Summary
- The Walking Dead fans who want a lighter zombie movie should watch Life After Beth, a blend of comedy and horror.
- Life After Beth follows a man grieving the loss of his zombified girlfriend, asking big questions about love and change.
- Actress Aubrey Plaza portrays the human side of her character’s transformation into a zombie in Life After Beth.
As soon as The Walking Dead premiered on AMC in 2010, viewers were swept up in the story of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) navigating a post-apocalyptic world. Fans are still coming up with theories about favorite characters and wondering about the true meaning of the series. Although it’s fun to pick out the classic zombie tropes in every episode, the moving moments between the characters also stand out.
Rewatching The Walking Dead is always a good idea, whether fans are gearing up to watch new spinoffs or just want to see a beloved episode again. And, just like the upcoming movie This Is Not A Test based on Courtney Summers’s novel, there is another movie about zombies that is perfect for fans of The Walking Dead. It might have a different tone, but it’s just as compelling.
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Life After Beth Is A Great Zombie Movie For The Walking Dead Fans
Life After Beth was released in 2014 by A24 and will appeal to The Walking Dead fans since it tells the story of a woman named Beth Slocum (Aubrey Plaza) who dies and becomes a zombie. Although Life After Beth has a funnier and quirkier tone than the AMC series, there are some serious storylines, such as Beth becoming meaner and more aggressive due to her transformation. A24 has made some excellent horror movies and Life After Beth is an entertaining blend of horror and comedy. Although Beth could kill anyone she comes across, she’s still likable.
Unlike The Walking Dead, Life After Beth isn’t set after the apocalypse. However, the two stories have something in common: Life After Beth is about a character putting the pieces of their life back together after a devastating loss. Rick Grimes, who has a spinoff, and his allies are dealing with the aftermath of the apocalypse. They mourn a lot of people along the way, and these experiences make them who they are. In Life After Beth, Beth’s boyfriend Zach Orfman (Dane DeHaan) is grieving this loss and figuring out how to navigate this new world.
One of the most memorable movies starring Plaza, whose credits also include popular TV shows such as The White Lotus season 2 and Parks and Recreation, Life After Beth uses beloved zombie tropes to tell a fascinating story about love, relationships, life, and death. Zach is shocked that his girlfriend is now a monster who could kill him, and he has to come to terms with the fact that their relationship is over. Beth’s transformation from human to zombie allows Life After Beth to ask some big questions about what love really means and how people grow and change as time marches on. It’s definitely an underrated movie that deserves to be seen by more people and is some of Plaza’s best work.
Whether starring in Life After Beth, the underrated sci-fi movie Safety Not Guaranteed, or the smart action movie Emily The Criminal, Plaza’s deadpan sense of humor and unique acting style stand out. Plaza does such a great job in this particular movie because she moves like a terrifying monster, but audiences can still see the humanity inside of her character in every scene. It’s definitely not easy to portray a zombie, but she took on the challenge. In an interview with Den of Geek, Plaza talked about playing her Life Of Beth character and said
“it was like, there was a demon inside of me, or something, that I was fighting with.”
She added that she didn’t want to watch other movies about zombies and explained:
“I…did not do research…because I didn’t want to copy anyone…as a zombie, and I’d never really- there’s never really been a movie where a zombie has so many human emotions and qualities…but I did think – in my head – that maybe I should watch… zombie movies just to get the physical kind of thing.”
Where Is Life After Beth Streaming?
Fans of The Walking Dead and movies about scary zombies will enjoy the comic relief of Life After Beth, which can be streamed on Kanopy. Fans can also rent it on Amazon Video or AppleTV. At 91 minutes, the movie is arguably the perfect runtime. Kanopy has several other interesting movies, including Donnie Darko, Momento, and David Lynch’s Eraserhead.
What Other Cast Members Are In Life After Beth?
- Anna Kendrick
- John C. Reilly
- Molly Shannon
- Matthew Gray Gubler
- Paul Reiser
- Cheryl Hines
After watching Life After Beth, The Walking Dead fans can also revisit the series and villains like Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) on several streaming services, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and AMC+.
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