“I think my thing for Eli Roth has been well established on this blog, between the Rothtober mini project and my bday trip to the Goretorium, it’s no secret. So of course, when he pens, produces, and performs in a film, I’m there. However, due to logistics, there didn’t quite happen right away.
I only had time for two movies last weekend, but there were three that I wanted to see. Part of what swayed me from Aftershock at the time was that it was only playing in one little theater that I’d never been to. I figured since it was the first weekend it’d maybe have a chance to expand or I could at least catch it the next weekend. As I was settling in for the second flick (in other words, the point of no return on my plan), I checked twitter and found a tweet from Nicolas Lopez, the director of Aftershock, encouraging me to go see it. I tweeted back a promise that I would as soon as I could.
Midweek I started to plan my movie schedule for this weekend, and I noticed something. Aftershock was leaving after Thur. Crap. Thankfully I was able to squish in a last minute trip yesterday. I tweeted my plan. Within minutes I had an RT and a response from Nicolas. A few minutes later, I had an RT from Eli Roth. Eli \m/ Roth. I may have freak out a bit. And took a million screenshots. Now I really had to make it to the movie.
After a T ride and a short walk with a lil cell phone GPS magic, I made it to the theater just in time. Apparently, the screening happened just for me. When I bought my ticket, the dude walkie-talkie-d somebody with the auditorium number so they would actually play the movie. Kinda exciting getting a semi private screening. But as I walked into the quaint hallway of an auditorium (I love little theaters like that), I realized something. An Eli Roth movie, alone in the dark? Prolly not such the best idea. But somehow, the clicking of the old school projector not too far behind me was comforting, and I was excited.
Okay okay okay, enough set up. Let’s talk about the \m/ movie already, shall we? I will admit, were it not for Mr Roth’s involvement, this would have never registered on my radar. And I dont think I would have particularly missed it. But for what it’s worth, it was certainly a fun experience.
It very much had a B movie feel, with a higher quality than B movie would imply. This is what happens when you have people who know what they’re doing and can effectively stretch their presumably minimal budget. Yes, the movie still had its flaws. I found some of the “”twists”” predictable, some plot points seemed contrived, and I still can’t decide if there was too much build up, or if they just nailed the right amount to establish characters. But I liked and rooted for our characters, the suspense was killer, and the blood guts and gore were top notch. Oh and it was kinda dark too. There were plenty of “”I can’t believe they went there”” moments.
Definitely a lot more in the film that made me happy than didn’t, including something that had to do with a particular character name. That might be just a tad too personal for divulgement here, but buy me a drink and ask me about it IRL and I’ll gladly spill.
Aftershock – \m/ \m/ \m/