“Dead Like Me: Life After Death” DVD Review

• Release Date: February 17, 2009
• Publisher: 20th Century Fox
• Price: $18.99 on Amazon.com (Buy It)
• Rating: R
• Run Time: 87 minutes
• Special Features: Commentary, “Back From the Dead: Resurrecting Dead Like Me”
• Starring: Ellen Muth, Callum Blue, Jasmine Guy, Sara Wynter, Cynthia Stevenson, Britt McKillip, Christine Wiles, Henry Ian Cusick
• Genre: Fantasy, Comedy

Unfortunately, I have never had the pleasure of watching the actual “Dead Like Me” series but I have heard some great things about the series. It wasn’t exactly the best idea to watch this new straight-to-DVD film without knowing what happened in the series, but I definitely liked what I saw.

“Dead Like Me: Life After Death” sees a number of changes from the actual series. Mandy Patinkin is gone as Rube the reaper and his replacement is Henry Ian Cusick of “Lost” fame. Also, Daisy is now played by a new actress, Sara Wynter from “24.” Since I haven’t seen the series yet, I’m not sure whether or not these changes were an improvement but both new actors do do a pretty good job. Overall, I thought the film was pretty good but it is arguable that new viewers like me could actually like it more than fans of the show. If you are one of those people that don’t like your shows to change, you could be so annoyed by these changes that you won’t even enjoy watching the film. Meanwhile, people like me who have never seen the show won’t have that problem.

Video and audio quality are both very good for a straight-to-DVD film. Obviously it doesn’t look as good as films that actually get a theatrical release but the transfer is clear and colorful. A Blu-ray release would have been nice but the DVD definitely does its job.

Bonus features include a commentary and a featurette about how the series was resurrected from the dead. The commentary is pretty informative but there is far too much congratulatory talk. “Back From the Dead: Resurrecting Dead Like Me” talks about how the film came to be but like the commentary, there are too many congratulatory comments.

If you liked “Dead Like Me” when it aired, this is a worthy follow-up as long as you don’t mind the missing cast members. If you have never watched the series, it is probably still worth a watch.