Best Afterlife Movies

by Lizerne Guiting

In Hollywood, it's not always easy being a ghost. When they're not portrayed as frightening spirits or restless souls with unfinished business, they're annoying, as Ricky Gervais' character in Ghost Town attests. He's ready with some snarky responses for ghosts seeking favors. In honor of Ghost Town's apparitions, here are the top 10 movies that offer the best afterlives.

10. Over Her Dead Body

Getting crushed by an angelic ice sculpture on what's supposed to be the happiest day of her life turned Eva Longoria Parker's character into a pestering poltergeist. When her survived fiancé starts falling for another woman, Eva wreaks havoc in jealous rage...and has some fun in her afterlife while she's at it.

9. The Others

Despite Nicole Kidman's chilling performance, this thriller remains low on the list because--let's face it--it's sort of difficult to enjoy the afterlife if you don't know you're dead to begin with. But once that's figured out, at least you can spend more time with the kids and less time worrying about how haunted the house feels.

8. Casper

Afterlife at the Whipstaff Manor isn't so bad. Casper's hokey uncles provide comic relief and pretty girl Christina Ricci moves in. Now if they could just concoct more of that magical formula to turn ghosts back into the living....

7. The Sixth Sense

Give it to director M. Night Shyamalan to put seeing dead people into psychological perspective. Besides freaking out poor Haley Joel Osment, Bruce Willis offers some insight on his spooky sixth sense.

6. Ghostbusters

Ghosts in New York probably hated being captured and thrown into the Ghostbusters' containment grid, but the guys seemed civil enough. They even made gluttonous Slimer something of a pet, even if he'd slime them once in a while.

5. Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

In his animated feature, Tim Burton created the Land of the Dead, a festive place where corpse bride Emily (Helena Bonham Carter) dwells. It sure beats the Land of the Living with brighter colors and a more “lively” crowd. Yep, they sing and dance there, too.

4. The 6th Man

When Antoine (Kadeem Hardison) croaks on the court, he can count on his bro (Marlon Wayans) to give his spirit some game time. The team makes it to the NCAA tournament, and the outcome of their last game makes for a touching farewell.

3. Ghost

When your so-called best friend betrays you and endangers the love of your life, you'd probably want to stick around after death to set things right. Lucky for Patrick Swayze, Whoopi Goldberg plays the con artist/medium who eventually agrees to help...and good prevails in this memorable romance.

2. Stardust

In the magical kingdom of Stormhold, a dying king pitted his seven sons against each other in a game of “surviving heir wins the throne.” As they offed each other (nothing personal, really), they became ghosts who sat back and enjoyed the show as the rest of their living sibs vied for the throne! Who knew sibling rivalry could be so entertaining?

1. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

The best place by far to enjoy the afterlife is Hogwarts. Take it from Nearly Headless Nick. He hangs around with famed boy wizard Harry Potter, dwells in a fantastical world where he's clearly accepted, and celebrates the occasional Deathday party.

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