AfterDeath

I was very unsure of what to rate this film. As a pure and simple movie it was well done: good acting, decent pace, good FX. Even the premise is promising. However, throughout there seems to be a lot of man-hating, and the end is about as hubristic as one can get. I can only conclude this was written by someone who is still bitter from a strict religious upbringing. The last line in the film seems to sum up its message of despair. Thus I settle on a solid 4. It could have been so much better.

For a better "purgatorial" film, I recommend "Kingdom Come" (2014), which has a much better theological logic to it.

The basic story isn't too bad. The movie opens with a woman washing up on an isolated beach. All she can find is one cabin with the lights on. inside she discovers that there are four others, all of whom washed up on the same beach. After some exchange of stories we discover that all five were involved in a horrific accident at a nightclub - and apparently all have died, and this cabin is some sort of purgatory. It's not hell and it's certainly not heaven. It's some place in between the two. And in the midst of purgatory there's some sort of demonic presence who appears as a black cloud. The purpose of the whole ordeal apparently is to get the five to come to terms with their sins - although it was never really made clear what that was going to accomplish, and there were a lot of suggestions that actually it wasn't going to accomplish much of anything.

There's an intriguing element to the story. Each of the five have some secrets from their past that have to be dealt with. But the real flaw to the whole thing is the apparent pointlessness of it all. Where is this all going to lead? Where is the hope? I mean, the whole point of purgatory at least (if you believe in it, and I don't) is that your sins get dealt with and eventually you get out. But it's never made clear that there's any real escape from this purgatory and the end of the movie doesn't really clear much of anything up. I guess the viewer is left to decide for him/herself what the end result of all this is.

There's a very overt anti-religion message to this (quite exemplified near the end when one of the five says to another "if you see God tell him to go f!!k himself." I suppose I can see where that might come from given the circumstances these five find themselves in. There are a lot of inconsistencies or unexplained things in the movie. How do real world items manage to get into this purgatory? And if they're all dead and they have no blood being pumped (which the movie establishes) then to be blunt it's strange that Seb managed to have an erection during his threesome with two of the girls early in the movie.

I suppose the acting isn't too bad but the story just doesn't work all that well. You find yourself hoping for some resolution, but it never arrives. (3/10)

I wanted to like this movie, if for no other reason then I spent the better part of an hour and a half watching it. I wont give any thing away, but it had a intriguing premise, Five people in a sort of purgatory trying to figure out how the got there, a fairly spooky atmosphere, eternal night at a deserted beach house. but every time the story could have taken a turn and become compelling it was ruined with some form of cheesiness. All in all it wasn't terrible, but it was far from good. It was disappointing. so I guess if you have nothing better to do then give it a go. but if you are expecting a eye opening experience well this isn't it

I wish I could have the time back I spent watching this movie. Goes nowhere. Ending is a total disappointment.

Interesting idea about a group of 5 strangers (4 good looking girls & 1 lucky guy) who find themselves together in a strange cottage on a mysterious beach and turns out that they are all guilty of sin and are actually dead. Sadly, despite some decent acting, from about the half way point it goes rapidly down hill, becoming confusing & tedious. I just wanted it to end & be put out of my misery, rather like some of the characters in this British movie.