Horror maestro Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel) produced, co-wrote and stars in Aftershock, a silly film about an earthquake hitting Chile while people are partying in a nightclub.
Roth’s involvement had me hoping for some good, sick fun, but this is a crappy, cheap-looking movie. Plus, I like it better when Roth is behind the camera, or playing a small role, because he looks like Sarah Silverman, and he weirds me out. He’s basically the star here, so I just spent the movie confused.
There’s a lot of gore, but most of it is pretty run-of-the-mill. One of the cool things about the film is that nobody in the cast, including Roth, is safe. Lots of people die unexpectedly, and in very bad ways. One dude has a large rock land on him, then somebody mean sits on the rock to apply pressure and pain; then somebody else, even meaner, pours liquor on him—and finally, he is set aflame. It takes him a long time to calm down after that.
After the initial quake, there are aftershocks (as the title of the movie implies) and the threat of a tsunami. This is a low-budget affair, so don’t watch this thinking you are going to get a lot of water throwing people around like in The Impossible. It’s mostly just Roth and friends running around while somebody shakes the camera.
Special Features: None. This is a feature currently available for rental on demand through cable providers, Amazon.com and iTunes.
