After.Life 2010

Eliot Deacon, a soft-spoken funeral home director, has an unusual affinity for the deceased, as he often engages in quiet conversations with the corpses he prepares for burial. His life takes an unexpected turn when middle school teacher Anna Taylor attends the funeral for her piano instructor. That very night, following a heated argument with her boyfriend Paul at a restaurant, Anna drives off in distress, leading to a tragic traffic accident. She awakens on an embalming table, witnessing Eliot cutting away her clothing, and is bewildered to hear him declare that she has died. Eliot claims to possess a unique gift—he can communicate with the dead—and he introduces her to a collection of photographs featuring those he has helped “transition.” To further deepen Anna’s confusion, he injects her with a fictional substance called hydronium bromide, designed to “relax the muscles and keep rigor mortis from setting in.”

Despite her boyfriend Paul’s desperate attempts to see her body, Eliot prevents him from doing so under the premise that Paul is not considered family. As Anna struggles to escape her grim predicament, Eliot insists that she must release her grasp on life, suggesting she never truly lived in the first place. However, her determination allows her to break free, leading her to discover a phone hidden in a room. When she attempts to reach out to Paul, he hangs up, convinced it’s a prank. With Eliot allowing her a glimpse of her own lifeless form in a mirror, Anna starts to convince herself that she is really dead. It isn’t until one of her students, Jack, stumbles upon her that Paul begins to suspect that she might still be alive.

Jack’s visit to the funeral home leads Eliot to reveal to him that they share a special gift, similar to that of Jesus, who brought Lazarus back to life. He offers to mentor the boy, who eagerly accepts, later seen burying a live chick in a grave-like box—a peculiar metaphor for their shared experiences.

As preparations for Anna’s funeral draw nearer, she requests one last look at herself. Eliot holds up a small mirror, and while gazing into it, she notices her breath fogging the glass, prompting her to accuse Eliot of deceiving her regarding her fatal status. Eliot, desperate to maintain his control over her, injects her again, leading her into unconsciousness. At the funeral, Paul, overcome with grief, places the engagement ring he had planned to give her on the night of her accident upon her finger, a poignant act of love memorialized in tragedy.

In the aftermath of the ceremony, Paul, consumed by sorrow and alcohol, confronts Eliot aggressively, who seems to revel in tormenting him, encouraging Paul to uncover the truth about Anna’s supposed death. While all this turmoil unfolds, Anna experiences a terrifying awakening to the sound of dirt being shoveled onto her coffin. In sheer panic, she screams and claws at the satin lining, desperate for escape.

Meanwhile, Paul, still under the influence, hastily drives to the cemetery hoping to reach Anna. Upon finding her, the two embrace, and she affirms her enduring love for him. As Paul grapples with the odd noises he hears, Anna explains they are merely the sounds of Eliot’s gloves and scissors as he prepares for Paul’s own funeral. In a chilling turn of events, Paul finds himself awakening in the funeral home with Eliot looming over him, eerily preparing his body just as he had done for Anna. Eliot chillingly informs him that he never made it to the cemetery—his own fatal car accident has sealed his fate, echoing the horrific cycle of death and the macabre hold Eliot has over the living and the dead.