#LIFE AFTER BETH MOVIE CRACKED#
Sensibly prioritising straight-faced weirdness over goofy gags, writer/director Baena keeps things just the right side of believable, eschewing explanation in favour of cracked domesticity. I loved watching this film for what it was, however, it does get tired by the end. Normal relations resume temporarily, but there’s something alarming about Beth’s twitchy lust for life, causing Zach to be even more scared of her than usual. LIFE AFTER BETH, a zombie rom-com starring Aubrey Plaza and Dane DeHaan. In the end, 'Life After Beth' has an atmosphere that is believable enough, and a cast that is quirkily endearing. Stricken with grief by the loss of his girlfriend, dorky emo Zach (Dane DeHaan) is astonished when she shows up at her parents’ house, an inexplicable occurrence that they deem “a miracle”.
#LIFE AFTER BETH MOVIE FULL#
One can see our full coverage of the festival below.A sparky addition to the rom-zom-com roll-call that includes such diverse films as Brian Yuzna’s Return of the Living Dead 3 and Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead, Jeff Baena’s tale of love after death sees Aubrey Plaza letting rip as the eponymous girl unaware of her own mortality. Life After Beth premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2014. There would be some goodwill gained if Baena didn’t cop out during the finale, but Life After Beth remains a mildly funny film in search of a director with some bite. The talented Aubrey Plaza is sadly wasted, with her initial transformation being believable, but what follows isn’t humorous nor frightening.
A charismatic Dane DeHaan takes the material seriously, also reconfirming his status as a promising up-and-comer, even if his arc is disappointing. Reilly is the comedic highlight, providing funny reactions and one-liners as he attempts to protect his daughter from the outside world, all while trying to not reveal her condition. From 'Life After Beth' to 'Legion', Plaza has perfected the art of creating magnetic, dangerous weirdos who love to scare us. Perhaps this could have been aided if we’d have seen any backstory of Zach and Beth in love, but we’re left not caring if any of our leads fall prey to the expanding zombie apocalypse.Īs evidenced in any number of films, John C. Aubrey Plaza Is an Amazing Creep Who Deserves an Award. For a film about retaining a relationship, even if one-half of the couple is a zombie, there’s also fairly little emotional weight. Unlike the scares, tension and visually-geared laughs that Edgar Wright brought to the genre with Shaun of the Dead, this directorial debut of Jeff Baena (co-writer of I Heart Huckabees) feels rushed, with no discernible vision behind the camera. After an initial apprehension, he’s intent on making right the wrongs in their relationship and that begins a fairly tedious and uninvolving second act in which Beth gradually becomes more zombified. The next day he storms in, uncovering a seemingly normal-looking Beth, oblivious to the past week’s events. I wouldnt say its equal parts life lessons, horror, and comedy as. Stopping by her house one day, Zach catches a brief glimpse of Beth through the window and although he’s determined to enter the house, her parents won’t allow it. Life After Beth seeks to use the quickly tiring Zombie subgenre and give it a new spin. Reilly) and acquiring one of Beth’s scarves to remember her by, from her mother ( Molly Shannon). As the days pass, distraught over her death, Zach becomes closer with her parents, playing chess and smoking pot late into the night with her father ( John C. Opening with only a few shots of Beth alive, hiking before a snake bite will kill her, we then jump to her funeral, in which her family and friends grieve. While her condition is slowly revealed, a few amusing jokes on the zombie myth are crafted, but unfortunately it’s an undercooked, blandly directed film that doesn’t use its premise to its full potential. Following our title character ( Aubrey Plaza) who unexpectedly dies, her boyfriend Zach ( Dane DeHaan) is considerably freaked out when he learns that she has risen from the dead. In 2013 we got a romance-tinged take on the zombie genre with Warm Bodies and this year’s Sundance Film Festival brings a smaller-scale, independent effort also attempting to explore the horrors of love with Life After Beth.
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