Aftermath (2005)

Aftermath (2005)

W and D: Nacho Cerda

Sometimes you can come across abnormal things that can make you shudder with disgust…if I wasn’t so jaded, this would’ve been one of those movies. However, being up for 24 hours could’ve helped.

This short film is really unique and disturbing. We follow an unnamed surgeon who is going through his daily motions of making inventory of cadavers. We meet him as he slices up a male cadaver and removes all the organs and washes up. An incredibly real looking and disgusting scene.

Afterwards his next body is a female, and being a viewer of numbers of weird cinema, I knew immediately what was to ensue… The extremely weird sexual autopsy that follows could gross out the likes of Jeffery Dahmer, in fact it kind of gives you a look into the aforementioned style. The unnamed surgeon dissects and has sex with the corpse resulting in a dream like savagery of sickness. It plays out pretty graphically, however, the film has a certain gothic horror that makes it watchable. It looks fantastic and is shot very well. It is not as repulsive as one would think, even with all the gore and open chest sex scene.

The intention is to say no matter how you die, there are true worst things after death. Well, that may be so, but you won’t feel them. I think the film works on the level of surrealists Bunuel and Svankmajer, and is plays heavy without emotion. It’s a haunting film, one you don’t forget about immediately, but is worth seeking out, even for gore hounds who think they’ve seen it all… word of advice, you haven’t.