It really makes the film awkward. Unnecessary nudity is normal commodity of a scary movie. Why that is, I have no idea. Beyond that, the story does attempt to be thought provoking and leave you guessing as to what is really going on. That attempt alone is enough to give the film credit. Most scary movies rely on creative, gory death scenes and nudity leaving not a lot for the actual story. The movie wants you to keep asking yourself, “Is she dead or is she alive?” throughout the entire film. Also, I think it wants you to ask yourself, “Who is this creepy child?” Why have the kid in it otherwise?

Liam Neeson is a profound actor. This however isn’t a shiny example. He was by no means terrible in this film. It just felt as if he was not trying at all. He had a more commanding presence as Aslan, and he was just voice acting then. Whatever it was I expected from this film after seeing he was in it, I sure didn’t get.

Christina Ricci played Anna. Here is my problem with Christina Ricci. She always seems to play the same character. Granted her acting skills were a little higher than her usual par in Black Snake Moan, she always plays characters that there is something off about them. This film did not stand out. It was that same girl with something off whether it be drugs, death, or werewolves. I won’t say that I dislike her as an actress. She is alright and fulfills some purpose. There have been roles she played where you could not think of any other actress as the character. In her defense, her acting career could be the result of Hollywood’s favorite pastime, typecasting.

Justin Long is also in this film. He plays Anna’s boyfriend. Sadly, beyond that, there is not a whole lot else to be said about him in this film. This is not really his fault. The writing for his character was extremely limited and didn’t offer him a whole lot to work with.

I give this film 2 Buttery Kernals.

Coming Soon: Prince of Persia