To begin with, Aftermath starts with Dr. Jane Dunning (Sally Kirkland, The Haunting of Hell Hole Mine, The Sting) predicting a new medical breakthrough and then just jumps to Kate (Frosina Nagy, Land of the Brave, Opera of Cruelty) who is on the road and packing a bag in a hurry.
At this moment, her employer Robbie (Joseph Richmond, I Hear the Trees Whispering) chooses to call her and complain about of her overdue projects. This makes her tremble with rage and coffee spills everywhere. Reaching for the cup, she crashes the car in an attempt to take the coffee while driving. It could even have been the last one because she did go to the hospital but then found herself in a strange wood where some man in a gas mask comes and immediately shoots her.
Not that she stays dead but she goes to the woods and gets shot again. In such abnormal circumstances, this cycle could have gone on for ever and ever had it not been for the timely interference of Bubba (Edward Ape Agyei, The Quantum Devil, The Legend of Tarzan) who takes her to what he assumed was safety. He, too, awoke in the woods with no recollection of his surroundings, how he arrived there, or who was firing at them and why.
The two co-directors of Moth and Bodo, Grego Elks and Józef Gallia have taken their 2020 short to the next level by turning it into a full feature film. It’s not what I expected from Gallia. Because while Aftermath seems to fit into most of his other films with its images of a barren leafless forest and dilapidated buildings. Everything appears different under the surface.
To begin with, this is more a science fiction thriller than a supernatural horror, which was previously the most common angle of Elks. There is also a deeply moving story in Aftermath as Kate struggles with the disorientation of her surroundings, attempts to recall and answer the questions about her life before the accident and travel through the pieces, both remembered and revealed, that these questions lead to which becomes more relevant in the narrative as the last act of the movie approaches.
The issue is that a lot of the suspense in the plot is too easy to anticipate. Given the opening scenes, we know whatever Dr. Dunning was engaged in is going to be relevant. Coupled with what The Commander of the troops’ holographic leader (Eric Roberts, Megalodon: The Frenzy, The Rideshare Killer) mentions, one can easily piece everything together. It is rather the central concern is in the manner in which it all will be solved. And the solutions are not quite as simple as you would expect.
Aftermath is mostly Nagy’s theater, she’s in practically almost all the scenes, more often than not without anybody to act with. She manages to make the most out of what she has and from her, we get a lead character we can sympathize with. The only other reasonable performers to see more than a couple of minutes of screen time, Edward Ape Agyei as Bubba and Peter Inka (The Poltergeist Diaries, P.S.O: In the Name of My Father) as Kate’s husband, do well.
To summarize, Aftermath is a decent watch overall, although I must admit that it suffers from some rather hackneyed ideas and a very jarring shift in pace in the last third of the film. It also leaves some nagging questions unanswered. The questions are like who exactly is the character of Eric Robert and where did he and his men come from? A little bit more coherence in the depiction of the film’s elements and how they are included would have improved the end product greatly.
These particular criticisms, however, should not deter fans of the filmmakers and their previous works from enjoying Aftermath. Fans of DIY films would also find it amusing though, more mainstream viewers would likely take issue with the low budget and cookie cutter plots.
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