Two Short Films to Make You Ill:
Aftermath & Cutting Moments
Languages: English for Cutting Moments, Aftermath has no dialogue
Brief Synopsis - Aftermath: The viewer is shown around a morgue during a typical shift, with variations on several autopsies. There is no dialogue, and really no background music other than what plays in one of the technician's headphones. Several corpses are dissected, cleaned out, and stitched back up, and it becomes apparent that one of the morticians is not like the others. After every has gone home he picks his favorite corpse and sets to work.
Brief Synopsis - Cutting Moments: The portion of Cutting Moments I am reviewing is often referred to by the collection's title, for clarification. The short "Cutting Moments" is about a woman, Sarah, who is completely subservient to her husband. The two have almost nothing left between them, despite Sarah's attempts to get her husband's attention. He begins paying more sexual attention toward their son and she does something drastic to try and get him to finally recognize her.
My Take: I saw both of these films because I was referred through various gorehound websites. I enjoy a good, gory film and I like movies that try and unnerve me. Both of these short films managed to do so, though in very different ways. With short run times (Aftermath is 30 minutes, Cutting Moments is 28), you don't have to fully invest yourself in the time for a feature-length film. This is a good thing, because I'm not entirely sure if I would want to watch two hours of either of these films.
The special effects in Aftermath are astonishing. Having watched real autopsy videos (and having been in a morgue as the granddaughter of a mortician), everything looks absolutely dead-on (pardon the term.) You can almost smell the formaldehyde as the morticians are making their incisions. It is in this dedication to realism that Aftermath is disturbing. The rise and climax of the short film, which involves massive bodily mutilation, necrophilia, and some of the best dog food you can get, didn't bother me as much as simply how real the initial autopsies looked. There are a few really spectacular shots, including one side-shot of the cadaver being bounced around that made me a little uneasy. Aftermath is an interesting look into some avant-garde film making, and perhaps a good test of a person's stomach, but little else.
The special effects in Cutting Moments are also fantastic. Everything in Aftermath is very gritty with lots of filters and specific lighting, however, whereas Cutting Moments has a low-budget, shot-on camcorder feel that makes it a little more unsettling. The first bit of the film drags a good bit more than Aftermath's initial sequences, but once it builds up, it certainly delivers. The scissor scene is brutal, and I was impressed with the film's ability to make me a little queasy. The finale felt forced and over-done, but at that point I had already lost interest. Everything past Sarah and her "transformation" seemed pointless. This, as well, in an interesting view into a different sort of film making, a good starter film for people who want to get into more disturbing cinema, but overall it's not as good as I had hoped it would be.
Entertainment value: Very Low for both. These are not popcorn flicks.
Scare value: Medium. Corpses and mutilation are both creepy subjects.
Realistic?: Low-Medium for Cutting Edge- there is no way a person wouldn't go into shock from what happens. Disturbingly High for Aftermath.
Violence/Gore: Very High. These are very gory films.
Sex: High. Nudity in both films, necrophilia in Aftermath, hinted pedophilia in Cutting Moments as well as genital and mammary mutilation.
This movie is for: Gorehounds, and gorehounds only.
Films like it: The Japanese Guinea Pig films come to mind the most strongly. Really any gore cinema, be it Japanese guro, Italian fake snuff, or even the Saw franchise.
IMDB Entry on Aftermath
IMDB Entry on Cutting Moments
-No trailers for these because, to my knowledge, there are not trailers for either film. Both films are available in their entirety online.
