The Removed – AKA After Effect

Runtime: 95 minutes
Release Date: October 8, 2013
Rating: UR
Director: David McElroy


Lacie is a college student down on her luck and in desperate need of cash. Not so desperate that she's ready to hit the pole but desperate enough that she needs to make some extra cash if she hopes to stay in school. After running into an old friend, she learns that he makes extra money doing research projects. He gives her a number to call if she wants to take part in the next study. When she calls, a voice tells her when to show up and what to bring.


Once she arrives, she finds out that the building looks like a hospital on the outside but a military base on the inside. She also runs into her friend who also signed up for the study. Then we get to meet a few other random characters. There is the super lovey dovey couple who can't stand to be away from each other for more than a few minutes, a random hot girl, and of course a sassy black girl.


After the group has fun eating together and partying, they wake to find out that the study started. They all have to sit together in one room and go in one by one to meet with the scientists. Lacie gets taken to a dark room and left alone for a few minutes. Scared, she starts screaming before a weird gas starts filling the room. She passes out and later wakes back in her room.


That annoying lovey dovey couple stars making out, ripping their clothes off, and going at it. Suddenly, the girlfriend freaks out and starts attacking her boyfriend. It doesn't take long before other members of the group start following suit. What the poor college students don't know is that the study is actually part of a military experiment designed to create the perfect killing machines. Led by an unscrupulous senator, the students must find a way to get out of the facility alive.


When I tried finding information about a movie I saw called After Effect, I learned that it was originally released under the name The Removed. I'm really not sure why because it really doesn't have anything to do with that title and After Effect makes more sense given that the majority of the movie takes place after they experience the effects of some random gas.


The hands down best part of the movie is seeing Daniel Baldwin as Senator Davis. He's only in a few scenes, but he does his best to chew the scenery. It's almost like he read the script, realized he was in a crappy horror movie, and decided to just roll with it. There are literally moments where it seems like he isn't even acting! He just strolls in with an angry face and starts snapping at people. It might not seem like much to some, but it was worth it for me.


All in all, After Effect/The Returned really wasn't that bad of a flick. The scenes where the couple turn on each other were some of the best in the movie. While I wasn't a fan of the stereotypical characters or the sometimes forced love connection between two of the other characters, it really wasn't too bad. It kept me from reaching for a book or heading to Reddit, which is more than I can say for a lot of recent horror films.