 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: After She Died • Year: 2022 • Country: Australia • Director: Jack Dignan • Main cast: Liliana de la Rosa, Vanessa Madrid, Paul Talbot • Runtime: 101 minutes • Production company: Apostle Digital • TRAILER
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Today we have here what could be considered a big lost chance for an attractive film, an interesting start-point idea that won’t succeed. The plot for the movie centers on a family of father and daughter who lost the wife/mother, until one day the father appears with a new girlfriend who looks exactly like his deceased wife. With this source, the filmmakers could have built a terrifying story or something that swims more into the mystery, but in the end, they do none of them. The movie is a tame trip, with the attempt to imprint some elements of horror that never work, and installed in an easy and accommodated drama feeling that can never satisfy a minimally challenging viewer.
From the beginning, we see the structure of the movie is not going to work. The script is not very well written and places the characters in moments and situations without the necessary evolving of the story. Because the mother is dead and everybody is grieving and boom!, the new woman is here, and boom!, something weird is happening. How did we get there? Good question.
The writer and director Jack Dignan clearly had high pretensions with this movie, but he never managed to build either the story or the correct action pace for the film. So After She Died (2022) remains as a good idea that goes nowhere good, which is a pity because, towards the end of the story, when the supernatural forces that the characters have been using reveal themselves, the movie has some decent moments and attractive proposals.
The acting performances are also too weak to maintain the level of emotions the movie wants to bring. The director chose to give more strength to the dramatic aspects than the mystery action, but the actors can’t manage to imprint the intensity the scenes require. At moments they seemed to be just reading some text lines instead of portraiting a character in extreme situations. A special mention to the protagonist played by Liliana de la Rosa, a character that is supposed to speak Spanish and she has the worst Spanish I’ve seen on the screen in a long long time. For me, a native Spanish language speaker, every time she spoke the language I had to read the subtitles because I couldn’t catch half of the words. Another example of a failed angle in a movie where the flaws are more abundant than the merits.
After She Died (2022) pretends to be a dramatic trip as the result of supernatural events that ends up with a vibe close to the horror style that reminds of the Pet Sematary story by Stephen King. But it’s made without the necessary craft so, although it is not a bad experience to watch, it becomes disappointing and forgettable.
RATE: 4/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt12664558
