The Afterman

What I have the honor of reviewing here is something totally unique and probably ranks quite high on the worldwide list of obscure Sci-Fi/horror movies. "The Afterman" is a Belgian post-apocalyptic thriller, but even in its own country of release (which is really small) it only received a minimal distribution and finding a decent copy on VHS is about as rare as encountering a salsa-dancing elephant. Fortunately – or unfortunately if you wish – there are not many people on the lookout for this film and that's mainly either because they don't know it exists or because the reputation of writer/director Rob Van Eyck isn't exactly favorable around here. His most famous film "Blue Belgium", inspired by the infamous Mark Dutroux pedophilia scandal, is generally considered as one of the worst Belgian movies ever and doesn't really stimulate viewers to check out the director's other works. Too bad, actually, since "The Afterman" is a truly special and deeply intriguing cinematic experiment, accomplished with an absolute minimum of financial means yet with a massive amount of controversial themes and downright shocking ideas in the screenplay. The rudimentary plot outline is somewhat reminiscent to "The Omega Man", with a sole man trying to stay alive in a post-nuclear wasteland and the constant threat of other bewildered survivors trying to take advantage of him or even to kill him. Only the concepts of the two films are similar, as the elaboration of "The Afterman" is completely different. There's no dialog in the film and – mostly due to budgetary restrictions – no use of special effects or impressively staged action sequences whatsoever. At the beginning of the film, the nameless main character is still safely entrenched in a nuclear bomb shelter. He has been there since the bomb, or whatever caused the apocalypse, and fills his days eating maggots and making love to a frozen female cadaver. When a short circuit forces him to leave the hideout he's initially enthusiast to learn he's not the only remaining human being left on the planet, but he quickly learns that it's every man for himself now. His first encounter with a group of drifters results in a painful male rape scene, and perverse sexual satisfaction remains the leitmotiv throughout the entire movie. The man subsequently encounters a murderous lesbian millionaire, a couple of farmers that keep a girl locked up in a cage, a sect of fellatio-practicing monks and a sleazy type of society that imprisons women and throws food and sex orgies. The girl that the man freed following a deadly encounter with the farmers stays with him and a strange relationship develops between them, exclusively revolving on – you guessed it – sexual intercourse.

The strongest aspect about "The Afterman" is that writer/director Rob Van Eyck clearly realized what his weaknesses were, so he successfully came up with imaginative ways to work around them. For example, there wasn't any budget to build any genuine apocalyptic-styled sets & scenery like demolished remnants of civilization or futuristic vehicles. Van Eyck worked around this by never really specifying the actual date of the nuclear catastrophe. The protagonist only comes out of his hideout when he's forced to, so far all we know he has remained there for decades whilst the ecology outside had the chance to repair itself. Out there on the surface there are birds singing and crops growing, so maybe the actual apocalypse happened ages ago. Another obvious obstacle was that there aren't any professional actors in the cast. That's okay, though, since their acting duties are limited to stripping off their clothes and walk around with terrified faces. Seeing they don't have any lines to speak, there's also no risk of coming across as bad or incompetent actors. If you manage to overlook the poor production values, you might conclude that "The Afterman" is a really worthwhile and provocative Sci-Fi gem. There are copious of depraved undertones and insinuations in the screenplay, like male rape and necrophilia, and the film approaches all these controversial themes in a very nihilistic fashion; like its human behavior of the most ordinary kind. Through the ensemble of loathsome characters and the total lack of dialog, director Rob Van Eyck often manages to create an intense atmosphere of hopelessness and morbidity. The sex sequences are a bit numerous and, in some cases, terribly overlong (like the lesbian footage near the beginning) but that's hardly something to complain about much.

Come to think about it, Belgian fans of controversial and obscure trashy cult cinema have really few reasons to complain about the output of our country. There's a whole list of bizarre and offbeat experimental film that were made in Belgium. Each and every one of them is obscure and virtually unknown, but they are available if you only search hard and long enough for them. "The Afterman" is just one example, but there's also "Vase de Noces" (better known under its less flattering title "The Pig F***** Movie"), "General Massacre", "Lucker", "The Pencil Murders" and "The Antwerp Killer". All of these are most wanted among cult purchases around the globe

Well, the first thing that jumps out at me here is that this movie is an hour and thirty minutes long, while my bootleg copy (obtained when this was still "rare" and hard to find) is only an hour and twenty-one minutes long, hopefully serving to explain why the ending on my copy makes practically no sense. Not that it matters, as this movie as a whole doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So, you have a guy who looks like Ron Jeremy's second cousin wandering the post-nuke wastelands of Belgium, experiencing a series of misadventures and trauma, eventually finding himself a decent-looking chick and, despite being attacked several times by random foes, never bothers to carry a weapon until the end of the movie, despite having to sleep outdoors most of the time with little or no shelter. There's no dialogue in the film which I attribute to the producers having the foresight of knowing the film could be marketed internationally without the trouble of dubbing instead of any artsy-McFartsy inclinations--a pretty clever move in my opinion.

Overall, I have to write this one off as a sexploitation flick, as none of the situations the guy finds himself in make much sense, nor does the way he reacts to them make a whole lot of sense--especially his not bothering to arm himself. With limited resources and roving packs of individuals moving throughout the country, it is unlikely that any of the weird communities he encountered would have lasted for long if at all, but what of it? It's entertaining enough and worth checking out if you are a fan of 1980's post-nuke flicks, but I've seen better.

"The Afterman" is about a guy who lived alone in an atomic fallout shelter after the A-Bomb was dropped,so he can't read,write or speak.20 years later the shelter opens and he wanders into a barbaric world full of sex and depravity.The film is done completely without dialogue and it offers some wall-to-wall sleaze including graphic nudity,homosexual rape and forced blow-job.There is not enough survival for my liking,though.But if you are into European sleaze with plenty of depravity give this oddity a look.When I was watching Rob Van Eyck's "The Afterman" I immediately came to conclusion that this film was influenced by highly controversial "Vase de Noces" from 1974.8 out of 10.

This is one of those obscure Belgian movies really sought after. For a few reasons people want it, because it is movie without language. No words are used so it is a weird experience to watch it because it isn't an arty farty one like Begotten. Second reason is the so called sexploitation, be aware that it never becomes XXX, it is just that it contains a lot of female nudity, full frontal, pubic hair included you perverts, it is 25 years old! It was never released and illegal copies were almost not available. But Brussels has a film archive and in their vaults lay some hidden treasures. No and then they pop up. Due the Brussels Filmfestival they re released this movie for the first time on DVD. I must say, it's watchable and a bit of blood appears but still it is a low budget. The director was a rebel himself, after an argument with a distributor he for example burnt his movie. No original copies left. He was once in jail and never walked the line. No famous actors were in this flick but it is really the weird things that happen that makes it watchable. For example, a lesbian scene in a swimming pool were the girl going underneath is drown in action. The main actor being released in a destroyed world learns to make love, the monks giving head by visitors, girls on a hook being fed by some weirdo's making love to them, and I can go on and on. Here it is still available for the time being but worldwide it isn't available...a collector indeed.