Aftershock

On their last night out a group of travellers find themselves fighting for survival when an earthquake devastates South America.

Probably due to an abundance of sub-par modern style horrors debatably 2012's Aftershock is sorely underrated and overlooked. Reminiscent of the character build up that came with Eli Roth's own Hostel director Nicolás López delivers a hard hitting freely traditionally shot (no found footage here) well executed, gritty disaster film which successfully shocks with its unnerving set ups and exceptional special effects.

The cast are on fine form Natasha Yarovenko as Irina,Lorenza Izzo (Kylie) and Nicolás Martínez and Pollock re notable with with Roth himself putting in a good innings as a nameless dad referred to as Gringo. While it is gratuitous it's fitting to the story and tone as with the aforementioned as the leads try to survive the earthquakes aftershocks falling buildings, collapsing tunnels and the social unrest which ensues by escapee prisoners before a tsunami hits Chile.

It's well paced with fine cinematography by Antonio Quercia and music Manuel Riviero helps it capture some of the original magic which Roth's first outing did. Even though the ending scene may come as no surprise there are a few twists to peak interest.

While not a horror in the traditional sense with graphic amputations, rape, drugs, a human torch, shooting and murders to name a few, granted it will make the regular viewer wince but it's well written and sharply directed by López - forget the endless copycat films of the same sub-genre if you rated Hostel and part 2 this sleeper isn't one to miss.

This is my first review and will try to keep it as short as possible because, hating to bust on any aspiring authors or critics out there most of us don't read the long reviews. There's no need to write a 2,000 word synopsis on any movie,show or whatever here, IMDb already does that for us. We just wanna know if it's any good or not.... oops I guess there goes keeping this short.

Anyways, I just watched it this morning so while it's fresh in my mind, is this movie any good?

If you like horror, action and/or adventure (along the line of Jaws, though this is no Jaws) you might enjoy this. It has its action, experiencing and trying to escape the earthquake. It's got its scary, borderline intense moments of terror and lots'a blood n' gore. Oh yeah and bonus, some annoying hipsters get killed! Add in a couple of "didn't see that coming" plot twists, a fun ending and you may start moving towards the edge of your seat but, I don't think you'll make it all the way there.

Bottom line, it's not a particularly moving piece of cinema but,if you got an hour and a half to kill and you're not paying for it (like me I caught it on cable) It's still better than a lot of the other crap I've seen lately on TV so it's coming in at a solid, watchable but not earth-shaking 6

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.

The movie starts with the setup we've all seen a billion times before: Some guys. Are annoying. Horny. Some girls. Are annoying. Horny. Have party. Drink. Try to sex. Good times. Then suddenly... an earthquake!

The tone shifts drastically and the world around them goes to hell in a hand-basket real quick. Decimated architecture, riots in the streets, prisoners escaping, warnings of an incoming tsunami, every man for himself, and no one is safe. Anyone can meet their untimely end when you least expect it, just like a real life disaster.

This may sound like an intense and nihilistic experience, but beneath the surface, the film sticks to the usual horror movie rules and holds back too much to be a truly effective shocker. In other words, it feels too "Hollywoodized". There's also a dumb twist towards the end. Even still, there's just enough carnage here to satisfy undemanding lovers of cinematic slime. A natural disaster movie that puts most of it's focus on animalistic human behavior rather than the flashy special effects could, and should, have been a lot better.

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