From beginning as sluggish and slow eating drones, to speedy and vicious creatures, the zombie genre has become a guilty pleasure for many a film-goer.
I am always up for a zombie flick, just as long as it is done right. You do get some that just get lost in the action and it becomes a forgettable piece.
This one ended up being a nice surprise. The opening act really does have you stumped as to where this film is going. It takes you along for the ride and eventually see what is happening and I was on high tension throughout.
The rest of the film moves along nicely and while I was not the expecting the ending that it ended up being, it made sense and I was fine with it.
I must say it is definitely one of the better zombie movies I have seen in recent years. It manages to make you think, which was the biggest surprise of the lot. It concentrates more on its message rather than the zombie action, even though the zombie action is pretty thrilling to say the least.
It felt like a more philosophical version of 28 Days Later and also has similarities to The Day Of The Triffids novel.
The big star in this is definitely Sennia Nanua in the leading role. She was simply terrific. Not just good for a child actor, but easily the best performance out of everyone. She was committed, very physical and really went for it.
I am a big fan of Gemma Arterton and she was solid in her role, as was Glenn Close and the always strong Paddy Considine. As well as Nanua, all the child actors were great.
Whilst it has moments of profoundness, it does not back down with the violence and general gruesomeness of it all which was good to see.
Also, the budget is not that big. So for the money that it was given, it is impressively made, both in the set designs and visual effects. The imagery, production design, makeup and cinematography is really well done. Also, the score by Cristobal Tapia De Veer was surprisingly good and fitted the tone perfectly.
Sadly there were moments of stupidity from some of the characters towards the end which frustrated me. However, the execution of the tension still worked enough for those moments to not be a total loss.
It is a good solid, exciting British zombie thriller. The performances really help the movie, even at its potentially silly moments. The whole look of it feels like a blockbuster and yet the budget is quite small.
Nanua is wise beyond her years and I really hope she sticks to it as she could be special. It is definitely worth seeing on the big screen and the whole team is deserving of a strong box office taking. Many people will know that I was bored watching World War Z. For me, this is what I wanted that to be, and I am glad this got made to show everyone how to execute a smart zombie film.
Rating: 7/10
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