After Life (2010) As the life of young Anna Taylor (Christina Ricci) hangs precariously in the balance, funeral director Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson), who has a mysterious ability to help the dead transition to the afterlife, has complete control over her fate. Though it’s possible she isn’t dead after all, it’s equally possible that she’s already in hell. Director Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo can’t figure out how to build on her base, overusing a melodramatic score to boost the mild shocks and solemn philosophizing. And as a first-time feature director, she doesn’t have the confident hand needed to guide her actors, who are so out of sync that they barely seem to be in the same film. While nobody comes out especially well, Ricci is the only one required to spend much of the movie naked. And for what? The only thing worse than bad horror is pretentiously bad horror. From title to finish, "After.Life" takes itself far more seriously than you will.
