Life After Beth (2014) (Blu-ray Review)
Directed By: Jeff Baena
Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Dane DeHaan, John C. Reilly
Rated: R/Region A/1:85/1080p/Number of Discs 1
Where to get it: Lionsgate
A hike alone in the woods ends tragically for Beth Slocum with a fatal snake bite. Her death leaves her parents and boyfriend Zach reeling. After the funeral, Zach tries to make friends with Mr. and Mrs. Slocum, but even they reject him, and he’s determined to figure out why. Then he sees Beth. Her parents are trying to keep her resurrection a secret, but zombie Beth provides Zach with the opportunity to do everything with her that he didn’t get to do while she was still alive. But with Beth’s increasingly erratic behavior and even more strange occurrences around town, life with the undead Beth proves to be particularly complicated for her still-living loved ones.
Life After Beth is a harmless Zomcom that has some hilarious moments and some “just OK” moments. The good is far greater than the average moments and the two leads Aubrey Plaza and Dane DeHaan lead the way. Plaza especially plays a perfect zombie and plays her role as perfect as you’d want. She is clearly the star of this show and anyone who sees it will enjoy her performance. One of the negatives here is we have a great group of actors here. From the ever so awesome John C. Reilly to Molly Shannon to Paul Reiser to Anna Kendrick. The trouble is some feel wasted like Kendrick, who should be here more for her purpose I think. Then we have people like Reilly and Shannon who seem to be unsure how far off the comedic cliff they are supposed to go and sometimes they either pull back a bit much or go over the line a bit much. Still, it is fun and entertaining, but those are things you can’t help but notice.
There are horror movies that have some comedy mixed in and then we also have comedy films that just so happen to have some horror. This is a comedy that has some horror mixed in and deals with a horror subject, but a comedy is above all else and to its credit it does remain funny more times than not. I’m not sure horror fans will fully get out of it what they seek, but it is possible they will have a good time. I had a good time with it and I’d say give it a spin, if for nothing else out two leads. The film looks great in HD. It is a new film with some big fish in it, so why wouldn’t it? I don’t think its a must to get into detail about how it looks because you can pretty much bank on something like this being awesome looking. And, the movie isn’t bad either.
- Audio Commentary
- Life After Beth: The Postmortem
- Deleted scenes
