After the Shock (1990 TV Movie) User Reviews

Loma Prieta and Its Survivors Deserved a Better Movie

[view_and_review · 5/10 · 22 February 2020]

I remember the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. To that point in my life I'd never seen so much devastation. The city I was in wasn't impacted as much as Oakland and San Francisco, but even cities that weren't directly affected were indirectly affected.

"After the Shock" does give certain people some due recognition. I'm sure they all deserve it and then some. Sadly, the movie was terribly boring. "After the Shock" is a blend of actual footage and dramatic reenactment. Sure, it gives the film more authenticity, but that doesn't make for good viewing. There had to be a more creative way of showing the work, sacrifice, cooperation, and patience of both rescuers and rescued. I think they would've been better off running actual footage and having interviews with various survivors and rescue workers.

I hate to be so critical because I'm happy that the disaster as well as those impacted by the disaster were shown to the world. At the same time I think an event such as the one we had here in the Bay Area deserves a better movie.

Excellent recreation of bystander and victim self-help during '89 SF earthquake.

[Kansas-5 · 17 July 2002]

This made-for-T.V. film is a realistic, gripping portrayal of the mutual assistance ordinary citizens provided to trapped victims of the Loma Prieta earthquake which caused massive damage throughout the San Francisco Bay Area in 1989. Wonderful photography. The cast melds well known stars (i.e., Rue McClanahan and Yaphet Kotto) with many lesser known actors and even an actual victim, the humorous in the face of adversity, Nicholas Zaninovich.

Horrible movie

[pkzeewiz · 2/10 · 12 May 2010]

This movie is based on real events that happened in an earthquake in San Francisco. There was several buildings collapsed and parking garages and much damage done. Many of the residents were out taking charge and trying to help before the cops and paramedics etc. even got there and many normal people saved a lot of lives that day. Much of them were treated like dirt by cops and fireman who finally got on the scene too, but the people who they helped will never forget them and many of their stories are told in this film.

The stories told here were okay. Like the many people trapped and lodged in their cars inside the parking garage and also the people trapped under walls and doors in their houses.

My problem with the film is the production. It is shot with cheap cameras and often incorporates real live news feed into it. Although there's a couple well known actors here, most of the other actors are horrible and have apparently never done this before. Even some of the people who were victims played themselves in this film.

It was hard on the eyes, it played out like a soap opera, it was sloppy and had no direction what so ever.

Don't be fooled like I was. The box art looked good, it was a Paramount release and starred Yaphet Kotto and Rue Maclanahan, it also has the great Brian Thompson as a firefighter. I just hated it and recommend something like Aftershock: Earthquake in New York. It wasn't great but it's better than this badly produced garbage.

2/10 stars

What am I NOT seeing here

[steeleronaldr · 9/10 · 19 March 2022]

This movie couldn't have been made better if they tried. Regular civilians in the face of a natural disaster helping fellow civilians trapped in rubble. How can a actor act like a regular civilian when at the end of the day they go home just like that a civilian. Even Yaphet Kotto was good in his given role. Yeah it wasn't big budget, no one was toting gun's and no one was over acting. If it was a movie about regular people helping regular people and really nothing more. I agree that I'm not big on hand held camcorder movies but this one worked by putting us right next to the person.

The baby scene I think was the toughest and the face the actor made made the scene more powerful. The guy (actual victim/surviver) trapped in his car was comic relief. The lady trapped in her bathroom was intense and that little girl trapped in a car with her mother crushed in the front seat was heartbreaking. Still we got what can actually happen and zero Hollywood effects. The mix of bigger names like Yaphet Kotto, Rue McClanahan and Scott Valentine with some up and coming was balanced and the again acting was good.

If you're looking for explosions, shootouts, CGI throughout or edge of your seat action then this movie isn't for you. I love the rawness that this movie offered and the strength that some had to show not to mention the fact of how the police tried to block people from entering buildings or other nearly destroyed places as to not add more injuries or fatalities to already overwhelmed hospitals and the fire department using people to hold hose's on our of control fire's. In all this is one of the best earthquake movies I've seen. It's tightly written, direction was good, the pace was great and the overall was great. Each plotline ended on a positive note leaving nothing open.