After.Life (2009/Anchor Bay Blu-ray)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Feature: C

 

 

With some effort and Liam Neeson on board, Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo’s After.Life (2009) could have been an interesting, creepy supernatural thriller in which Neeson’s funeral director could have emerged as a classic character.  He plays a man who can supposedly talk to the near-dead when they are in the limbo between life and death.  We join the film meeting Anna (Christina Ricci sadly playing to type and still going nowhere after Speed Racer) in her nice relationship with Paul (Justin Long) and how her life is moving along nicely.

 

Eventually, she is in an accident and comes to the funeral home of Eliot Deacon (Neeson) who explains she is dead, when she is sure she is alive.  The rest of the film tries to separate the two, challenged the audience to join in and all, but ultimately falls into the same formulaic trap such films have before and when the writers give up, they just add twists that have been done better years ago and the overall result is a real disappointment.  I give them credit for even trying this kind of story, but it never adds up and unless you really like this kind of film, you are best skipping it.  Celia Weston and Josh Charles also star.

 

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image was shot badly with the RED One HD camera and is very uneven.  Some shots look good, but they always seem to be limited and some are just plain soft.  The PCM 5.1 mix is even poorer as if the mixer messed up and/or the location recording was not too good.  The combination has some moments, but can be trying more often than it should be.  Extras include the original theatrical trailer, feature length audio commentary track by the director and a making-of featurette.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo