Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘After’

Written by Scott Edwards

There are many people that believe that life has a predetermined pattern that it will follow, but I am one that believes that it all comes down to chance. The argument that I have about life being planned out is that nobody can factor in accidents. There are so many things that an accident can bring into the realm and nobody can foresee what it can bring. An accident can come in many ways, but it is never predictable, not even a psychic can tell you when or where it will actually happen. 

Catching a ride back home, two strangers on an otherwise empty bus start to talk to each other. Freddy and Ana have no memories of ever meeting each other in the past, but when talking, they find out they are neighbors and only live a couple of houses away from each other. Even though Ana is trying to finish writing her current project, she is willing to give the stranger a listen, but is not able to complete her story when the ride comes to a sudden halt. As the bus crashes, their lives begin to become very strange.

Waking up late for work, Ana heads down to the hospital to find that she is the only one there. Thinking that she is being punished for being late, she checks around, but is unable to find anyone in the building, not even a patient. Freddy is running around town but is finding the same result. With no one around, the two meet up and discuss what could have happened while they were asleep, but nothing is making any sense. Wanting to find a reason for their abandoned town, the two walk into the old diner that has been closed for several years and find it booming with customers. Not being able to get anyone’s attention, Freddy heads down Main Street to find that he is invisible, but Ana finds something much stranger. Watching her younger self having lunch with her Aunt, Ana is starting to believe that the possibility of being dead or in an alternate dimension is not that farfetched.

Trying to leave town, the two find that they are being held in by a massive dark cloud that is moving closer and closer. Being able to gauge the movement of the cloud, the two have less than three days of finding a way to escape their purgatory. Not truly understanding what is happening to them, the two are faced with their life choices up to this point and need to find out what they could have changed. But Freddy being a comic book artist and Ana working on her stories, they do not have a way of appeasing whatever is holding them in. Crossing into the dark cloud which they both fear, the two find a doorway that could lead them away, but the only problem is that they do not have the key to open it, and they are not alone as a demonic growl chases them from the darkness.

I never seem to know what I am getting into when watching some of these movies, and After is no exception. Getting to follow two characters that are different in many ways, they have to learn to trust each other and work together to find a way out of their current predicament. I enjoyed how they both played off of each other, along with learning their fears throughout the movie, and even tying it back to when they first met. With both of their memories being utilized, they have in a way created this world, and they have the answers on how to escape it, but only if they are true to themselves. A good story and not a movie to shy away from if you are looking for something that is different but can still bring the good old-fashioned scare to the screen. Stay Scared.

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