After.Life

Anchor Bay is set to bring us After.Life on April 6th, and in preparation they've released a trailer for the film over at Apple. Fans hoping to catch an early (and free) glimpse of star Christina Ricci naked will be disappointed--this is a mere green band trailer and doesn't feature any nudity. Guess you'll all have to wait for the full version of the film for that...

The Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo-directed feature finds Ricci playing an accident victim who wakes up to discover a funeral director (Liam Neeson) preparing her for burial. Neeson assures Ricci that she's dead and that he has a "special gift" that allows him to help the newly departed transition to the afterlife, but she's not buying it. Meanwhile, Ricci's boyfriend (Justin Long) doesn't believe she's really dead at all--and suspects Neeson isn't just some undertaker, but something far more nefarious.

Jump past the break for a look at the After.Life trailer.

Agnieszka Wotowicz-Vosloo's latest horror-thriller, After.Life, has drawn Liam Neeson, Christina Ricci and Justin Long to its cast for a story about, well, the after life. Anchor Bay snagged the title last month and just announced that the film will receive a limited theatrical release on April 9.

After Anna (Ricci) endures a horrific car accident, she wakes up on a mortician's (Neeson) table unsure if she's actually dead or alive. He tries to convince her she is in transition for the after life and he is the only one who can help her cross over. Anna's boyfriend Paul (Long) is not convinced of Anna's finality and tries to save her before she is quite possibly buried alive.

No word yet on a DVD release date, but in the meantime check out the exclusive stills from After.Life that we premiered back in August to wet your palette. Seeing this title pop up during Shutter Island's opening weekend and the ruckus surrounding Berlins' screening of The Killer Inside Me has me wondering how many of you are instantly suspicious when bigger talent is cast in a horror film? Are blockbuster names an immediate repellent for you? Discuss.

I've been following Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo's film After.Life since late 2008. When you get a horror movie with people Liam Neeson and Christina Ricci in it, it's a pretty big deal. Of course, the title also features a performance from smarmy Mac commercial guy Justin Long, but I think Neeson's coolness cancels him out.

News broke earlier this week (courtesy of Dread Central) stating the film has been picked up by Anchor Bay. No word on a release date yet, but it has garnered an R rating for "Nudity, Disturbing Images, Language and Brief Sexuality". Sounds like a good time.

In After.Life, Ricci plays a young woman who is in a terrible car accident. She wakes up on mortician Neeson's table and he convinces her that he's some sort of "guide" who helps spirits transition from the land of the living to the dead. Neeson may not be telling the truth, though, and there could be something much more insidious occurring.

Given that it's Anchor Bay releasing the film, a full-scale theatrical release seems unlikely. I suspect After.Life will appear in select theaters and then wind up on DVD at some point not long after. We'll pass along official release details as soon as they're announced.

Horror Squad just got our hands on a swath of exclusive images from the upcoming film After.Life, starring Liam Neeson, Christina Ricci, and Justin Long. The film, written by Paul and Agnieszka Wojtowicz Vosloo, tells the story of a woman (Ricci) drifting between her corporeal life and the after life while under the care of a funeral director (Neeson) who may or may not be intentionally trying to bury the poor woman alive.

Those details may seem vague at this point and you may never have heard of the writer/director Vosloo team, but considering the acting talent attracted to the material, I'm willing to plant After.Life firmly on my radar. If anything, the gallery bellow should help whet your appetite until more information bubbles to the surface. After. Life is currently in post-production and is due out in 2010. Special thanks to the mysterious source who passed along these images.