Highest-Rated Movies about 'Afterlife', Sort by Popularity

Stairway to Heaven - A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Purgatory (1999), After Life (1998), Here We Go Again (1942), Beetlejuice (1988), Heaven Can Wait (1943), Ponette (1996), Gates of Heaven (1978) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Afterlife movies.

#2. Purgatory (1999)

Storyline: After outlaw Blackjack Britton (Eric Roberts) and his gang hold up a bank, they escape through a dust storm and wind up in the sleepy town of Refuge. Finding its inhabitants and sheriff (Sam Shepard) unusually passive and genteel, Blackjack and his bunch begin to take advantage, causing all manner of trouble. The gang can't fathom the town's lack of fight until they learn that Refuge is actually a purgatory for famous dead gunfighters who must resist the violence that marked their lives.

Plot Keywords: wild bill hickok, jesse james, billy the kid, doc holliday, outlaw, sheriff, gritty ...

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#3. After Life (1998)

Storyline: A small mid-20th century social-service-style office is a waystation for the souls of the recently deceased, where they are processed before entering their personal heaven - a single happy memory re-experienced for eternity. Every Monday, a new group of recently deceased people check in, and the "social workers" in the lodge explain their situation. Once the newly-dead have identified their happiest memories, workers design and replicate each person's chosen memory, which is staged and filmed. At the end of the week, the recently deceased watch the films of their recreated happiest memories in a screening room. As soon as each person sees his or her own memory, he or she vanishes to whatever state of existence lies beyond and takes only that single memory with them. The story pays most attention to two of the "counselors," Takashi (Arata) and Shiori (Oda). Takashi has been assigned to help an old man, Ichiro (played by Naito Taketoshi), select his memory. Reviewing videotape of Ichiro's life, Takashi learns that Ichiro had married Takashi's former fiancée after Takashi had been killed during World War II. Takashi has Ichiro assigned to another counselor, but is still troubled by his memories, causing both him and his quasi-romantic interest Shiori to re-examine their (after-) lives.—Gaafar

Plot Keywords: counselor, dead person, elderly person, dreamy, emotional, touching, limbo ...

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#4. Here We Go Again (1942)

Storyline: Boxer Joe Pendleton, flying to his next fight, crashes...because a Heavenly Messenger, new on the job, snatched Joe's spirit prematurely from his body. Before the matter can be rectified, Joe's body is cremated; so the celestial Mr. Jordan grants him the use of the body of wealthy Bruce Farnsworth, who's just been murdered by his wife. Joe tries to remake Farnsworth's unworthy life in his own clean-cut image, but then falls in love; and what about that murderous wife?—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: boxer, angel, god, millionaire, girlfriend, melodramatic, heartwarming ...

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#5. Beetlejuice (1988)

Storyline: Adam and Barbara are a normal couple...who happen to be dead. They have given their precious time to decorate their house and make it their own, but unfortunately a family is moving in, and not quietly. Adam and Barbara try to scare them out, but end up becoming the main attraction to the money making family. They call upon Beetlejuice to help, but Beetlejuice has more in mind than just helping.

Plot Keywords: ghost, husband, sculptor, daughter, wife, quirky, amusing ...

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#6. Heaven Can Wait (1943)

Storyline: Henry Van Cleve presents himself at the gates of Hell only to find he is closely vetted on his qualifications for entry. Surprised there is any question on his suitability, he recounts his lively life and the women he has known from his mother onwards, but mainly concentrating on his happy but sometimes difficult twenty-five years of marriage to Martha.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

Plot Keywords: devil, playboy, husband, wife, parent, offbeat, amusing ...

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#7. Ponette (1996)

Storyline: An extremely captivating movie on how a little girl copes with her mother's death. She withdraws from all the people around her, waiting for her mother to come back. She tries waiting, and when her mother still doesn't appear, tries magic chants, praying to God, and then becoming a child of God, to have some power over Him. All to no avail. But then, when she is in despair, her mother does come back ...—Rahul Dodhia <rdodhia@psych.columbia.edu>

Plot Keywords: child, mother, father, friend, aunt, somber, emotional ...

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#8. Gates of Heaven (1978)

Storyline: The men who run a pet cemetery, and the men and women who bury their pets, become the subject of this documentary. We first meet Floyd McClure, a paraplegic with a dream to create a pet cemetery. One inspiration is the death of his collie years before; and the other is the local rendering plant, which turns animals into glue. He realizes his dream, only to see it fail. Then we visit a successful pet cemetery, run by a father and his two sons. One is a frustrated musician, nursing a broken heart. The other is joining the family business after selling insurance in Salt Lake City. Throughout, we also meet the people who have buried their pets.—J. Spurlin

Plot Keywords: manager, mortician, son, pet owner, emotional, endearing, outlandish ...

