The Horror Show
Life After Beth
by Jeff Baena
Life After Beth is a silly, fun, and refreshing zombie comedy. I’d been looking forward to watching it since I first heard about it last year and was super pleased with it when I finally got my chance. (Being a huge John C. Reilly fan, of course I had to watch it.) The film boasts a great cast including Aubrey Plaza (Parks & Recreation), Dane Dehaan (Chronicle), Paul Reiser (Mad About You), Molly Shannon, and (the previously mentioned) John C. Reilly, amongst many others.
Beth (Plaza) has an unfortunate accident with a snake while on a hike and meets her demise. Her boyfriend, Zach (Dehaan), is devastated and goes into a deep mourning. He attempts to befriend Beth’s parents (Shannon and Reilly), and at first they play chess and smoke weed, spending time together and keeping Beth’s memory alive. But shortly after their new friendship develops, her parents begin to pull away, eventually flat-out avoiding Zach altogether. Zach grows suspicious and begins to creep around the house, attempting to spy on Beth’s family and try to figure out what’s going on. He stumbles upon a shocking discovery...
Beth has come back from the dead.
When her parents finally accept that there’s nothing they can do about keeping Zach away, they let him back into her life and things are wonderful at first. Zach is able to hold the love of his life in his arms again and tell her he loves her. He gets his second chance with Beth.
But then Beth begins acting strangely and the strange behavior soon turns violent. Odd things begin occurring around town and Zach has a sinking feeling that it all has to do with the Beth’s recent return from the other side.
The last thirty minutes or so are probably the best in the whole film. The comedy is laugh out loud hilarious, the writing is on point, and the ending is fitting and avoids major clichés. I will say the worst part of the movie was Zach’s idiot, security guard brother (Matthew Gray Gubler). It wasn’t that Gubler did a bad job, it was just that the character was over the top and super annoying. I mean, maybe that was the point of the character, but I feel they could have toned it down a bit because he was just the worst. (But Zach’s whole family is pretty ridiculous so I suppose it’s fitting to have the goofy rent-a-cop thrown in.) Shannon and Reilly are superb as usual and Plaza makes for a great zombie girl.
Life After Beth has several moments that were reminiscent of other zombedy flicks like Zombieland and Warm Bodies. But, I can’t say it even comes close to Shaun of The Dead though. Simon Pegg really set the bar high and no zombie comedy has come close to that yet. All in all Life After Beth is a great addition to genre fans’ collections. If you’re looking for a fun flick with some undead flair, check it out, you’ll truly enjoy yourselves.
Stevie Kopas, HMS
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