Liam Neeson is Eliot Deacon, a soft-spoken mortician with the ability to talk to the recently deceased. It’s never entirely confirmed if his skills are genuine or the elaborate cover of a serial killer. Neeson clearly relishes the role, but he never plays to the cheap seats by going whole-hog psychotic; the character’s motivations remain opaque from first frame to last.

Ricci is game in her parallel role, baring body and soul as a disturbed teacher. But two subplots act as damaging narrative deadweight. This is one case where there’s more life in the morgue than out.