Love After Death / The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		1.5

Love After Death / The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 30, 2021

AGFA, the American Genre Film Archive, continues to mine the nooks and crannies of cult material to release movies you've probably never heard of, and some may say "with good reason". Love After Death is another completely gonzo effort that the label, along with Something Weird (who first released the film on DVD several years ago), is offering, although in this particular instance a bit more context might have been provided courtesy of a supplement or two to help explain just how gonzo the film is. Evidently shot somewhere in South America (Argentina?) and then co-opted by American producer Charles Abrams, who kind of cut and pasted an English soundtrack onto things, Love After Death has a "story" that probably could have been told in under ten minutes, let alone the hour and change it runs. As with other offerings from AGFA, there's kind of a softcore ambience about things, since one of the conceits of the film is that a "buried alive" spouse, who evidently suffers from impotency (one reason his wife has him buried), digs his way out of his grave and then becomes a sex crazed maniac who has a penchant for stumbling onto couples in the throes of amorous activity.

Guillermo De Cordova, the putative "star" of Love After Death (whose onscreen title is actually the semi-hilarious Unsatisfied Love), kind of amazingly did not go on to major screen fame, and this seems to be his only credit, which may be a blessing in disguise. The actor bears a curious resemblance to Bela Lugosi at times, which may have contributed to his casting as Mr. Montel, the hapless husband of a scheming wife who has him buried alive (his blinking eyelids may have been a clue to anyone paying attention). The rest of the film includes pretty blatant padding to get it toward something approaching a reasonable "feature" running time, but this is pretty low grade fare from any number of angles.

Love After Death / The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Love After Death is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of the American Genre Film Archive and Something Weird Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.38:1. AGFA states this is a "2K preservation from the only known 35mm print in existence", and those who already have an AGFA title or two in their collections will know pretty much what to expect here. There is quite a bit of damage to be seen, some of which can be made out in some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany the review, including pretty bad scratches, nicks and other blemishes. There are also some missing frames and warping that show up on occasion. Still, overall this is an at least decent looking transfer, with generally good detail levels. Contrast can be a little wonky at times (some moments definitely look more washed out than others), but given the rarity of the film and the obviously degraded shape of the source element, AGFA has done what it can. My score is 3.25.

Love After Death / The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Love After Death features a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix which, like the video side of things, shows occasional damage, but which really is beholden to its obvious lo-fi dubbing, which (to put it charitably) might have been more artfully handled. A lot of the film features voiceover and/or narration, and even that can sound on the boxy side. Source cues (I'm assuming from some long forgotten library) sound decent, but not particularly full bodied. Optional English subtitles are available.

Love After Death / The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Short: Cemetery Sales (HD; 25:14) is, like the main feature, actually offered with a different on screen title, in this case One Woman's Opinion. This 1961 "instructional video" may well be worth the price of admission alone for some viewers, as it documents that midcentury post-War optimism and Eisenhower-ish era, albeit within the context of planning for your eventual demise. This includes what looks like a second feature focusing on the fact that black folks have their own "separate but equal" cemetery.


• Short: The Greening of Willie Gobblee (HD; 7:19) is described as an "unseen student film from the Something Weird vaults". Sometimes vaults shouldn't be opened, just sayin', ask Howard Carter.


• Sex 'n' Death Trailers (HD; 11:20) is another insane aggregation of curios, including a number of ads touting someone or something named Kara Kum.


• Bonus Movie: The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful (HD; 1:18:14) was Charles Abrams' follow up to the main feature, described by AGFA as a "psychosexual spectacle". This was sourced from the only known 16mm print in existence.

Love After Death / The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you're a fan of AGFA's releases, this is another typical offering from this often bizarrely amusing label, but even within the less than Academy Award caliber of many of AGFA's discs, this is pretty low grade fare. Technical merits are completely in line with many of AGFA's other offerings, but this is a release where a couple of the supplements may be the real calling cards, for those who are considering a purchase.