This is a very strange movie but nevertheless extremely watchable.SPOILER BEGINS This is the tale of a beautiful woman, Anna Taylor (Christina Ricci) who walked out on her boyfriend, Paul Coleman (Justin Long) at a restaurant just before he was going to propose to her.She drives off crying and eventually is involved in a car accident and finds herself on an undertakers slab ready to be prepared for burial by Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson), the Funeral Director.Anna can move and speak and Eliot can see and hear her and of course Anna wants to know why she is where she is and Eliot tells her that the accident left her dead and he was going to prepare her for her funeral and burial. He even shows her a copy of her Death Certificate.He tells her that he has a gift of being able to see and speak to the dead.From then on it was a cat and mouse game between Anna and Eliot, she trying to convince him that she is still alive and Eliot trying to get Anna to accept she was dead.Before she ended up in the Funeral Parlour Anna was a schoolteacher and one of her students Jack (Chandler Canterbury) insisted that he saw her peering out of the window in the Funeral Home.SPOILER ENDS The wonderful thing about this movie is that you simply did not know whether Anna was still alive or indeed dead until the very last minute of the movie and the ending was for most people totally unexpected although I thought I had figured it out about a minute before all was revealed and I am glad to say I was right.However I am not going to reveal the outcome I thoroughly recommend that you watch this movie. The acting was superb but that is what you would expect from three such talented actors and the Direction was superb.The writers, Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo and Paul Vosloo must be congratulated on such a great script.A special mention should be given to Chandler Canterbury who played Jack the student at Anna's school. He is a very talented child actor, played his part wonderfully and given the chance I am sure he will become a well established adult actor.I feel you should be warned that Christina Ricci spent about 25% of the movie naked but in my case that was an enormous plus.I have no hesitation in recommending this movie and have given it an 8 star rating. 6 for the movie and 2 for Christina Ricci allowing us red blooded males the pleasure of seeing her superlative body.

Anna, played by Christina Ricci, wakes up in the mortuary of the local funeral director, Liam Neeson. He tells her she's dead and he's preparing her body for her burial. What follows is thought-provoking and almost unbearably macabre. The actors were amazing, even Justin Long, and the directing stylish with a very distinctive look.This movie is not for everyone. People will either love it, or despise it with all their heart. But I'd recommend it to anyone who has a taste for dark humor and enjoys putting the pieces of the puzzle together over and over, long after the movie's ended. That said the movie never had a chance commercially. Combine the fact that most people are just going to find it unbearably weird with the fact that the ending is not tied up in a neat bow, and it's clear that this movie will stay underground. However, if you're looking for a beautiful experience with a unique film, After.Life is just about as good as it gets.

School teacher Anna Taylor (Christina Ricci) and her boyfriend Paul Coleman (Justin Long) are having relationship problems. Anna gets into a car accident and wakes up on the preparation table of funeral director Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson). Deacon tells her that she's dead. She's confused and wonders if she's in a ghostly transitional place.This movie has a great premise with horror potential. However, it's more interested in a naked Ricci than building a horror movie. It has some creepy atmosphere but it fails to do anything with it. The ending lacks power. The twists lack intensity. The writers need to come up with some more twists and probably some action to take this great premise to the next level.

As it's own story, I like Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo's "After.Life". As a movie, not as much. Both Christina Ricci and Liam Neeson put on great performances: her Anna sinks into confusion about her life (or death?), while his Eliot comes across as the typical guy whose nice demeanor might be hiding something. The rest of the cast doesn't equal them, and despite the unique plot, much of the movie seems like stuff that I've seen before.And then there's the cast, or what it implies. Despite Ricci's versatile career, I still remember her as Wednesday Addams. Liam Neeson used to be known for serious roles - Oskar Schindler and Jean Valjean - but now stars in a bunch of dumb action flicks. I don't know if Justin Long has a most famous role, but I always remember him from "Jeepers Creepers". Malachy McCourt is the brother of "Angela's Ashes" author Frank McCourt, and ran for governor of New York on the Green Party ticket in 2006. And then there's Alice Drummond, who's played supporting roles in a variety of movies ("Ghostbusters", "Awakenings", "In & Out", "Doubt", to name just a few).So, it's an OK, not great movie.