Writer-director Jeff Baena’s directorial and feature debut, Life After Beth, is equal parts tender satire and physical zom-com.

Plaza and DeHaan deliver thoroughly accomplished performances, seamlessly making the shift from drama, to comedy, and back again many times over. With an original score from long-time friends of Baena, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (amongst others), Life After Beth remains as aurally proficient as it is technically skilled. Despite working with a comparatively small budget for a semi-apocalypse, Baena has constructed a thoughtful genre piece that well deserves its place in the zombie anthology.

By extending zombie lore to include few-day transformations, loss and loss of limb start to take on a conflictingly inseparable likeness to one another. Baena’s comical mourning period marks a fine return to the personal zombie movie – one that’s not been seen since 2004’s Shaun of The Dead.

RATING: 4/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Aubrey Plaza, Dane DeHaan, Anna Kendrick

DIRECTOR: Jeff Baena

WRITERS: Jeff Baena

SYNOPSIS: Following his girlfriend’s return from the dead, Zach begins to notice she’s not the same girl he buried.