Aftershock

Aftershock (2012)

* (out of 4)

Set in Santiago, Chile, a group of people are traveling around partying and having a good time but that all changes when an earthquake rips the city apart. The worse has yet to happen because soon a group of people find themselves being tortured by a gang of escaped cons. EARTHQUAKE meets THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT is pretty much the only way to describe this awful movie that starts off bad and just gets worse as it goes along. Director Nicolas Lopez co-wrote the screenplay with Roth and it's clear that neither of them had much to say as there's really no story to be found here, horrible dialogue and absolutely no character development. What we basically have is thirty-minutes of partying, thirty-minutes of the earthquake stuff and then about twenty-minutes worth of violence. The entire film is just so pointless that for the life of me I can understand how this thing actually got a theatrical release. The performances are all pretty forgettable but you really can't blame the cast because they were given nothing to do. I really do mean that nothing happens in this film. There's a big twist at the end that you'll see coming from a mile away. None of the characters are likable so I'm not sure why the writers decided to make them so hate-able. Did they want us to enjoy seeing them tortured? Perhaps but even the death/torture/rape scenes are so tame and boring that they add nothing to the picture. The special effects aren't believable during the earthquake scenes so there's yet another thing that doesn't work. The only thing that keeps AFTERSHOCK mildly entertaining is that you keep sitting there thinking that something's eventually going to happen so you hand onto hope that things are going to get better. Sadly, they never do as the picture just continues to get worse and it leads up to a very lame climax. I'm really not sure what the point of this was unless Lopez and Roth just thought it would be cool to mix the disaster and rape/revenge genres. Either way this here is a complete misfire that should be avoided.

I would not call this a horror film. A dark disaster film is more appropriate. The film is fun, lively and well done and acted. If not for a oddly timed and inappropriate character reveal that just makes you scratch your head and go huh? It was fun. The reveal was not even needed, especially when it did happen. It literally took me out of the film until it was resolved.

If your looking for something on the dark end, with horror type feel then check it out. It was good. It flowed really well and made sense how the characters got from one place to another. Well structured and honest.

Set in Chile after a nightmarish earthquake. A group of terrorists find themselves in a dire situation when the prisoners break out of jail and begin to take advantage of the situation. Most films set around disasters tend to focus on the positive outcomes of humanity. The way we come together even though strangers and assist each other in our greatest time of need. But after hearing the news reports of what happened in New Orleans after Katrina it makes a compelling case for a film maker to explore the darkest side of humanity. And as an exploration of that theme Aftershock mildly works moving from one situation to the next. Exploring the negative ways individuals could react. The theme is intriguing and thought provoking from a single mother defending her two children, to a rich man's empathy for his friend and the various ways people actually crack under pressure in the most despicable ways. I only wish the film makers just focused on those things, had a higher budget and delivered a more polished product. But what we have here is mostly a missed opportunity. Despite some decent character development and some nice moments dramatically the film is filled with unintentionally funny performances, seems to have been cut together with the subtly of a chainsaw and is very sloppily made due in some part to the high concept dumbed down by the obvious budgetary constraints. There is also a sub plot involving orphans that leads to an unexpectedly silly and offensive climax. There's a lot of negatives here but I can't say that I hated the movie at all. It's certainly an original film and makes some intriguing points sadly it's bogged down by the amateurness of the production overall and a controlling need to try and make the proceedings entertaining which they never are.So if you've seen taht nifty red band trailer that looks utterly ridiculous and like a lot of fun you're in for a much different experience indeed for better and worse. 3/5

A bunch of tourists are in Chile to party, but when an earthquake hits the city, they need to fight for survival, not only against the natural disaster, but also against criminals who seized the opportunity to escape from prison.

I would have rated 'Aftershock' higher than 6 of 10 if it wasn't for the boring first 30 minutes. We get introduced to characters who are so dumb that we really wouldn't care if they all get buried by the earthquake. This lengthy introduction turns out to be a waste of time, anyway, because some of them are killed off early, while other characters who are more important for the movie get 3 seconds of back story ('Trust me, I'm a firefighter').

However, after the quake it gets thrilling, violent, suspenseful with a lot of action, which made the movie worth watching after all. I was not surprised to learn in the making of (watched on DVD) that several of the makers of 'Aftershock' have previous experience in comedy rather than horror, it's the timing of some scenes that tells it. For example the lady who shows the tunnel and then makes the mistake to stick her head first - that's the 'oops' timing of a comedy, not a horror movie. But it works and makes the movie more original. Also the background with a catastrophe that destroys the usual human behaviour so quickly is believable. Not too bad after all, but I recommend to press fast forward at the beginning.

I won't recap the plot, because other reviewers have done it much better than I could. But I do want to express that I feel this was an absolutely brilliant movie by a wonderful and talented newcomer, Nicolas Lopez, with the collaboration of established master Eli Roth.

We'd all like to think (or hope) that everybody will be philanthropic and kind in the face of disaster, but this film shows us the frightening reality of human nature. When you're injured and in pain and terrified you maybe won't meet kind helping hands - you could just as likely meet looters, sadists and rape squads. I've been a traveller my whole life, and I know from personal experience how close the border is between middle-of-the-night drunken fun and horrifying death when you're far from home.

I'm very conservative with my grading at IMDb, but I think this film deserves a rare 10 out of 10.