Aftermath/Genesis

AFTERMATHA woman dies tragically in an automoblie accident but the true horror awaits her after death. What happens to the body after the spirit has moved on the corpse is at the mercy of those who manhandle the dead? What manner of creature is it that tears our bodies apart only to put them back together again? Whether we like it or not we are all at the mercy of the coroner's knife and the abuse and indignities we suffer are strictly up to him.GENESISA sculptor is traumatized by the death of his wife in a car accident. He builds a sculpture in her memory. As the lifelike sculpture begins to bleed through the cracks of clay the sculptor's flesh mutates and crumbles away...System Requirements:Running Time: 90 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR/MAD SCIENTISTS UPC: 828221010253 Manufacturer No: UN1015 Product Description

Fear of nihilism.

Aftermath (Nacho Cerda, 1994)

Nacho Cerda's infamous short (half an hour) film Aftermath is a love-it-or-hate-it affair. Unlike most films of this stripe, it's not an easy split; you can't simply say that gorehounds and perverts will like it and everyone else won't. And that should clue you in that there's something beyond gore, necrophilia, and a really twisted (but damned funny) punchline going on under the surface here. This is where the split occurs; if you can grok what Cerda seems to be saying, and you've got a strong enough stomach to take it in the way Cerda dishes it out, you're probably going to like this. You may never watch it again, but you can appreciate it on some level.

Aftermath takes us behind the scenes at a medical examiner's office. I want to say here that it's not your normal medical examiner's office, but we don't know, do we? One way or the other, however, the guys who work here are just plain scary. In the first of the two extended sequences that make up this movie, there's nothing terribly amiss on the surface, but you can tell there's something wrong about the whole scene. No one speaks, the characters simply grunt to one another or to themselves. And yet there's a language here, one that we can eventually begin to puzzle out. And when we get to that point, our suspicions that our characters are not nice people really takes off. And then comes the second scene, which is the one that sends most people out into the streets holding placards and calling for Nacho Cerda's head on a platter.

I first saw the infamous second scene years ago, when a band I saw live used it as a filmic backdrop to their music. I was drunk at the time, and thus misremembered some things about it that kept me from seeing the whole thing until now. I remembered it being a great deal funnier (unintentionally) than it is (for those of you who've seen it, I recalled the ME actually holding the camera while he was, erm, having fun. You can see where the hilarity came into play). If you've got a really, really warped sense of humor, it is kind of amusing, in a "blackest of the black" sort of way; if you wondered why people called Very Bad Things a black comedy, because to you it seemed like slapstick, then you'll probably appreciate Cerda's nihilist form of humor here. The rest of you are watching it for the necrophilia. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there's anything at all erotic about this. Quite the contrary-- and that's what Cerda's getting at, I believe.

Then comes the final scene. Maybe it wasn't necessary-- Cerda definitely used a bigger mallet than necessary to drive his point home here-- but when it comes right down to it, if you want to view Aftermath as a black comedy, the final scene is most certainly necessary.

So what is it that Cerda's trying to say with his "evil" (for lack of a better term) medical examiners and these poor abused corpses? I don't think, as some folks have offered, that Cerda's point is that when we're dead, we become nothing more than meat. I think it's more about the loss of control-- once a person is dead, those around that person have the ability to visit any sort of horror upon the body that they like, and aside from the ethical questions (which our characters have obviously ignored), there's really nothing that the dead can do to stop them. (This is, it seems to me, what Cerda is really trying to hammer home in the final scene-- the real depths of the lack of control.)

Given all this, I do think it's a thought-provoking little piece, though gorehounds and the perverse will certainly find enough packed into this half-hour to sate their more prurient tastes. While there is no conceivable way to posit that Aftermath is fun for the whole family, it is worth seeing if you've got the stomach for it. ***
May 30, 2008

Worst Horror Short EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This has got to be the most depraved and horrible film I have ever seen. There is no value to this film at all. The plot is weak (if you can call it a plot), the effects are disturbing but still lame. I've got to say if you watch this film and enjoy it, there is something wrong with you in the head. I can understand wanting to see a gorey movie, but this film goes beyond gore. The entire story is about a guy mutilating a dead female body and having sex with it (it is very graphic). There you go! That's 30 minutes of your life! I want my 30 minutes back! I am boycotting this film based on it being one of the worst films ever made! May 1, 2008

Short Meditations on Death

Three short films based on different aspects of death. Dying, being dead, and those left behind. Don't buy if you're looking for dramatic action and dialog (they are silent other than the background music), but if you're willing to think about an aspect of life that we often push to the back of our minds, take a look. April 16, 2008

Sick as hell.

These films are really not that great, They are far too short and have no real plotline.

I bought these films thinking they would be feature lenght, But was disapointed to find that the films are between 7-20 minutes long. The total running time is 76 minutes. The reason I give this DVD 4 stars is because of the shear shock value alone. I think Aftermath is a mix of Faces Of Death and Nekromantik. Genesis and Awakening were just plain boring. Aftermath was not exactly entertaing, The good gore was what made it good.

For fans of hardcore horror, You will like these. Just remember that these films end before they start, I think they would have been better as feature lenght films.

Don't buy if you get bored easily. April 12, 2008

Some say we're born into the grave

The subject of death is rarely exposed or investigated with any sort of tangible certainty. Possibly in an effort to diminish its ominous threat, the topic is often ignored. Or sometimes it is romanticized, with fabrications of some angelic getaway just waiting for us. But, in reality, it is a looming question mark that has no definite answers.
Nacho Cerda is a courageous director that doesn't back down from these notions. This release actually has three short movies

~Awakening--This is only like 7 minutes long, and it deals almost entirely with spirituality. It is beautifully shot with kind of a twilight zone feel.

~Aftermath--It deals with the physicality of death. It is extremely grotesque, plus the special effects are incredibly realistic as some cadavers get sliced up and some...uh,...sick stuff happens. Really sick.

~Genesis--This final one deals with the emptiness that is left behind after a lover passes away. This guy has some issues letting go.

Total running time is about an hour and a half. They are all superbly shot in a very artistic manner. You might not always be delighted by this artistic expression. They contain no dialogue, just stark, black and white images that will supplant all your expectations. Get ready to barf, another super-sick recommendation I got from M. November 24, 2007

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