The apocalypse. I love it. I love everything about it, I love the potential for story and human study is presents, I love the whole idea of society crumbling under the threat of some force, and I revel in writing about it. “After” is yet another take on a zombie apocalypse, except this time… it’s through the eyes of a zombie. After a presumably horribly bloody death, three survivors, held up in a large house, draw their attention elsewhere as their father lays in the next room slowly dying. Through his eyes, we watch his last sights as his children run back and forth planning an escape from the zombies outside. He then emerges and begins wandering the house, with his children struggling to fend him off without killing him.
Through this we watch a zombie apocalypse of Romero proportions as they run around looking for an escape and have to contend with him as he attempts to bite at them and becomes one of the crowds of zombies waiting outside. Shot without a score that enhances the realism and with a sheer black and white bleak style, “After” is really a fantastic horror genre entry. It allows us a rare view into a zombie’s aimless existence, and their inability to keep their urges from even their closest relatives. I got chills up my spine as director/writer Andrew Kemp and the Digitribe crew ace the feeling of carnage and sheer hopelessness.
All the while dropping us right down into the middle of this nightmare that obviously has no hope of ending any time soon. Radio reports blare in the background, and the cabin fever has obviously gotten to these characters, and they’re now forced with their own father who has risen and wants some fresh blood. This just an excellent look through the eyes of the walking dead without any camp or satire to muck it all up. Like a preamble to an epic zombie film, “After” is a wonderful independent horror flick. I’ve never seen a more horrific indie zombie movie before, and in only seven minutes “After” succeeds as a great zombie film, a wonderful short film, and an utterly original concept all at once.