‘Here After’ (2024) Movie Review - Robert Salerno’s Horror Movie is Unimpressive

Given that Here After is a horror film and one of its main characters, Robin (Freya Hannan-Mills), is mute, I thought, "Well, if she gets trapped in a basement, she wouldn't be able to scream for help." The usual horror routines seem more scary when applied to someone who cannot speak. A character like Robin would find it difficult to alert neighbors or family members during spooky emergencies. Director Robert Salerno and writer Sarah Conradt could have made a very horrifying film. Alas, they settle for an uninteresting horror movie template.

Once again, a kid is possessed by evil, leading to suspicious behaviors. Robin is a kind, talented girl before demonic possession. She plays the piano so well that a teacher encourages her to show her talent to a special guest. But after Robin dies and returns to the mortal world, something within her changes. She no longer plays the piano well and, like other horror movie kids, holds a dead bird in her hand. Her smile turns creepy. She chokes a little girl in the bathroom and becomes aggressive very quickly. Robin's mother, Claire (Connie Britton), slowly realizes something is wrong with her little girl. Of course, nobody believes her. Luca (Giovanni Cirfiera), her ex-husband, calls her crazy, and after doing all the scans, the doctor says Robin's health is excellent. Science is never really helpful in movies like these. You have to start believing in the existence of supernatural forces - you need priests.

Claire finds some support in, well, a support group. After some teasing glimpses, we learn the whole truth. Here After becomes all about confessing, confronting, and embracing your ugly past because the more you suppress the trauma, the more it tries to pop up in the form of a devil or something like that. The revelation is not bad, and this narrative direction is better than moving towards something The Exorcist-esque (who wants to be tortured by pukes and crucifix masturbation?). But these portions deserved a better dramatic film, not this house of horror movie clichés. Here After consists of many Dutch angle shots - the camera loves swinging sideways. All it does is make the images look pretty and stylish. You can understand what it conveys during a scene like the one where Claire finds words like "Bitch" written on pages containing poems (her world is going off balance), but it's pretty obvious.

Salerno can't conjure an atmosphere of unease or suspense - everything is flat. There is no tone, no rhythm. The actors are serviceable. They do whatever the story wants them to do here. Couldn't the filmmakers have used Robin's piano talents for imaginative, ominous scares? What's the point of having such a talented character when her skills don't do anything to spice up Here After? Robin could have been a basketball player, and the main story would have remained the same.

Final Score- [3/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times