User Reviews

This film had a 10mil budget? Then why are they just shaking the camera back and fourth to create the shake? - OK maybe that's not what they're doing but the quake was really poorly done. The characters are total A-Holes so best just to watch from when they're all put in grave danger, makes the characters more sympathetic...doesn't improve the acting though. Surprisingly it got better as it went on, with more gore, characters dying off in tragic ways, then the end - I'm fine with that - hahahhaha I'm free - wahhh oh my sister and friends are dead - Here's a tsunami to cheer you up so you can join them...excuse me while I try to run away from the tsunami with a messed up ankle. *Screen fades to black* AFTERSHOCK!!!

Unfortunately this movie looks a lot better in the trailer than it actually is. I'm giving it points for defying expectations but essentially this is a big flop of a movie. The narrative is unconventional to say the least. It spends a staggering 30minutes introducing three serious douchebags. One American, two Chileans. Not explained how they came to be roving around Chile, but they have money and not a lot of responsibility. You would imagine that after thirty minutes these guys are going to be the major characters. Surprise! Only one of these guys survives any distance into the disaster and during the latter half of the movie the main characters are three girls who are considerably less fleshed out than the guys we met first off.

That's not the only narrative flaw. Why is there such an effort made to introduce the girl with the wu-tang tattoo. Is she going to feature in the rest of the film? Nope. Are any of the character backgrounds actually important to the story or how they act under pressure? Not really. How come during the cable car crash (whatever it is) a crowded street suddenly becomes utterly deserted?

I guess the main purpose of this story is to show us that during a disaster death comes randomly, even to people who think they are the lead characters.

Just finished watching it and i have to say, Aftershock is probably the worst movie i've ever seen. I've read other peoples reviews and it got me thinking; did they watch the same move as i did?! First of all the acting is painfully bad. So bad it almost made me want to throw something at the screen. The characters are really annoying (i was actually rooting for mother nature or the prisoners to catch and kill them all.*spoiler alert*they did,hurray) I don't even know what else to say cause the 'acting' was so awful it made me forget everything else about the movie. Only good thing was the beautiful music at the ending credits and the final 5 seconds when the tsunami chased down Miss Party killer. That's all.

Ahhhh Chile. The women, the night life, the gorgeous greenery of the terrain. Chile is beautiful country. That is partly why American Gringo (Eli Roth) and pals Ariel (Ariel Levy) and Pollo (Nicolas Martinez) love it so much. Their adventures in Chile would be the envy of any man. And when the trio hook up with three smoking hot women, Kylie, Irina and Monica (Lorenza Izzo, Natasha Yarovenko and Andrea Osvart, respectively), the whole potential adventure fun meter goes off the chart. The six friends find themselves having such a good time that they agree to all travel together to the coastal town of Valparaiso. As the night becomes early morning, the group find themselves enjoying the dance clubs the city has to offer. But their night of reckless unabandon turns into terror when an 8.8 magnitude earthquake hits the city turning their paradise into a mound of death and ruins where our protagonists must survive everything from looters, escaped convicts and the constant aftershocks in the earthquake's wake. Aftershock is written and directed by Nicolás López (Eli Roth takes a co-writing credit) who uses true stories of the real 8.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Chile in 2010 as the basis for his survival film. Shot in Chile, many of the scenes were set in areas that still remain in ruin after the powerful disaster. This gives an authentic and realism feel to a film that is as hard to believe as it would be as plausible to accept. The first half of the film is a disaster movie true and true. We spend a good time getting to know our characters and I would suggest that knowing Eli Roth was involved will give audiences the patience in knowing that the set up is worth the pay off. When the earthquake hits, the chaos begins and bodies (and their parts) are thrown around screen in wild grotesqueness. As the six main characters attempt to escape onto the street, the devastation engulfs them. But they must quickly gather themselves in fear of a tsunami warning that is ringing throughout the city. Running, screaming and reacting to the city in ruins takes us to past the half way mark of Aftershock. But then director López switches gears and Aftershock becomes a horror movie with evil characters and murders rampaging through the streets in search of women and blood. The script penned by López and Roth continues to surprise throughout. Every death comes as a shock and how they pass is even more shocking. Don't bother guessing who will survive as the script has no 'untouchables' and everyone is fair game. Eli Roth accepts his first top billing role and plays the nerd, gringo perfectly. Bloodsoaked and searching for safe haven, he is the personality that propels the first quarter of the film only to pass off his full frame attention to actor Nicolás Martínez and the rest of the surviving team. There are plenty of Roth-isms to be found in Aftershock. The violence and gore is violent and gory. People are impaled, burned, shot and murdered with axes. And the final scene was something that we are sure Eli had his hands all over relishing in the idea of closure. Aftershock was a crowd favorite at the Toronto International Film Festival Midnight Madness showing and it is easy to see why. Fans get a bit of everything – parts disaster movie, parts horror, parts thriller, parts titillating comedy. We enjoyed ourselves immensely in the adventure. We were involved enough with our characters that didn't care that it switched focus (and genre's) halfway through. We are just glad that we survived the screening and we can't wait to watch it again. A result of the word-of-mouth at the festival got Aftershock a distribution deal with Dimension Films. No release date has been set, but you can expect to see Aftershock hit theatres before long.

