‘After Death’ limply tries to echo ‘Sound of Freedom’s’ ‘pay it forward’ formula

Review by Brian Lowry, CNN

(CNN) — The lofty box-office returns for “Sound of Freedom,” released over the summer by Angel Studios, invite the question of whether the faith-based distributor’s “pay it forward” ticketing strategy can breathe life into “After Death,” a fairly limp documentary that asks the biggest question: What happens after we die?

Not surprisingly, the movie falls squarely on the side of how near-death experiences, or NDE, make a case that there is indeed an afterlife, interviewing people – many of them moved to tears as they recount those events – who glimpsed Heaven, or in some instances Hell, after accidents left them seriously injured and in need of resuscitation.

The movie doesn’t unearth any new ground, and really, how could it? Indeed, it follows any number of documentaries that have contemplated the topic, including Netflix’s “Surviving Death” a few years ago.

Directors Stephen Gray and Chris Radtke do employ all the tricks of the trade, extensively using dramatic reenactments to flesh out first-person testimonials and science-fiction-style visual effects – somewhat resembling the surreal close of “2001: A Space Odyssey” – to illustrate descriptions of what the participants claim to have seen on the other side.

The film also incorporates several researchers and experts, perhaps the most compelling being Dr. Michael Sabom, who acknowledges his skepticism when first embarking on this area of study “where science meets religion,” and who points out that because of the understandable desire for evidence of what might lie beyond, that hunger “can be abused.”

John Burke, the author of “Imagine Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God’s Promises, and the Exhilarating Future That Awaits You,” points to the similarity of accounts from those who have had near-death experiences, and the word pictures painted of reassuring visions of love and light. While some of the experts featured remain cautious, missing, notably, are any voices expressing what would amount to an opposing viewpoint, which merely underscores that this is more a work of advocacy than investigation.

As is so often true, how people respond to “After Death” will likely depend on their level of receptivity to the message. The film thus seems most interesting for what happens when the credits roll, as the filmmakers and some of their subjects deliver the “pay it forward” pitch, urging people to buy tickets for others.

While that approach functions in part as a means of gaming the box-office system, as Newsweek reported, the film has already sold thousands of tickets. If the strategy produces even a significant fraction of what “Sound of Freedom” earned, Angel Studios will again have given beleaguered theater owners, at least, an answer to their prayers.

“After Death” premieres October 27 in US theaters.

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