Beth is dead. Bitten by a snake during a hike, she has been laid to rest. Her boyfriend Zach is not handling it well, distancing himself from his own family and instead bonding with Beth’s parents over their shared loss. One day, they stop answering the door and start ignoring his attempts to contact them. While snooping around their property to discover why he finds that Beth is alive and well…kind of. Her parents are not interested in the how or why, they are just happy she is home. Her memories are fuzzy and she has slightly more aggressive tendencies that before, but it is Beth. Hiding her from the public becomes more difficult as her outbursts grow, and before long she shows physical as well as mental deterioration. To compound matters, other people start appearing around town showing the same traits.
The zombie genre is a popular niche, from the stonking ratings of The Walking Dead and its bleak portrayal of an outbreak, to the hilarity of Shaun of the Dead, and even a spin on romance with the Romeo and Juliet inspired Warm Bodies, it is a pretty flexible angle to build upon. The focus of Life After Beth is somewhat interesting, exploring how love is changed by the decomposition (mentally and physically) of a loved one lost to zombiefication. It plays out as a slow burn comedy; this is not a loss and reawakening change, rather it is over several days that the girl Beth is starts to be overwhelmed by aggression and a craving for human flesh. As a comedy it falls flat. The film overall tries to play it straight, and the lack of comedy just makes for a weird ambiance throughout the film which is even more pronounced towards the end. Without the laughs to break it up and entertain, the plot itself is very predictable and frankly becomes pretty boring — there is little here to engage you. It feels more like a SNL sketch where someone forgot to yell “cut” after 5 minutes, a stretched out premise that was already paper thin. There are moments that feel somewhat more improvised, but these are few and far between.
There is a rather solid cast put together here. Aubrey Plaza plays Aubrey Plaza, essentially. Dane DeHaan does his slightly offbeat thing, more Chronicle quality than his terrible work in The Amazing Spiderman. But it’s the supporting cast that really stand : John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Cheryl Hines, and Paul Reiser are great as the parents of the doomed lovers, as they lend a great weight and authenticity to such a drab affair. Also of note is Anna Kendrick, whose fleeting appearance was one of the most genuine and sweet moments in the film.
THE PACKAGEThe Blu-ray release is actually fairly solid in spite of the film itself being rather mediocre. The transfer itself is good. The film is pretty dark and the blacks transfer well; sharpness is maintained with colors and detail being clearly evident with no artifacts noticed.
As well as an Ultraviolet copy of the film, the extras include an audio commentary with writer/director Jeff Baena and actors Aubrey Plaza, Dane DeHaan and Matthew Gubler that is frankly more interesting that the feature itself. It also includes Life After Beth: The Post Mortem, a look behind the scenes with cast and crew.
THE BOTTOM LINELife After Beth is the result of someone thinking of a clever(ish) wordplay. It is a script and film that stems from changing the letter D to B, it is that paper thin. There are a few laughs for not nearly enough to sustain the film and while some of the acting is great, they are limited by the material given. Anyone expecting greatness will be disappointed; but really, who was expecting greatness from such a flimsy idea?
Life After Beth is available on Blu-ray from October 21st 2014.