The Awakening:
The Awakening is probably my Least favorite of the series. It was a ten minute short shot on 16mm showing a teenager in high school getting a test back that he has failed falling asleep and from there on he sees the rest of the class is frozen. He proceeds to get up and look at his grade and that's when stuff gets weirder. The film is not as well done as the other movies in the trilogy. While for Nacho Cerda's first film, it's well done I guess. The editing is pretty good, but the framing is just horrible. The main guy is leaning over, part of him is cut off, he's to the far left of the screen, we see a few other classmates in the background, and I'm sitting there not knowing where the fuck I'm supposed to look. I'm not going to let this get on my nerves, I mean once again, it's his first film and it didn't distract me too much. The movie ends with him not being able to get out of the classroom, turning around and seeing himself dead on the floor with classmates performing CPR on him. It's a strange little short film, well edited, interesting, and brought quite a few thoughts to my head. Overall it's a 6/10.

Aftermath:
This is the best of the trilogy. Aftermath is a short about the depravity of humans. A man is working at a mortuary, one night a body arrives of a young woman who was in a car accident. After an encounter with what I assume are the parents of the girl, the man proceeds to violate the body, set up his camera, drop his pants, and from there the comedy ensues. The movie is fucking amazing, there is no other way to put it. I enjoyed it more the second time I watched it. The fact that he meets the parents before he rapes the body shows how fucked up his mind is. I'm sure most people know that this happens in a majority of Mortuaries, so this stuff isn't fiction. The effects in the film are amazing, the dead bodies are the most realistic I've seen in a movie. The movies don't have many cut aways, they make you watch this guy masturbate and then rape the body. The movie is just great, well done, it looks like Nacho Cerda has learned quite a bit since he did his last film. The movie clocks in at about thirty minutes, great length. The whole movie isn't just him raping the body, the first fifteen minutes are showing the regular routine of taking the bodies apart and putting them back together. The movie ends with the man bringing the woman's heart home, grinding it up and feeding it to his dog, and right next to the bowl the dog is eating out of, is the obituaries and guess who's name we see in there, the woman's. I'm guessing the human heart ground up and fed to the animal that doesn't know better is showing how cold the man is, how even after encountering her parents who are mourning over her loss, still proceeds with the rape. The movie made me think about how horrible and depraved most human beings are, 8/10.

Genesis:
So the last short on the disc is Genesis. This shows a man mourning over the loss of his wife. After she dies, he starts sculpting a statue of her, but the statue starts to bleed, and in time grows fleshy patches, while the man starts to notice the same material the statue is made of, is growing on him. This one wins the award for strangest short on the disc. While it kept me interested, and is incredibly well done, I just don't get it. Maybe it's showing for every death there is life, who the fuck knows? Why am I trying to figure this out? I'd give this one a 7/10, even though I don't get it, maybe it doesn't have a meaning like Aftermath does, or maybe I just haven't figured it out yet. The movie's just well done and a cool short nonetheless.

So the DVD release is great. Unearthed put a huge amount of effort into giving this the star treatment. The prints are crisp clean, except for Awakening which is pretty grainy, but I'm sure it's the best it will ever look. The DVD has some great extras on it, commentaries, making of's. probably the most interesting feature on the disc is a conversation between Nacho Cerda and director Jorg Buttgereit who is actually one of my favorite filmmakers. They both have made films that involve necrophilia and extreme gore. They pretty much are splatter directors. This makes me think about how people think Splatter is a genre only for the sake of showing gore, when it's not. Look at Buttgereit's Der Todesking, Nekromantik Part 2, and Schramm, all amazing films, Nekromatnik 1 I'm pretty sure was just made to go against the censors, but his films are just mind blowing. If you can find any of them, buy without second thought. But the conversation is pretty damn interesting. It also comes with a small booklet which has short essay on the trilogy.

Overall buy the DVD. It's a great collection and well worth the money. There is a limited edition graphic cover (Which also kind of works as a warning, "Easily Offended? Then Fuck Off!") that is out of print, but I have found still in stock [at HKFlix].

I give the DVD a 9/10.

Aftermath: 4 stars. This is the movie that put Nacho Cerda's name on the map. The movie, if you did not know, is about a doctor performing an auptopsy, and ***START SPOILERS*** ends up with the doctor, sleeping with the corpse. ***END SPOILERS*** The film is supposed to show how vunerable the body is after life, which it does a great job at, with such effects as the doctors, just messily placing the organs back into the corpse, and slamming the ribcage down, and trying to smash all the organs back into the chest. This really in my opinion did a good job. And also showing how rough the doctors are with the corpse, really makes you not want an autopsy. Now my personal problem was the necro part of the movie--not that it was too far, just personally I do not wish to see this, it was majorly effective. The camera work in the film is amazing, the one part I remember being majorly impressed by is the use of reflections, in eyes, and the lens of a camera used as a prop in the movie. This was a major upgrade from the first film. All and all, I have to say I really enjoyed the flick.

Genesis: 5 stars. Now this in my opinion was the gem of the DVD. It's a romantic story, about a guy that loses his wife in a car accident, and builds a statue to look like she did. The statue starts to come to life, but as the statue comes to life, he starts to turn into a statue himself. So in essence he is dying while she is coming to life, and it shows us what happens while all this is happening. It's a really great flick if you have a romantic nerve, also there are things in the movie that show irony, such as the use of an unfinished symphony by I believe it's Mozart. The camera work in this one, like "Aftermath", was phenomenal--every time I watch it I notice things I never noticed before, which to me is a sign of a wonder film.

Extras: The DVD itself comes with a four-page insert, which explains the history of the films, and the feeling of the editor of the movie ultra violent. It's a very informative little booklet. The commentaries are also a great way to find things out about the filming of the shorts.

One thing lingered with me after watching the "making of" documentary contained within the Unearthed DVD! When the actor playing the autopsy "did it for real" in the "rape" scene, I'm assuming this is a reference to his state-of-mind and he didn't actually penetrate the silicon cadaver!? Urgh!

The film, beautifully crafted by Spanish filmmaker Nacho Cerda, and only 25 minutes in length, uses completely no dialogue. The film is accompanied by Disturbing and gruesome visuals and a Mozart soundtrack.

The sound effects are something that truly stands out in this film. The gut wrenching saws used to open up the cranium, the knife our disgusting main character uses to stab a woman close to her female anatomy, it's something that can't be overlooked.

"Aftermath" deals with a touchy subject. Necrophilia. I found the necro scene to be highly disturbing and often times disgusting. (Obviously from having intercourse with a dead body) yet completely necessary for a film of this nature.

Nacho Cerda has crafted a remarkable piece of film that is for fans of gore or even just spectacular filmmaking. Kudos to Unearthed Films for picking up the distribution rights.

I give "Aftermath" a 4 out of 5 stars.

This DVD is region free, at a very good price and is a must for any extreme horror film fan. It also features in depth interviews, and trailers.

All in all, this is an excellent collection of films and a must for any extreme horror film fan.