‘Aftershock’ is the yin to
the yang of last year’s ‘The Impossible’. If you felt an overwhelming sense of
hope with a newfound faith in humanity watching that emotional and harrowing
depiction of the devastating tragedy of the 2004 South Asian Tsunami in the
Thailand hit region you will feel none of that here. In this fictionalized
account based on the true events of the 2010 Chile earthquake and the chaos and
disorder that followed it rather than witness the kindness of humanitarianism
as you did in that film this is an analysis of the darkness of humankind with a
disturbing and shocking study of just how fucked up people can be.
Two groups of travellers in Chili one three men - an American known only as Gringo (Eli Roth) and two natives good friends Ariel (Ariel Levy) and Pollo (Nicolás Martínez) - and the other three Hungarian women - half-sisters Monica (Andrea Osvárt) and Kylie (Lorenza Izzo) the oldest and youngest respectively and Kylie’s friend Irina (Natasha Yarovenko) - are on a night out together. While in an underground nightclub, a massive earthquake hits and although they all manage to escape the collapsing establishment, it becomes quickly apparent to them when reaching the surface that this is only the beginning of their nightmare as society breaks down all around them with all out anarchy entailing murder, rape, looting, mugging, property destruction etc. Their terrifying ordeal is intensified further by an impending tsunami.
Two groups of travellers in Chili one three men - an American known only as Gringo (Eli Roth) and two natives good friends Ariel (Ariel Levy) and Pollo (Nicolás Martínez) - and the other three Hungarian women - half-sisters Monica (Andrea Osvárt) and Kylie (Lorenza Izzo) the oldest and youngest respectively and Kylie’s friend Irina (Natasha Yarovenko) - are on a night out together. While in an underground nightclub, a massive earthquake hits and although they all manage to escape the collapsing establishment, it becomes quickly apparent to them when reaching the surface that this is only the beginning of their nightmare as society breaks down all around them with all out anarchy entailing murder, rape, looting, mugging, property destruction etc. Their terrifying ordeal is intensified further by an impending tsunami.
I really enjoyed the concept
of the movie more than I did the actual execution of it. The first act works
the best with 30-minutes of fleshing out the protagonists and their
relationships to one another that dictate the group dynamics with smatterings
of good humour thrown in and foreshadowing disastrous events that will take
place in the next two thirds of the film while Antonio Quercia’s cinematography
takes full advantage of Chilli’s beautiful scenery. This is all very effective
in helping us to get to know these characters to help us identify and sympathize
with these luckless people when they are put through their horrific ordeal when
the disaster of the earthquake suddenly hits and everything goes to hell in an
abrupt change of tone. They are extremely likable and the few odd people of
moral decency here. They are completely and utterly alone most of whom are in a
country foreign to them in which nobody is willing to help but instead
viciously attacks them as they are surrounded by the dregs of society.
The acting is strong all
around especially from Osvárt and Roth is proving to be a capable
actor as well as an interesting director. Three thoroughly enjoyable entertaining
movies in and Eli Roth has matured as a filmmaker with each of these features
and I am waiting for that first truly great horror film from him with my
fingers tightly crossed for the to be released later this year ‘The Green Inferno’. Roth also had a
hand in writing the screenplay here and it is obvious that he injected into the
writing a similar narrative structure to his sophomore directorial effort the 2005
splatter movie ‘Hostel’. Yes, I labelled the aforementioned title as of the
splatter sub-genre as there is no such thing as “torture porn” (see The Loved Ones (2009) and What the Hell is“Torture Porn”?!!!). Much like the
first third of ‘Hostel’ it plays out like a lad’s comedy before the horror in
the next two thirds with the suffering of these poor individuals here
being the “aftershock” of the natural
disaster with people bringing further destruction rather than bringing aid.
I can understand that
director and co-writer Nicolás López wanted to move everything along at a frantic
pace due to the extremity of the circumstances with everything going to shit
but it all just feels rushed with little care given to pacing and building suspense.
I did not feel any tension during the last hour with my hand not gripping the
arm of the sofa one time and this is the film’s big problem as it squanders the
potential it had to put you though a rollercoaster of emotions. Although, there
is a constant sense of doom as anything the group attempts seems to be futile;
stupid decisions are made from our protagonists due to the enormity of the
pressure of the dire situations they are forced into reacting as believable
normal people.
There are a couple of well-staged
set-pieces and these sequences are commendable considering the modest budget of
this independent production. The violence inflicted upon the group by the
unsavoury citizens is as brutal and grim as you would expect. The
unpleasantness of a nasty double rape is justified by the context that it has been
put in with the misery of the harsh environment these fishes out of water have
been placed in. There is plenty of gore splatter but it all looks terrible due
to the usual shoddily lazy use of CGI that is all too depressingly common in
modern horror.
I
really wanted to like the movie more than I actually did as there is
enough here to keep the viewer entertained for a worthwhile watch. Where
it succeeds, it is satisfying, but where it fails, it makes it all
frustrating in thinking of what could have been. It has an intriguing
idea with its premise that is ambitious in scope for an indie film with
well above average across the board performances from its main players
given some thick characterization to work with. However, when it comes
to the action of the horror it is too rushed lacking energy due to its
pacing and build-up issues. I found it strange that a movie with so much
going on could feel so lifeless. This topped off with some dodgy CGI
blood just rubs insult into injury in thinking just how much better
‘Aftershock’ could have and should have been. Still, worth a watch for
passable entertainment with a film that is overall just okay.
** out of ****
Dave J. Wilson
©2013 Cinematic Shocks, Dave J. Wilson
- All work is the property of the credited author and may not be reprinted or
reproduced elsewhere without permission.
Well Shit. I was somewhat looking forward to seeing this one in theatres, but it looks like one I can wait and stream. Thanks for the advice.
ReplyDeleteYeah while it's not too good it's passable entertainment.
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