Nicolas Lopez’s (Que pena tu vida, Que pena tu boda) Aftershock seems like three films slammed together. First there is the buddy comedy, then comes the disaster film and then the survival horror. Some of this works far better than the other parts, but overall it certainly keeps you entertained.
The basic plot of Aftershock is that an American is visiting Chile with two of his Chilean buddies, naturally he is on the look out for some action and the guys want to help him out. After meeting up with another bunch of tourists, sisters Monica (Andrea Osvart) and Kylie (Lorenza Izzo) and their friend Irina (Natasha Yarovenko), they end up at a nightclub. This is when the earthquake starts and all hell breaks loose. As I mentioned before, the mashing of the genres works sporadically. The beginning of the film builds up a very good rapport between the three main male leads Gringo (Eli Roth), Ariel (Ariel Levy) and Pollo (Nicholas Martinez).The film plays like an older, only slightly more sophisticated, teen comedy where the guys chase the girls with varying success. The earthquake happens and it’s a jarring tonal shift (rather like Hostel, which is no surprise as Roth is a co-writer). Despite the good rapport the friends have built up, there weren’t enough moments in the build up that could be used to riff off in the latter more dramatic moments. That said, the initial earthquake inside the nightclub is done very well, evoking memories of Carrie in the way that a crowded room creates more opportunities for mayhem. After the initial quake, the danger is escaped prisoners. This is the part of the film that only partially works for me. Instead of these prisoners wanting to escape and vanish into the night, they set about looting, killing and raping. Whilst this does create one of the films more shocking moments, it also paints the prisoners as the one-dimensional bad guys, thus leaving the audience with the only suspense being a chase through the crumbling streets.
Lopez seems more at home with the comedy in the first half hour of the film, seamlessly flowing from one scene to the next. When the jarring point of the earthquake happens, this brings with it some pacing problems whilst inside the club, but after leaving the club and entering the streets, Lopez picks it up again – the pacing becomes better and the characters become more interesting when put under stress. Lopez does shy away from some of the more brutal moments in the film, which does take away some of the impact, especially for a film that ups the horror quotient as it goes along. However, when Lopez lets his camera linger, the result is more visceral and as such creates more of a punch.
The acting is pretty strong with Nicolas Martinez stealing the show early on. His Pollo is a mixture of a good times guy but with the tendency to be a total A-hole. Roth is quite affable as the Gringo, his early scenes in trying to pick up girls are quite funny. The girls don’t get too many of the good lines, but as the film morphs into a survival horror, the girls fall into two categories: the strong or the victims. Which is a bit of shame as they could have done a bit more with their characters.
As a disaster film Aftershock is definitely effective and despite some problems will certainly keep your interest. It is a definite popcorn film. It doesn’t ask you to think too hard, it just wants you to have fun, be scared and be thrilled.
