The Afterman

From the depths of Belgian cinema comes a strange post-nuke cult sexcapade, The Afterman. Directed by Rob Van Eyck, The Afterman is what I'd imagine Carlton Mellick's novella, Razor Wire Pubic Hair, to be stripped of its futuristic and blasphemous overtones. Inside my own circuit of friends is a long-lasting joke that anything with rape, I'll condone. As true as this has turned out to be, I wasn't prepared for the molestation within this near-silent classic. The Afterman is no exception of rape as it features sexual assault that titillates, not in erotic conventions such as nudity. No, nudity has nothing to do with the arousing spectrum The Afterman embraces. Opening to a bearded man, mute and feral, having just had sex with a frozen corpse, whom I believe to be a lover in past, The Afterman quickly thrusts our "hero" into a situation of forced physicality. In fact, everything about The Afterman is forced. When a computer timer slowly ticks down, the man, who can no longer read or write, begins to panic. After this, we assume that this bunker he's been holed up in evacuated him to survey the condition of the earth he once grazed.

Misleading theatrical poster.

After several minutes, the man notices a small group of men at the top of a nearby hill. Excited to see other lifeforms, with animation even, the man greets them with intentions of communion. Thrown to the ground and pinned, the man, our lead character, is raped by a group of men. Already The Afterman establishes itself as a film that doesn't concern nor care for any of the characters within. A brash and unspeakable odyssey of sex with-lasting, The Afterman is one of the few films I can say takes no prisoners. After this event, which would scar any self-respecting male, the man continues his journey. It seems without any social construct, the idea of rape has vaporized completely and what's left is nothing more than that of a canine searching and subduing a bitch in heat. This oversexed Dystopian film is bold with crisp sound effects, almost deafening against the silent backdrop of a mysteriously plagued Earth. As with most conventional post-apocalyptic films, the condition is never described or prescribed.

Stumbling upon a patch of farmland, our lead witnesses a sullen, bruised woman bending over and tilling the soil for what crops the climate could possibly let thrive. As she is bent over, a husky bald man glances for his wife. Noticing he is alone, he approaches the beauty and lowers his pants, forcing himself upon her in a scene that rivals most pornography. With the same flair as Women In Prison films but hardcore compared to the rather tame lesbian antics, The Afterman provides exciting smut, degradation and experimentalism in the same package. It's a film you can endorse because of its maverick roots and a film you'll find yourself hiding in your closet for the contents are a divine mélange of hyper-sexuality that hits home, well, for me it is. The minimalism of The Afterman is also intoxicating. Van Eyck proves that digitally destroyed settings are not necessary for a tale of absence. But in this simplicity is a tale of bizarro-kink, proven by applying its deviant standards to all forms of fetishism, whether religion takes hold of ones head to force fellatio or man/women - man/man rape grips your fancy.

Soon the woman demonstrates Stockholm Syndrome, or the breakdown of key psychological components of the same, and accompanies the overweight man as he journeys towards oblivion. After housing in a shack, a cult of sex-crazed maniacs bludgeon the man, who has proven himself a pussy, and the woman abducted to their lair of sexual humiliation. While spying, the man notices the bizarre actions of these degenerates which includes and is not limited to, throwing a woman bareback onto a dining table and slathering her body in gravy and stringy meat. Surely The Afterman is before its time and would more likely be appreciated in any civilization other than ours. After escaping into a religious sect of occultism(?), forced sodomy is had, much to my shock, and the couple is on their way again. This key scene of Monk cock sucking brings Bataille to mind while I mentally revisit the Story of the Eye. In a world gone mad, this couple demonstrates the necessity for some sort of foundation. A world without morals, without laws, is a scary world indeed. This unlikely coupling of beauty and beast softens the blow of what is left up to the imagination. The only negative aspect I can slander The Afterman with is its jumping significant periods of time with no indication whatsoever. Surely this is a world my cock would benefit in, but would my mind reside comfortably? The Afterman provides these questions and leaves the answers up to you - society or sex?

-mAQ