After.Life - DVD

Movie: It seems like a really bad nightmare: When young teacher Anna (Christina Ricci) wakes up after a car accident, undertaker Eliot (Liam Neeson) is getting ready to prepare her body for burial. Although Anna can communicate with the man, move and feel pain, Eliot steadfastly maintains that she is dead and merely in some sort of limbo. He himself, he claims, has the ability to communicate with the dead and thus prepare the deceased for their final journey, not just physically. But Anna doesn't believe this psychic nonsense and is convinced she is in the hands of a psychopath. Or is she simply refusing to accept her own death?

After.Life manages to captivate the audience very well, especially in the first half, with a chilly, ominous atmosphere. Since it actually remains open until the last scene whether this is really a perverted psycho killer or whether Eliot can actually communicate with the recently deceased, the tension can be maintained even in the somewhat weaker moments of the horror thriller. True, some scenes, especially in the second half of the film, seem a bit over the top and almost unintentionally comical. But there are enough good moments to console over such weaknesses.

Liam Neeson undoubtedly dominates the acting as the shady undertaker. Between warm-hearted, kinda sick, and just plain annoyed with his victims(?), Neeson gives a gleefully over-the-top performance here that gives the audience a high fun factor. Christina Ricci's performance, which she has to complete in many scenes completely free of clothing, is a bit too restrained, but overall convincing. Only her co-star Justin Long or supporting actor Josh Charles just can't compete with Neeson's intensity and seem strangely pale without any corpse make-up.

Although the finale is quite enjoyable, in the end somehow the feeling remains that director Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo didn't get everything out of the original initial idea that the story would have given. But thanks to the good actors and the engaging atmosphere, this home cinema premiere can still be warmly recommended to all fans of cultivated horror thrillers. Worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The film's super-cooled atmosphere is also well captured by the DVD's picture quality. Image sharpness is okay and contrasts are well matched. The sound takes place primarily in the front area, here and there some purposefully used and well-mixed sound effects provide comforting surround creep. Good!

Extras: Except for the trailer, there are unfortunately no extras. Too bad!

Conclusion: After.Life is a small, mean horror thriller that can please especially thanks to the good actors and its chillingly threatening atmosphere. Even if the technically well implemented DVD has no significant bonus material to offer, the film can be recommended to lovers of stylish mystery horror. Recommendable

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp