After
released 2012
www.ink2quill

“After” is an American horror, thriller, action film produced by Greg Ham, Chris Schmid, Scott Healy, Michael Gangwisch and Brandon Gregory and directed by Ryan Smith. It stars Steven Strait, Karolina Wydra, Madison Lintz, Sandra Ellis Laferty, Ric Reitz, Jackson Walker, Bob Penny, Chase Presley, April Billingsley, Sabyn Mayfield, Jennifer Spriggs, Tyrin Niles, Michael Dinardo, Steve Coulter, Jacqueline Springfield, Ashley Nicole Blevins and Beth Blevins.

After IMDb webpage

“After” is the story of nurse Ana, played by Karolina Wydra, and cartoonist Freddy, played by Steven Strait, who meet on a bus ride home to their small hometown of Pearl. Freddy tries to strike up a conversation with Ana on the bus but she is not so sociable and the two go their separate ways. When they arrive home they soon realize the town is deserted. There is not a soul to be found. When they try to leave they realize that the town of Pearl is surrounded by a dense, black fog that is closing in on them. As if that weren´t enough there is flesh eating creature on the loose. The two are on the run from the creature in their hometown turned nightmare.

Freddy is a projectionist by day and an artist by night as he says. Ana is a nurse. He gets to know her by drawing a quick picture of her and this impresses her. The bus is darkly lit and they are the only passengers on the bus. Just to drop some hints we never see the driver and we hear sounds that resemble an EKG machine in the very beginning of the story (Pay attention because this film is all about the revealing clues that are left like Easter eggs for the viewer. We are focused on the creature and the chase Ana and Freddy are caught in but this is a distraction that could have the viewer miss all the clues in the story, like the slight of hand in a magic trick.). The scene jumps next to them in the town of Pearl and realizing that their town is completely empty of all people. Equally just like on the bus the town is dark as if it was dawn or dusk. I’m guessing dusk though because the darkness is encroaching.

At the backdrop of this story is the relationship between Freddy and Ana. Their relationship is more complicated than it first seems and it develops as the story progresses.

“After” is a modest film done very well without any over the top special effects or other ridiculous elements found in higher budget films. I loved the unravelling of the mystery of finding out wtf was going on. Getting off the bus home to find that you have stepped into a nightmare is a pretty good story hook. The action and horror of the film were also well done.

“After” is a well done film that is worth the watch because it´s just well done. So check it out and enjoy it.

John

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