There are not too many ways of making a unique zombie movie anymore.  When the original Night of the Living Dead came out in 1968, it premiered as a typical afternoon matinee horror flick.  Its content made it controversial, but it garnered attention for the undead subgenre.  This partly explains the different takes on the subject.  Because I am a square Catholic who prefers not to see such films given their blood and gore, I appreciate the ones with a comedic take.  Further, the first one is good not because it is scary, but due to its social commentary.  It is less about the deceased rising from the grave and devouring the living and more about late 1960s America and the perceived dangers of racism and the collapse of traditional values.  Today’s example, Life After Beth also addresses broader issues than animated corpses, but it remains funny throughout, which softens some of the gorier aspects.  Allow me to put this all together for you.

Zach Orfman (Dane DeHaan) is not put together as he begins to deal with Life After Beth Slocum (Aubrey Plaza).  She had gone hiking (which is a running joke) and been bitten by a snake, which causes her death.  He makes it through the funeral and wake, the latter of which is at the Slocum’s house.  However, he is still grieving some days later, a matter which concerns his mother, Judy Orfman (Cheryl Hines), and father, Noah Orfman (Paul Reiser).  Zach does not eat and barely interacts with his family, though his hyper macho, security officer brother, Kyle Orfman (Matthew Gray Gubler), offers little sympathy.  The only people with whom Zach can find any comfort are Beth’s parents, Geenie (Molly Shannon) and Maury Slocum (John C. Reilly).  They welcome Zach into their home, reminiscing about their daughter, giving him items in which he is interested, and playing chess with Maury into the early hours of the morning.  The Orfmans are suspicious when Zach comes home late that night, but he informs them in the morning that he is going to return to the Slocums despite Kyle essentially ordering his brother to let it go.  Against their wishes, Zach returns to the Slocums but finds them curiously not answering the door.  In peering through the window, Zach gets glimpses of Beth wandering through the home, which startles and excites him.  Maury comes to the door to tell Zach to go away, but the matter is resolved when Kyle comes to drag away his brother.  Nevertheless, that night Zach returns and forces his way inside.  Dodging Maury, Zach makes it back to Beth’s bedroom where he finds her upright and not six feet under.  A fight breaks out, with Zach not understanding the situation, Beth unaware of any problem, and the Slocums asking him to leave.  Upon getting home, Zach tries to tell his family that Beth is alive, but they do not believe him.  He suspects it is a hoax until he goes to her grave and finds a hole dug to the surface.  This time he goes to the Slocums determined to get answers, but they are also unsure of what has happened.  To them, their daughter is alive again, but they are determined to keep it a secret.  Now that Zach knows, they are fine with them hanging out indoors, but they cannot do what most twenty-somethings do, which they constantly refer to as “hiking.”  Instead, they remind their daughter that she has a test in the morning, even though there is no test and it becomes another gag.  Zach is not satisfied with the furtiveness and increasingly demands the Slocums either tell Beth that she died, or to allow him to take her out.  Their first “hike” results in Beth getting a permanent sunburn on her cheek, but she claims it is normal.  Clearly it is not, nor is her behavior, but Zach is determined to have a normal relationship with her.  Thus, they sneak out the following night and go to the beach where he plays a private concert for her.  However, the music enrages her, causing her to destroy the lifeguard stand where they are sitting and get increasingly violent in a confused state.  He manages to get her back to her new preferred hang out, her parent’s attic, which she has begun lining with dirt and other random objects.  That morning, he tries to have a normal breakfast at the diner, but it appears that other people once dead are returning to the living.  He had already encountered his former mailman (Jim O’Heir), and now the cook at the restaurant appears to also be undead.  In the midst of this, Zach meets Erica Wexler (Anna Kendrick), a childhood friend who has just moved home.  They share a meal, but afterwards, as Zach is about to drive away, Beth appears and he inadvertently runs her over.  It is at this point that he brings her to the place of her burial, but she angrily steals his car.  When he gets home, he finds his grandfather (Garry Marshall), who has been deceased for some years, in his living room.  In other words, the zombie apocalypse has begun, and they are soon joined by the corpses of the former owners of the house.  Things are spiraling out of control when Maury appears demanding that Zach come to the Slocums to tell Beth that she is alive and calm her down.  Zach reluctantly goes, but he thinks that the Slocums’ former maid, Pearline (Eva La Dare), can end the madness with her Haitian voodoo.  Somehow, Zach is able to escape the situation, but Beth joins him in the car in an increasingly manic state as he makes his way to find Pearline.  It proves fruitless as she has escaped the growing disaster.  Further, Maury knocks out Zach while retrieving Beth.  Zach awakens to a zombie standing over him.  Rushing home, he finds a number burned bodies and assumes his family dead.  After gathering some supplies, he makes one last stop at the Slocums.  Maury has been eaten by Beth, who is chained to the oven, and it looks like Geenie is feeding her daughter some of her own fingers.  Zach convinces Geenie to allow him to deal with Beth.  Yet, as they are leaving, Kyle appears and reasons with Zach to finally put an end to Beth.  Going on one last hike, Beth still attached to the appliance, Zach says goodbye and shoots her in the head.  He then reunites with his alive parents.  The final scene is of Zach leaving the graveyard, Judy pleased that he is in the backseat with Erica.

It is odd to say that Life After Beth is a pleasing moving with all the gore of a zombie flick.  This Catholic was also not all that keen on the way they handled Beth’s “resurrection.”  At first, the Slocums see the event in a Christian manner, and the Bible does have similar stories.  In John 11, Jesus raises his friend Lazarus from the dead who had been buried for a few days.  There is also Jesus’ own rising from the grave.  That, too, is referenced in an unflattering manner.  To be clear, Christianity teaches that one day our bodies will be alive once more, but it will be not like what we see in the film.  It will be a miracle, an incredible one, and I have to give the makers some credit for labeling what occurs with Beth in this manner, at least initially.  Those of us who believe might think the same way if we were witnesses to such an event.  All the same, it soon becomes clear that something else is taking place.  When that fateful day of judgement comes, our souls will be reunited with our bodies, but it will be a glorious one.  The Church and Scripture have not made any definitive teachings on what this will look like, but there is some speculation that it will be like it was for Jesus in the forty days after Easter.  One cannot say that this is what is going on for Beth, which makes the proceedings somewhat confusing.  In other zombie movies, the undead are unable to walk and talk as she does.  Eventually, she becomes like her cinematic cousins, but this only underscores how unlike she is from the Christian vision of the end times.  Still, there is something to be said about how Zach continues to try to treat Beth as human even after he accepts the truth of her condition.  I do not care for the fact that he shoots her in the head at the end, but that is a theological discussion for another time.  What I would emphasize is how conflicted he is about the matter, which is something.

It is also something to watch Life After Beth.  As I have discussed, this is not my usual cup of cinematic tea, but I found it entertaining nonetheless.  There are some moments I have indicated that I could do without, but the main characters are fairly moral people.