Aftershock (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Nicolás López (Sin Filtro)
	Actors: Eli Roth (Inglorious Basterds, Death Proof), Ariel Levy, Nicolás Martínez
	Country: USA, RCH
	Genre: Drama, Horror
	Conditions of visioning: 15.04.2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: An American tourist (Roth) and two Chilean friends end up at a big party in the coastal town of Valparaiso, together with other tourists. When a big Earthquake hits, all hell breaks loose.
Review: I have been wanting to watch this movie for a long time as it takes place in my residence country of Chile and should have dealt with the adventures of a group of friends in the aftermath of a natural disaster that is always looming over our heads. I was expecting something like the classic 1974 Earthquake (not mentioning the recent San Andreas) or the little known Sinking of Japan, but on a much smaller scale of course. Well in the end it doesn't even belong to the same genre or category! Another incentive for me to watch the movie was the presence as producer and lead actor of Eli Roth, friend of Quentin Tarantino, seen in Inglorious Basterds and DeathProof, producer/director of the gore Cabin Fever and The Green Inferno, and attached to the entertaining Piranha 3D. And I liked him in the movie's first (long) act showing parties and chit-chat between friends and new acquaintances (although the sound of Reggaeton is not heard one which is unrealistic for parties in Chile). But then when the Earthquake hits, the movie shows its true nature: it is in fact a cheap Horror Drama with a fun beginning. I know this sounds weird, and it does feel it too. The movie is obviously cheap when you see how the action is limited to a club, a few streets and night-time. Also as another movie with too few ideas, it adds improbable coincidences to the story, like sharks in tornadoes during an alien invasion, or in that case sadistic prisoners that escaped during the disaster and stalk our protagonists till death. Then it tries to be dramatic (when people loose their friends) but the long fun beginning makes that it doesn't work. Finally what's left in my memory is the gore horror and torture scenes (as in Cabin Fever or The Green Inferno) that I was not expecting. OK I see now the movie tagline: "The only thing more terrifying than mother nature is human nature". Aaaaah OK that was the point... Still, not a good movie.
Rating: 2 /10