Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
Zach is devastated by the unexpected death of his girlfriend, Beth. When she mysteriously returns, he gets a second chance at love. Soon his whole world turns upside down...
Life After Beth takes the zom-rom-com concept and plays it as a Gen-X slacker indie, mining the zombie-as-relationship-metaphor angle with some wit but never fully committing to either its horror or its comedy. The plot meanders and loses steam in the third act, failing to build on its promising premise. Acting is a highlight—Aubrey Plaza brings deadpan menace and Dane DeHaan is earnest—elevating thin material. Visually it's unremarkable indie fare with little distinctive cinematography. The ending fizzles rather than delivers a satisfying payoff to its central conceit. The concept of grief and young love filtered through zombie horror gives it modest novelty, though the zom-rom-com subgenre was already established by Shaun of the Dead and Warm Bodies.