Image (c) Paramount

Dead Again, starring Kenneth Branagh and his then-wife Emma Thompson, is a perfect rainy-day afternoon thriller for the mystery lover who enjoys a little reincarnation with their violent murder.


This forgotten gem is one of the best films to come out of Branagh’s directing endeavors. Andy Garcia is brilliantly cast as a low-key villainous lover boy who throws a wrench, er, I mean, scissors, into the lives of Roman and Margaret Strauss, a seemingly happily married couple in the 1940’s. When Roman is accused of murdering his wife with a pair of shears and is sentenced to death, Margaret and Roman’s souls are thrust into a state of unrest, and their strange case goes unsolved for years.


Flash forward to 1991, when Mike Church (Kenneth Branagh), private detective, gets mixed up with a dame named Grace (Emma Thompson). Grace has no recollection of who she is, but seems haunted by images of scissors and bloody murder. Falling hard for Grace, Mike decides to enlist the help of his friend Franklyn Madsen, and antiques dealer and sometime-hypnotist, to induce Grace’s memory to come back. With Madsen’s help, Mike and Grace peer deeper into her subconscious and find out that they may have a connection to the Strauss murders of 50 years ago. Is Grace actually Margaret, come back to solve her own murder? Is Mike Roman, and is he destined to repeat his ghastly murder and kill Grace? Franklyn Madsen takes an increasingly sinister interest in Mike and Grace… who is he trying to save, and who is he trying to hurt?


Some really witty and modern dialogue mixes with classic detective story standards in Mike Church’s personality and business practice. The growing chemistry between Branagh and Thompson is incredible (reflected, perhaps, by their real-life romance). Partially shot in black-and-white for the sequences that take place in the forties, Dead Again has some really cool imagery (especially when it comes to scissors) and beautiful art direction. Mixing the ideas of fate, true love, and vengeance from beyond the grave, Dead Again is not only a great mystery but a fun romance story and frightening tale of passion and crime. One of the first in a long line of movies with crazy “plot twists”; you won’t expect the outcome of Dead Again, not by a long shot.


So, if you’ve been wanting to wash the slate clean and be impressed again by something just funny enough, smart enough, and unexpected enough to entertain you and frighten you a little, Dead Again is the perfect choice. If you can figure this mystery out before you learn the secret, you’ve seen one too many mysteries.