A Quirky Take on Love and Undeath: Life After Beth
Life After Beth is centered around Zach losing his girlfriend, Beth; only to have her come back to life as a zombie but not quite as he remembered her. Unique for its zombie-comedy romance subgenre, Zach tries to overcome the inconveniences of having a ‘zombie girlfriend’ against the background of ‘slow’ zombie attack . It is a mix of comedy and horror, which does not feel like anything one has seen before because it has incorporated an amusing twist. Namely, one can state that it is a comedy that tells a story about the attempts to find and to maintain love with some horror elements included.
Aubrey Plaza did an excellent job portraying Beth and her transition from a regular girlfriend to a zombie-like figure. Zach is played by Dane DeHaan, who has never quite managed to become a mainstream Hollywood star, but he does a nice job of playing a straight man to Plaza’s off-kilter performance. The addition of John C. Reilly and Molly Shannon brings enhancement and a comedic spin Throws More Depth to the movies comedic aspect.
The outlook of Jeff Baena who directs the movie Life After Beth proves his ability to successfully combine the elements of comedy and horror. His direction at the same time highlights the ridiculousness of the given premise this terrific movie focuses on while tethering the feelings of its characters down. still, Baena combines horror and comedy, so that these two genres did not interfere with eachog reatly not offending each other, The music in the film is depressive and funny at the same time, which corresponds to the eccentricity of the movie. It adds the necessary emotional notes without overpowering narrative, integrates itself into comedy and horror sub-genres, making the experience richer.
Cinematography contrasts and enhances both the horror and ordinary setting, raising the surrealistic aspect of the story. The visual style, as with lighting and framing, is not afraid to play the suburban ennui off the zombie apocalypse while simultaneously seeking out the comedic elements. Though it is not a special effect filled movie, what is used in the movie is quite appropriate and artistic. Consequently, the change of Beth is depicted with just enough rot to make it funny, not eerie, in line with the humorous tone of the movie.
The pace of editing is fast and does not compromise the comedic timing of the scene with an overt horror genre. What it does pardon is allowing scenes their own space, creating the possibilities of using surprise and humor with clinical accuracy.
The tempo of the movie is just right, giving an equal amount of time to romance, horror and comedy. One disadvantage is that it doesn’t dwell on any topic for long, maintaining the narrative momentum without glitches, audience engagement is continuous from start to finish.
The language used in Life After Beth has a nice pinch of sarcasm and the moments of humor involve much that is said and done about love and death. The dialogue that is written is witty and supports both the comedy and romanticism of the film.
In Life After Beth, the film has a lot of morbid comedy and absurdity, but at the same time, it never seems to fully explore its serious themes. Zach could have been taken deep emotional moments of the relationship between him and Beth, this is secondary to the sitcom style of the show. Some viewers might think that a film bending two genres starts with one foot in the grave but Life After Beth is a romcom horror that is cute with quirky idea and really good performances, especially from Plaza. It is a funny romance story drowned in comedy and supplemented with the elements of the zombie drama. There are a few edges where one might have expected more closeness to the heart, but all in all it is a good fun film that gives us a somewhat different flavor.
