Aftermath 1994
Spanish director Ignacio Cerdà (a soul-mate of his German colleague Jörg Buttgereit) provides blow-by-blow answer to our curiosity and invites us to an exciting journey in the world of preparation tables, scalpels, surgical saws, human entrails and warped minds. Is there anything else on earth to be more enticing than to learn what expects our frail bodies after, um, death. Definitely shocking, undeniably well made, but to simple to garner more than a curiosity viewing. Without a deeper story, the gory visuals do lose some emotional impact, but adding to much more would have thrown off the pace and dulled the impact of the film. It could be argued that the film needs something resembling a story to further flesh out, and I would both agree and argue against it. Effective camera use, perfect lighting, and a great use of both music and excellent sound effects. It was so simple, by the numbers and unemotional, and no matter what I will be there someday. A different scene involving a more real-world process of preparing a cadaver was (to my mind) more disturbing. The coup de grace is, of course, meant to be the ultimate act of intercourse with a gutted out body, yet that was not the scene that affected me the most. Showing as much of the process as the (very convincing) corpse effects will allow, hardly a detail is spared from view. That being the graphic dismemberment and eventual sexual desecration of the dead. Aside form a couple quick bits out side of the operating room, the film doesn't concern itself with story details it already knows exactly what it wants to show you.
Timeing in at a mere 30 minutes and lacking any spoken dialogue, the film is very short on story. A coroner performers his daily duties of managing the dead, but when the day ends and all others go home the dead are his to do what he pleases.
Oft lamented gore short in the same vein as 'Necromantik', though arguably a superior product.
Aftermath 1994 movie#
Definitely the kind of movie I'm hiding from my parents! 10/10 Maybe that's a bit disappointing, but for the themes approached (morgue, necrophilia. Shot in 8 days, "Aftermath" due to a lack of time/money was reduced to a '30 min short. He confirms in the interview this was the hardest performance he ever had to make. Without any spoken words, and having most of his face hidden, this man manages a magnificent performance.
"Aftermath" was originally a 2h30 movie with more autopsies, and more sex scenes where the only 'non-corpse' actor is extracting silver from teeth he had previously removed.
Aftermath 1994 plus#
I also have at end of my tape a Nacho Cerda's interview, plus part of the making of (very interesting, and very needed! ). Never has necrophilia been pushed so far, Aftermath" really ranks the "Nekromantiks" among the Walt Disney movies (I nevertheless enjoyed "Nekromantik"). The autopsies are very well done (although the ones in "Men behind the Sun" and "Camino del Eden", another spanish short about working in a morgue, are more impressive), but it's nothing compared with the scenes of necrophilia. The making-up is wonderful, you're really convinced you're dealing with real corpses, increasing the malaise Nacho Cerda wanted to create. So, what goes on in a morgue after hours ? Non stop 'gore'/sex for half an hour, a very oppressing ambiance ( no dialogues ), the excellent work by Nacho Cerda and his team, make this short worth the 10 I gave it.