Aubrey Plaza’s Raunchy, Balanced Comedy Is Equal Parts Vital And Disturbing
Written by Robert Scucci | Published
In 1998, singer-songwriter Cher once asked us all if we believed in life after love, and we all had to nod our heads in unison, as if to say, “Yes.” What Cher didn’t anticipate, however, was the kind of love that 2014 displayed Life After Bethbecause that is something completely different. First, new love doesn’t last forever. Don’t you believe me? Go ahead and call your high school sweetheart and let me know how happy you are to hear from you.
More importantly, I’m pretty sure that 90s electropop song about overcoming adversity wasn’t meant to be applied to the kind of zombie romance you see in it. Life After Beth. A horror comedy inspired by the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, the film follows a young man whose girlfriend dies tragically, comes back from the dead and picks up where he left off.
I like to think of it as a twisted, slapstick version of the 2004 French film They came back (The Revenants). The same concept is tested, except with almost equal emotional weight. Both films talk about how loss and sadness are a natural part of life, and how tragic it can be if we are not allowed to process these feelings in real time. In They came backthere are concerns about housing, food, water, and basic needs. In Life After Bethwe get Aubrey Plaza coming out as Linda Blair while sucking her face.
On the face level, not much is happening Life After Bethand it is not necessary. Zach Orfman (Dane DeHaan) loses his girlfriend Beth Slocum (Aubrey Plaza) to a snake bite, and everyone comes to the funeral. Devastated after losing his first love, Zach confides in his parents, Maury (John C. Reilly) and Geenie (Molly Shannon). There is an unspoken bond here because both Zach and Maury want to hold onto the good memories, not the low points.
Zach’s parents, Judy (Cheryl Hines) and Noah (Paul Reiser), and his brother Kyle (Matthew Gray Gubler), worry about his mental state as he spends more time with the Slocums. When they suddenly cut off communication, Zach reaches deep depression.
As it happened, right after Beth was buried, she dug herself out of her grave and walked home, completely unaware of her death. Maury and Geenie eventually let Zach back into the picture once the truth is out, but there are rules. He can’t take Beth out in the middle of the day, and he can’t tell her she’s dead. What could go wrong?
What’s Going Wrong
Because they’re young with horns and Beth doesn’t know he’s dead, Zach quickly breaks the rules, and that’s when everything starts to fall apart. Beth begins to decompose and act strangely after spending too much time in the sun, leading Zach to suspect that she is a zombie. He is also very jealous of Erica Wexler (Anna Kendrick), one of Zach’s best childhood friends.
As time passes and Beth loses control of her powers, it becomes clear that she is not the only one who has returned. The entire community begins to be filled with reanimated corpses, and they are all hungry. Something that could have been avoided if the Slocums had been less secretive.
While Aubrey Plaza deserves a lot of credit for fully committing to her zombies, everyone brings their A game Life After Beth. John C. Reilly and Molly Shannon play the situation as you would expect real parents to handle it. They are grateful for their daughter’s return, but they are just as scared. They haven’t started the grieving process, and now it’s completely messed up. There is a grave, a funeral, and a reality that they try to ignore while pretending that everything is fine.
Zach’s behavior drives things forward. On some level, he’s fine with necrophilia if you really think about it, but I don’t think that’s how he sees it. She becomes sad in her twisted way. When Beth and Maury give their consent, there’s a lot going on that gets even more complicated when you witness it.
The real magic happens when Zach and Beth are alone, because they don’t do as well as you’d expect. As Beth progresses into her final zombie form, her mood swings become more violent, and Zach continues them until he can’t anymore. Every couple fights from time to time, and that’s the lens they use to justify what’s happening.
An Incredibly Sad Story of Sorrow
Jokes, slapstick aside, Life After Beth it is more than a horror comedy because it shows how far people will go to avoid facing their own misery. Zach, Maury, and Geenie are all devastated by Beth’s death, and even more so by her return. Instead of solving the problem, they lie until the lie spills over and starts to hurt everything around them.
It’s a stark metaphor for how devastating grief can be if left untreated. It doesn’t just sit quietly in the background. It spreads, it grows, and eventually it forces itself into the open whether you’re ready or not.
Life After Beth is streaming on Netflix.
