Cedra's second feature, "The Awakening" is a lot more popular of the trilogy because of the known fact of its extreme amount of exploitation. So to automatically start to point out all the things wrong with this film would not only be too easy but clichéd.
The film… More
Cedra's second feature, "The Awakening" is a lot more popular of the trilogy because of the known fact of its extreme amount of exploitation. So to automatically start to point out all the things wrong with this film would not only be too easy but clichéd.
The film starts out in a morgue where two pathologists are busy preparing two bodies for burial. Let me tell you now, I read prior to viewing this film that Nacho Cerda had some training in pathology. It shows clearly in these scenes, nothing is left to the imagination. The special effects are absolutely top notch, especially for an independent horror film. The corpses are not actors, but are obviously full rubber mannequins pre-filled with blood and organs. I have to give it up to the special effects technicians for did their job superbly. The realism was absolutely dead-on.
(***SPOILERS***) As the film moves on, we see our two characters hard at work although one works with the utmost professionalism while the other takes an unusual amount of pleasure in what he is doing. All the while a transport worker wheels in a fresh corpse of a young woman recently killed in a car accident. The day ends and our workers clean up. The professional leaves for the night leaving the other to his own work. He takes out the new body and wheels her into a new autopsy room. It is revealed that the woman's name is Marta. He undresses and fondles her like a doll, all the while taking pictures. Once the body is completely naked and vulnerable he cuts open and begins to remove the organs. This is where the film really takes a turn into some sick territory. As she is cut open we see his sick gratification. All through a surgical mask that is never removed, as he progresses we see his pleasure build to a point where he takes a scapula and repeatedly stabs the corpse between her legs. Finally, his unnatural lust can stand no more and he drops his trousers and mounts the body. We are now subjected to probably the most unflinching scene of necrophilia anyone in their right mind would ever want to cringe through. (***END SPOILERS***) The ending scene, though not violent, is just as disturbing and frightening to think about.
Now I won't lie for a long time after sitting through this thirty minute atrocity, I was not above slamming Cedra as nothing more than a sadist who wanted to leave his audience feeling disgusted and violated, with this film he does achieve just that. I first rated this film a ten, However, after thinking things out there is sort of a point to it after all. The truth is that all of us for the most part will end up on the mortician's table. What happens after that is between god and the mortician and there is no control over that. Unfortunately this truth is far more frequent and realistic then most will ever admit to. It probes the question of not only mortality but what drives seemingly normal people to these levels of depravity. In truth this film is extremely harsh. One viewing was almost too much for me, and that can be said for a lot of reviewers of this film. To say this is dark is a gross understatement. It has a feeling of genuine doom and dread that carries on from beginning to the very end and long after the end credits have rolled.
In the end, "The Aftermath" is strong stuff and showing this to the wrong people can easily get you labeled as sick. Yet I cannot deny this thirty minute shock-fest was impressively made. One last thought this film has totally convinced me to get cremated when I pass.
Story: C
Acting: B
Direction: B
Visuals: B
Overall: C+
**1/2 out of 4 stars
