Aftermath [Blu-Ray]
Director: Peter Engert
Cast: Edward Furlong, Monica Keena, William Baldwin
Release Date: Now Available on Blu-Ray & DVD
A Review By: Kevin Lovell
Film Rating: 6/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10
Plot Summary:
Searching for a happy ending to a tale of unimaginable disaster and horror, nine strangers find themselves holed up together in a farmhouse cellar in rural Texas. The United States has hastily become embroiled in World War 3. A young doctor named Hunter survives the nuclear attack and is thrown together by happenstance with a group of wounded and frightened victims, including Elizabeth, a strong-willed confidant to Hunter, Brad – an antagonistic redneck jackass, and Jennifer, a barely coherent young woman suffering from severe post-traumatic stress. Together, they attempt to endure the devastating holocaust as they struggle with claustrophobia and conflicting personalities. In a makeshift shelter, Hunter and his dying companions wait for news from the government while fending off hunger, radiation sickness, and a horde of frightened and dying refugees.
‘Aftermath’ tells the story of a number of random people who encounter each other on the road following a number of nuclear explosions that lay the majority of the foreseeable world (or at the very least the country) in ruin and with the threat of radiation poison in the aftermath imminent. A man along with a woman and her child find their way to a home with a cellar located underneath and after being initially hesitant and threatening, the homes occupants reluctantly allow them to enter and they all take refuge down below in the cellar. Soon as forces beyond their control begin to loom over them, they must choose whether to try to do all they can to survive or stay put in the hopes they might live, with human threats present all around them and the continuing sickness from the radiation continually building as well, they are running out of options.
The film is directed by Peter Engert who I’m not personally familiar with prior to ‘Aftermath’ and he does a solid job in the director’s chair, delivering a sufficiently moody and grimy flick. The cast includes Edward Furlong, Monica Keena, C.J. Thomason and a number of others who deliver mostly solid performances in each of their respective roles. I must say that some do far better than others, but nonetheless most hold their own pretty well and we’ve certainly seen far worse performances many times over in this genre.
‘Aftermath’ is an entertaining end of the world (or post-apocalyptic) slow burn thriller. It delivers some surprising and occasionally brutal scenarios and moments, but unfortunately for the most part lacks much originality. This of course that doesn’t make it a horrible film by any means, it merely means that it doesn’t really bring anything new to the table and seems eerily reminiscent to me in a number of ways to Xavier Gens’ absolutely phenomenal film ‘The Divide’ and a few others. Regardless, it keeps the viewer entertained and actually has the courage to do some shockingly brutal things which help provide a sense of realism for the audience who surely knows that in such a horrible scenario, such situations and occurrences would very likely be the reality.
VIDEO:
The Blu-Ray release of ‘Aftermath’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks pretty great as a whole, perfectly representing the duller and more grimy vibe of the film, while all dark and fast moving moments remain clear and smooth, with no noticeable faults to be found within throughout the film’s runtime on my end; a high definition video presentation that should leave everyone pretty satisfied.
AUDIO:
The Blu-Ray release features a lossless 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack that sounds pretty solid overall. The frequently quiet and eerily tame moments of the film are balanced perfectly with the few more intense and action oriented moments, often hitting quite hard with the bass and going from calm and quiet to loud and intense flawlessly at a moment’s notice, with the dialogue always more than audible at all times.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The one area the Blu-Ray release of ‘Aftermath’ is lacking is bonus content; there are unfortunately no special features at all included on the release.
*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.
Film Rating: 6/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10
‘Aftermath’ is now available to own on Blu-Ray & DVD from Image Entertainment & RLJ Entertainment.
