After Life 1999

As Anna Taylor (no actor specified) lies on an embalming table in Deacon’s Funeral Home, Eliot Deacon (no actor specified), the soft-spoken mortician, goes about his work with eerie tranquility. It’s a strange fate that brings them together, as Anna attends the funeral of her beloved piano teacher and crosses paths with Eliot. That night, she finds herself embroiled in a heated argument with her boyfriend Paul at a restaurant, which ultimately culminates in a distressing traffic accident. When Anna regains consciousness, she’s met with an unsettling reality - she’s lying on the very same table where Eliot is busily preparing her for burial.

As it becomes clear that Anna has indeed died, or so Eliot insists, she finds herself trapped in a surreal world where the lines between life and death are blurred. Deacon injects her with a mysterious drug called hydronium bromide, claiming it will “relax the muscles” and prevent rigor mortis from setting in. But Anna’s attempts to escape the funeral home are consistently thwarted by Eliot’s unyielding grip.

As Paul becomes increasingly frantic in his search for Anna, she begins to realize that her connection to the living is tenuous at best. Her student, Jack, unwittingly stumbles upon the truth when he visits the funeral home and Eliot reveals a shared “gift” - the ability to communicate with the dead, much like Jesus did when he raised Lazarus. This newfound understanding fuels Anna’s desperation to break free from her eternal slumber.

During the preparations for her own funeral, Anna makes a final, desperate plea to see herself one last time. Eliot obliges, holding up a small mirror that reveals Anna’s corpse-like visage. But as she gazes upon her own reflection, she notices something extraordinary - her breath condensing on the glass. This epiphany sparks a fierce determination within her, and she accuses Eliot of lying about her status. Deacon injects her once more, and Anna succumbs to unconsciousness.

As the mourners gather for Anna’s funeral, Paul places the engagement ring he had intended to present to her that fateful night on her finger - a poignant reminder of their love story, now reduced to a mere memory.

As the funeral proceedings concluded, Paul’s grief and despair gave way to reckless abandon as he indulged in a desperate binge of heavy drinking and aggressive behavior towards Eliot (whose knowing glint seemed to taunt him with every passing moment). It was as if Eliot reveled in Paul’s torment, urging him to confront the stark reality that Anna was truly gone, warning him that time was running out. Meanwhile, in a grave nearby, Anna’s lifeless form began to stir, her ears straining against the sound of dirt being shovelled onto her casket as she cried out in desperation, her fingers scrabbling futilely at the satin lining of the lid.

In a state of inebriated chaos, Paul careened through the streets, ultimately arriving at the cemetery where Anna awaited him. As they embraced, she whispered words of eternal devotion to him, her voice trembling with emotion. But as Paul’s gaze drifted towards the sound of scraping and rustling nearby, he was met with a disquieting revelation: Eliot was preparing his own body for burial, his gloves and scissors moving in methodical rhythm on the table.

Moments later, Paul found himself transported to the funeral home, where Eliot stood over him, poised to prepare his own cadaver as he had Anna’s. It was then that Eliot delivered a devastating blow: Paul had never made it to the cemetery, having succumbed to a fatal car accident that took his life. Yet Paul protested, insisting on his own vitality until the very moment Eliot inserted an embalming trocar deep into his torso, shattering the illusion and plunging him into a dark abyss of realization.