Here After (2024) | Film Review

Once you pass Labor Day, there is one thing you can always count on: supernatural films are on the way! The genre is effectively all over the map in terms of content, ranging from cheap scares to meaningful pontifications on life after death, and there is no force more impactful than when the afterlife directly impacts a parent and their child as occurs in director Robert Salerno’s Here After.

Connie Britton stars as Claire Hiller, whose entire life revolves around her daughter, Robin (Freya Hannan-Mills), a gifted young pianist who we learn is traumatically mute, and both are living abroad in Italy near Robin’s father and Claire’s ex-husband. Claire is also a grieving mother, she lost another child many years earlier and is still clinging to her personal regrets over that loss. When Robin is involved in a freak bicycle accident, it seems as though Claire is about to endure that horrific pain yet again.

Robin is ruled clinically deceased for a long period of time, yet somehow, she returns. Could this be a miracle of sorts? In the land of Catholicism, all signs point to yes. But then Claire notices distinct changes in her daughter. First, her psychosis seems to have evaporated, and she suddenly can speak again as though she never stopped. That is not all, not by a longshot. Robin also has found a new edge to life. She is snarkier, rebellious, has lost her artistic composition, and her overall demeanor has become a tad… malicious. Could it be simply depression, or has an unseemly force returned in her daughter’s vessel?

Freya Hannan-Mills does a solid job as both Robin and whomever it is that may or may not have returned with her. Conflating dueling personalities is never an easy feat, but you can feel the change in Hannan-Mills’ demeanor, body language, and speech. Her performance keeps the audience guessing as to what truly is going on all the way until the final act.

As good as Hannan-Mills is, it is Connie Britton who carries the film on her back and engrosses us even when the scares venture too far into formulaic. Claire is an attentive mother who knows there is something amiss with her daughter, despite everyone’s attempts to discount her perspective and convince her otherwise – even enduring those “you know you seem crazy” glances – and Britton tackles the role with widely ranging emotional shifts. Even as Claire addresses her own internal struggles, Britton imbues Claire with copious helpings of despair, frustration, and most importantly, love.

Yes, Here After’s script by Sarah Conradt and Robert Salerno’s direction carries with it a handful of the usual clichés: ominous musical overtures, heavily Catholic imagery and history, dramatic turns of character. What it also harbors within its bones is a beautiful story about grief and survivor’s guilt, including one especially cool twist on one of those typical clichés. Ultimately, it proves a visit to the afterlife well-worth taking.