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#9. Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)

Storyline: Despondent over his breakup with Desiree, Zia slashes his wrists and goes to an afterlife peopled by suicides, a high-desert landscape dotted by old tires, burned-out cars, and abandoned sofas. He gets a job in a pizza joint. By chance, Zia learns that Desiree offed herself a few months after he did, and she's looking for him. He sets off with Eugene (an electrocuted Russian rocker) to find her, and they pick up a hitchhiker, Mikal, who's looking for the People in Charge, believing she's there by mistake. They're soon at the camp of Kneller, where casual miracles proliferate. They hear rumors of a miraculous king. Can Zia find Desiree? Then what? Where there's death there's hope.

Plot Keywords: young man, girlfriend, rocker, hitchhiker, disturbing, frenetic, offbeat ...

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#10. The Three Lives of Thomasina (1964)

Storyline: A young Scottish girl's cat, Thomasina, apparently dies at the hands of her widowed veterinarian father. The strained relationship between the girl and her father is eventually repaired with the return of Thomasina and the aid of a beautiful and mysterious "witch" who seems to have powers to revive and heal animals.—Jeff Hole <jeffhole@aol.com>

Plot Keywords: young girl, veterinarian, cat, free spirit, assistant, healer, inspiring ...

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#11. Defending Your Life (1991)

Storyline: Yuppie Daniel Miller is killed in a car accident and goes to Judgment City, a waiting room for the afterlife. During the day, he must prove in a courtroom-style process that he successfully overcame his fears (a hard task, given the pitiful life we are shown); at night, he falls in love with Julia, the only other young person in town. Nights are a time of hedonistic pleasure, since you can (for instance) eat all you want without getting fat.

Plot Keywords: executive, lawyer, love interest, amusing, touching, earth, afterlife ...

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#12. Highlander (1986)

Storyline: In New York City, the owner of a sophisticated antique shop Russell Edwin Nash is challenged to a sword fight in the parking lot of the Madison Square Garden by a man called Iman Fasil that is beheaded by Russell. He hides his sword and is arrested by the police while leaving the stadium. Russell recalls his life in the sixteenth century in Scotland, when he is Connor MacLeod, and is fatally wounded in a battle against another Clan. However, he surprisingly survives and his Clan believes he has a pact with the devil and expels him from their lands. Then he meets Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez, who explains that he is immortal unless he is beheaded. Further, the immortals dispute a game killing each other and in the end only one survives receiving a prize with the power of the other immortals. Russell is released by the police, but the snoopy forensic agent Brenda J. Wyatt is attracted by the case since she found fragments of an ancient Katana and follows Russell. But the also ...

Plot Keywords: immortal, warrior, forensic expert, police detective, highlander, friend, spectacular ...

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#13. Cabin in the Sky (1943)

Storyline: Chronic gambler and carouser "Little" Joe Jackson is shot by Domino Johnson at Jim Henry's gambling club over an outstanding gambling debt. Little Joe's wife, the God-fearing Petunia Jackson, prays not only for her husband's mortal life, but also his eternal soul as she's afraid that if he dies now, he, despite not being an evil man, won't make it into heaven. As Little Joe is close to death, he is visited by agents of both the Lord and of Lucifer. They make a deal with him: they will give him six months to atone for the errors of his human life. Once back on Earth, he won't remember the deal but both the Lord and Lucifer will be watching over him, trying to get him to see things their way. As both sides try to get Little Joe's soul, they figure that some of the most powerful tools they have at their disposal are the women in Little Joe's life: Petunia on behalf of the Lord, and Georgia Brown, a gold-digging floozy, on behalf of Lucifer. As hard as both the Lord and Lucifer try to get Little Joe on their side, they don't factor into the equation human judgment, which turns some of their work against them.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: gambler, wife, sexy woman, angel, demon, best friend, amusing ...

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#14. What Dreams May Come (1998)

Storyline: During a holidays in Switzerland, a young Chris Nielsen meets by chance Annie Collins in a lake when their boats slightly collide. Sharing a snack when they meet a few hours later, Chris and Annie fall in love each other. Marrying quickly, Chris works as pediatrician and Annie as artist painter and art dealer, and they turn in parents of two children, older Ian and elder Marie. But their happy family life torn apart when being Ian and Marie teenagers, a car accident kills both and the nanny who was driving the van where they were. Four years later, Chris and Annie try to restore their life despite the tragedy and celebrate their anniversary when while he returns to home in his car after to end his daily work, Chris witnesses a car accident in a tunnel during a rainy night. Exiting of the car in an attempt to help people, another car crashes against him, hurting severally. Dying in the hospital, Chris turns in a ghost around his house and his recently widowed Annie, trying tell her ...

Plot Keywords: father, husband, wife, spirit guide, dead person, child, creative ...

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#15. Wings of Fame (1990)

Storyline: A famous movie actor (Peter O'Toole) claims that he has written a book. As result, a real author, not a very well known writer, vengenfully kills him but then dies as a result of an accident. Next, they both find themselves in after-life, where souls of all famous people are gathered.—Anonymous

Plot Keywords: actor, author, emotional, creative, hotel, afterlife, fame ...

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