An American tourist (Eli Roth) in Chile, guided by his two Chilean friends (Ariel Levy, Nicolás Martínez), discover the wonders that this beautiful country has to offer.  During this trip, the fun-craving trio meets three girls (Natasha Yarovenko, Lorenza Izzo and Andrea Osvárt) and invites them to a huge underground party in the city of Valparaiso. Things take a turn to the worst when, at the peak of the night, a massive earthquake hits and destroys the city. When chaos and destruction take over, the ill-fated heroes struggle for survival, facing the terror of the earthquake’s aftermath.

This film, presented by Eli Roth, not only has his seal of approval, it also has his full hands on collaboration. Eli Roth (writer, producer, actor) and Nicolas Lopez (writer, director) team up to create a thrilling ride through the worst aspects of a natural disaster. Roth and Lopez met in 2005 while the Chilean director Nicolas Lopez was presenting his film Promedio Rojo at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Roth was very impressed with his work and describes Lopez as a hyper intelligent individual that at the age of 20 already had a very solid career.

When the opportunity came to work together they had a conversation about the horror lived in Chile during and after the devastating earthquake that took place in 2010. “We talked about collaborating,” Roth said. He told Lopez, “after ‘The Last Exorcism’ I can finance a movie on my name. I can get a theatrical release based on presenting it. I want to be very selective; I want to do a genre movie. Don’t do a comedy in Spanish. Let’s do it English language and lets do horror. Let’s do something like ‘Rec’. Like ‘High Octane.’” That is when Nicolas Lopez started to tell him about the earthquake and how terrifying it was. They were inspired to create their story based on the terror and uncertainty that surrounded that event. “We are doing a genre movie that takes place in Chile, but it could take place anywhere in Latin America, or anywhere in the world. Is the whole thing about a character that is not in his comfort zone. Travels to another country and all the rules work in a different way,” said Lopez.

Aftershock explores human nature during a crisis and how that primal survival instinct can be truly terrifying when confronting collective chaos. “I wanted to show when something like a disaster happens and what would happen to society. And that it also could happen here. You have the 1% vs. the 99%. And how everything here is so fragile. Something like an earthquake could destroy the balance that we have,” said Lopez.

To make this disaster credible the use of elaborated special effects and computer graphics was reduced to a minimum. In that way the city in ruins acquires a more realistic look. “So many disaster movies look like you are watching someone play a video game. It is fun to watch but you don’t feel that connection. You are watching buildings destroyed but they are not really destroying them. So we wanted to use as little CG as possible.  Really destroying things, really smashing things and just make this really intense thrill ride and really start Chilewood,” Roth said.

When developing the story they also took their time in the exposition, presenting the characters in a very detailed way. The tone of the film also switches drastically from funny to scary. Nicolas Lopez explains that he wanted to step away from the horror genre formula. “Why don’t I make a movie where the first half hour of the movie does not look like a horror movie?” he commented. “Why we don’t spend a lot of time with the character? First, to annoy the audience because we live in a day and age where people want everything now. So what happens every time I watch an American movie and the only thing you know about the character is that his name is John and now he is dead. And of course the death is spectacular and they spend a lot of money, but you don’t really care about the character. So it basically turns into porn,” he added.

In Aftershock calamity reigns in a destroyed city and Mother Nature becomes the ultimate source of horror in a movie filled of fun, thrills and scares. This US/ Chile production welcomes the audience to Chilewood and is the starting point of more Roth and Lopez collaborations. Their next project The Green Inferno is currently in post- production. 

Aftershock will start showing in theaters Friday, May 10^th and will also be available at ON DEMAND.