Being a fan of animes (i.e., Japanese animation), I am familiar with the movie 'Angel's Egg' by Mamoru Oshii. Some time ago, a friend told me there was a movie which had used scenes from that anime: 'In The Aftermath'. After some research I managed to get a copy of that film...
I didn't have high expectations, but that experience was far beyond my worst nightmares. I've never seen a piece of art (and I mean 'Angel's Egg'!) being torn to pieces in such a radical way. About 30 min. of the original anime footage were used for 'In The Aftermath'. The rest of the film consists of live sequences that have been done so poorly it just hurts: C-class movie actors stumbling around with gas masks in a deserted chemical factory most of the time, special effects that don't deserve the name, and a 'story' that tries desperately to bring some sense to a plot that was never meant to have any sense at all (sounds strange, doesn't it? Go on and you'll know what I mean).
The anime 'Angel's Egg' in my opinion is a real masterpiece. You may like it or not, but everybody who has seen this movie agrees that it is something unique. However, its director Mamoru Oshii admitted in several interviews that even he didn't know what its story was about - if there was any at all.
Obviously, Carl Colpaert decided to add that lacking sense by combining some of the anime sequences with a real movie to create 'In The Aftermath'. He failed miserably. The combination doesn't work at all. If it would have been an attempt to create a parody, it would just have been annoying. But this movie was an honest attempt to improve the Japanese original, and that's what really makes it so bad.
According to IMDB, 'In The Aftermath' was the first movie Carl Colpaert ever directed. I sincerely hope that he (or anybody else) may never try something like that again...
