Available on Blu-ray the horror thriller Aftershock has a very good cast that puts their heart into the production. Even though the storyline’s beginning rambles taking off some of the edge, the action film still comes up a winner. The cinematography, sets and special effects help the film’s energy and hold it together for a second half hair raising finish. Much like the Final Destination films there’s always another violent twist coming out of nowhere and that’s a good thing for fright fans.
The movie takes you to Santiago, Chile where we find three friends taking a holiday away from their jobs and family. Young and energetic Gringo (Eli Roth) has some great pals Ariel (Ariel Levy) and Pollo (Nicolás Martínez) both Chile born so they are up for showing him around. The sightseeing has been going well with most of the touristy highlights being covered, but the burgeoning city nightlife where Gringo wants to meet the ladies seems to be elusive.
On one evening after a trip to a winery, the three find themselves in a wild nightclub where they meet Russian model Irina (Natasha Yarovenko), wild party girl Kylie (Lorenza Izzo) and her bored sister Monica (Andrea Osvárt). The three pair off with the guys and although Monica has little interest in getting together with Gringo, she wants her sister Kylie and friend to have a good time so she tags along. Just when things start to look good for Gringo the night club starts falling apart due to an earthquake with the six narrowly escaping death from the huge tremor. Thinking they are out of danger, they start to make their way out climbing over the debris until the aftershocks start coming.
Finally getting to the street the six start to make their way to a safe area, but in this old town it’s not an easy task. Director Nicolás López takes his actors through some very difficult terrain trying to avoid a lot of major obstacles, looters breaking into stores, escaped criminals running rampant from a collapsed prison and hysterical citizens everywhere. There’s a lot going on and Lopez tries to take it all in with his cameras doing a good job in the process. He moves his cameras within the action making his audience seem like they are part of the movie and then takes close-ups of the people showing fear and dread in their attempts to survive the merciless nightmare.
The fine acting by the whole cast as an ensemble helps to save the film, especially in the second half. While the film struggles with a very lengthy introduction, character development and sightseeing, this drag does have some merit. In order to build passion for his characters Lopez seems works their personalities, ties to family and in one case a jilted romance. But in an action film of this magnitude the film time would have been better served with a briefer introduction and more of the terror and horror coming from the actors as they transverse his disintegrating sets and surroundings.
In a catastrophe film the sets are the key to making the film work on the screen. In Aftershock they are an amazing winner. Not only showing the devastation of the night club caused by the tremors, but the path the central characters have to take to escape have an eerie atmosphere in the corridors of an abandoned building, dank caves below a church and other locations are positively brilliant.
There are some bonus features worth the watch.
- “International feature commentary with Eli Roth in Los Angeles and Director Nicolás López in Santiago, Chile” – I found it a very good for some of the scenes that were of interest to me in the way of sets and locations.
- “The Making of Aftershock”- This does have a lot of merit, especially for those who are interested in filmmaking.
- “Shaking up the Casting Process”
Aftershock has been rated R by the MPAA for strong bloody violence including rape, language, drug content and some nudity. The rape is really graphic and the senseless brutality creates an unsettling vision of humanity so be cautious when deciding to allow anyone under 17 see the film.
The video quality is very good with colorful, clear and clean presentation. The picture fills the whole screen on my 16×9 HD television. The darkness of the allies, corridors and caves are lighted properly to give an eerie effect that works throughout the second half of the film. Beach scenes are gorgeous and sights visited by the guys are inviting.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound quality works well with my system providing some scary explosive sounds as the nightclub and outside buildings crumble. The screams from the people and chaos in the streets are realistically frightening and the aftershocks cut into the action with loud sounds from both sides of the room with my surround sound in play.
Specifications and additional film information:
Cast: Eli Roth, Andrea Osvárt, Ariel Levy, Natasha Yarovenko, Nicolás Martínez, Lorenza Izzo,
Directed by: Nicolás López
MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody violence including rape, language, drug content and some nudity
Genre: Horror Thriller
Running Time: 1 hr 29 min
Video Release Date: August 6. 2013
Original Film Release Date: May 10, 2013
Language: English and Spanish
Format: Blu-ray
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Video: Widescreen Presentation 1.78:1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: Radius TWC
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