Three friends (one of which is portrayed by Eli Roth) party in Chile. We spend the first half of the film meeting these guys, and learning about each of them. They meet a trio of women, and party with them throughout Chile too. While in an underground dance club in the city, an earthquake hits. Following that initial earthquake, we follow the survivors as they face many obstacles, including aftershocks from the initial blast, missing limbs, looters in the streets, loud storm sirens indicating an incoming tsunami, and freed prisoners who escaped when the initial earthquake opened up the prison. The build-up to the disaster takes forever though, and we spend half of the film meeting the characters before the earthquake. There isn't much to note in terms of acting, as no one stands out, but no one is annoying enough to warrant loads of complaints. There are small roles by Selena Gomez and RZA as well. Not the worst horror movie I've rented recently, but with Eli Roth involved, one would expect better.

The film starts with nightclubs, something that looks like a rave, broken marriage, and a pointless and awkward Selena Gomez cameo. There were plenty of self-regarding, shallow, parasitic, non-working idiots who exhibit plenty of class hatred for anyone except themselves.

The quake occurred while the stars were in a nightclub deep underground. They escape only because one of them had shown a few moments of decency. The surface was not much better. Their transportation was rendered scrap. Their cell phones do not work since the repeaters were down.

The tsunami alarm goes off. They head for higher ground, as did so many other people.

They encounter gangs of murdering thugs and bad luck, the kind one dies from.

The aftershocks make things much, much worse.

----Scores----

Cinematography: 10/10 Absolutely wonderful.

Sound: 10/10 Lovely.

Acting: 2/10 Eli Roth was just terrible. I hope he quits acting altogether, and gets out of writing and producing. Nicolas Martinez was often enjoyable. Ariel Levy was wretchedly bad. The actresses who played the half-sisters were quite annoying.

Screenplay: 8/10 The beginning was too long; I was ready for the stars to begin getting hammered by nature after about three minutes. Instead it was about 35 minutes. After the lengthy introduction, I hoped all of them would die horribly. So I guess the screenplay was a success up to the point of the earthquake. The stars get shredded thereafter with a very small number of survivors, until the tsunami finally shows up in the end. The screenplay did succeed at its objectives.

Writing and plot suck. We've seen it all before.

There is only one reason to watch this--everyone get's their just desserts! This is the only time I've seen all the rotten brat too rich kids get what they deserve and it is fine! Leaves you with that 'great to be alive' feeling. Couldn't happen to nicer people. Why anyone with any sense would go to one of these screwed up So American countries where people have been so psychologically ruined by the church and government for centuries, I do not know!? This is a great ad for 'see America first'. Actually you can find some of these types in the Mid-West and South and all along the Appalachian Trail, so maybe it's better to just stay at home and imagine a trip.

Anyway, if you've been cut off by a kid driving a BMW for the umpth time or dissed by a group of youngsters because you're over 30, you need to watch this! It'll make you laugh.

** MAJOR SPOILERS**

Because apparently, I missed the memo.

Don't know the man, I'm sure he's a gem of a fellow, but his movies aren't worth watching.

I just don't get it. More stupid people in ridiculous situations, more women treated like pieces of meat on the male hormone market and more stupid decisions that lead to dumber consequences.

The only thing decent about this film was the fact that Eli Roth allows himself to be killed off.

That's not normally something you see...lead actors biting the dirt.

As for the rest of the cast...good riddance. I have Don't bother. Could have, should have, been good, as it had a lot of potential, but came apart as quickly as the shattered buildings.

What a waste of time...

I've had my eye on this for quite a while and was looking forward to what I had hoped to be a fresh & stylish film from Chilean writer/director Nicolás López's first US aimed film debut. Aftershock, being the latest Eli Roth production, comes with certain expectations, some of which were met, others not so much.

The film immediately opens with scenes of three men, Gringo(Roth)the practical guy, Pollo(Nicolás Martínez)the laid back ladies man and Pollo's lifelong friend Ariel(Ariel Levy)the nervous type who is preoccupied with reconnecting with his ex-girlfriend, all vacationing in beautiful Chile, having a blast club hopping while looking for some beautiful women to spend the night with. Almost right away they meet three lovely ladies, Monica, Kylie & Irena and agree to travel with them to the town Valparaiso to check out the clubs there. Just when they get comfortable a massive 8.8 earthquake rocks the city and in an instant their paradise is turned upside down and they are left fighting for their lives. Quickly they find not only is the city crumbling around them, but a local prison has collapsed sending gangs of murderous thugs into the city raping, killing & pillaging everything they can find. To make matters worse a tsunami warning siren continuously blasts, making their bad situation into a real life nightmare.

All in all, it was a solid, watchable film. Things happen very fast with people all around them continuously meeting violent, grisly deaths. It is a bit hard to relate to exactly what is happening in the film, my biggest gripe would be how it lacks realism, not just in one area but really in mostly all areas. Even with more than thirty plus minutes of character development, I found it hard to truly care about the cast. The film felt surreal at times, times when just the opposite was needed for the film to really click with its audience. It's not a great disaster film or a great thriller/horror film, but in combining the two it does make for a decent overall film and a good way to kill ninety minutes.