Love After Death

Director - Glauco Del Mar (Tigress, Tono Bicicleta)

Starring - Guillermo De Cordova, Robert Maurano, and Carmin O'Neal

Release Date - 1968

Genre - Horror/Crime

Tagline - "A shock thriller of lust and terror"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     The American Genre Film Archive, or AGFA, has been wonderfully restoring and releasing iconic cult and exploitation films for sometime.  The last few years saw AGFA teaming up with Bleeding Skull, Something Weird, and Vinegar Syndrome to bring some truly strange and iconic films to disc.  If you follow my reviews then you may have noticed that every few months I review their releases and I'm a huge fan.  When Vinegar Syndrome announced the release of AGFA's newest double feature Love After Death and The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful.  Just like every other AGFA release I had to have it so I quickly jumped on it.  

     The film follows a wealthy man who falls into a catatonic state so his wife and his doctor, who she is cheating on him with, quickly buries him so she can collect his insurance.  However, he awakens in his grave later and is able to escape and soon finds himself part of a sexual awakening.

     I've been surprised by several of AGFA's releases over the last few years.  They've releases some films that I find utterly fascinating and a few films I've added to my favorite film's list.  However, AGFA does occasionally release a movie that I just don't care for.  Love After Death is one of them.  That doesn't make it a bad movie but it's one I just didn't care for.  The acting in this one is not the worst I've seen but I did find myself laughing during most of the scenes involving the man's "widow."  The way she acts around the other male characters is meant to be erotic but I found it extremely hysterical.  I can't explain why but the way she approaches men, especially the doctor who she was having an affair with, made me cackle out loud.  The rest of the cast tries to deliver a decent enough role but they do fall short.  The story for this one does not deserve a feature length running time.  The story following a man who awakens in a cemetery only to have his own sexual awakening is fun in theory but the way it was executed could have been told in a 30 minute film.  Instead, we get these long and drawn out scenes with people attempting to be sexy with very awkward dialogue.  These scenes are boring which is not what you want with a scene attempting to be sexy.  A lot of these could be cut out.  Finally, don't expect blood and gore.  This is a skin flick of sorts so be prepared to see the female form over gore.  Overall, Love After Death was not for me.  It was a weird and awkward watch that had me laughing when it shouldn't have.  I love AGFA and what they are doing but I didn't care for this one.  Skip it.