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DVD After
 Run time: 90 min Rating: 5.4 Genres: Thriller Director: Ryan Smith Writers: Jason Parish, Ryan Smith Stars: Steven Strait, Karolina Wydra, Madison Lintz |
| Storyline When two bus crash survivors awake to discover that they are the only people left in their small town, they must form an unlikely alliance in a race to unravel the truth behind their isolation. As strange events begin to unfold, they start to question whether the town they know so well is really what it seems. Written by Anonymous |
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| Plot Keywords: crash | |
| Details: Country: USA Release Date: 14 September 2012 (USA) |
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| Box Office Budget: $650,000 (estimated) |
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DVD After
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4 comments
When seeing the trailer for After for the first time, I was a bit skeptical. But the story peaked my interest. What I walked out of was a refreshing take on the genre of the thriller. I can't go into a "scary"movie anymore without watching either someone demon possessed (not really my thing) or girls and guys getting ripped to shreds by some mutant human. Sure, I love my Shining and even a little Evil Dead, but too much realistic gore just takes me out of the story. So, it was awesome to see a well acted, great looking film that had all the suspense I needed without the explicit gore. Lead Steven Strait did a wonderful job as our hero, while Karolina Wydra was captivating and easy to root for. What I loved most about this story was the idea of these moments that connect us that we may not even be aware of. How many people do you pass on the street that you may have played with as a kid, lived next door to, or more? Check out After. It offers plenty of thrills for the thrill seekers and yet also gives us a heart-warming story we unfortunately don't get to see in the Hollywood thriller anymore.
Where to begin? The plot is completely overdone and makes no real attempts to transcend its familiars. It's the mentally challenged little brother to LOST and all other "are they dead?" cliché's. In order to stand out it would need great characters and a story; instead 'After' continuously dredges the bottom of superior stories that use this trope such as "the mysterious character connection," without bothering to make the audience actually hope for any connection between the two to begin with.
You could lay out the plot points and see the potential, I won't spoil them for you, but it is a lack of execution and an absence of basic story-craft that kills "After" in the end.
Just finished watching this, and I immediately came here to find out how many people had been driven crazy by the absurdity of casting between the young Ana and Karolina Wydra's Ana.
The young version of Ana is blond and speaks accent-free idiomatic English, while the dark Karolina has a clearly halting Slavic manner as the adult Ana. It is so dissonant as to make the movie rather strange to watch–definitely breaks concentration.
I have to believe that poor Ryan Smith had the studio dump the casting on him, as no director with eyes & ears would ever seek out this level of dissonance.
I feel like the ratings are giving this movie a bit of a beating, and unfairly so.
I appreciate that this is not a mind-blowing blockbuster, but – taken in context – it is just a beautiful dark-tale. Someone previously mentioned 'pace' issues, but I didn't actually find it a fault.
The two leads are strong and believable, even facing such a fantastical race to find a reason for what is happening. I think it is cleverly wrote to piece together the mystery.
A few other reviews have mentioned 'Silent Hill', but if you are anything like me and a big wimp when it comes to horror… please don't be put off as although a bit nail-biting at times, it is far from 'Horror'.
If you don't go in expecting it to change your life, then I would seriously recommend this film.