Director: Chris Ethridge
Year: 2020
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Drama/Thriller
Plot:
Following a devastating terrorist attack, a group of survivors escape into the woods around Georgia in order to find help and possible explanations for what’s going on, but when a series of incidents and unexplained ambushers thwart their plans for survival they try to put everything aside to get through the situation.
Review:
Overall, this was a relatively enjoyable and watchable thriller. One of its better attributes is the series of impressive work on escalating the situation and playing with the theme of paranoia incredibly well. The madness that starts everything, from the unknown origin of the attack to the race to understand what’s going on rather than figuring out what to do and how to stay safe as time rolls on. This offers up the first in a series of escapes into the wilderness in order to find shelter and answers only for the escalating situation to continually find new obstacles to have to overcome. The new threats that emerge, from the intruders trying to overtake their strongholds, the various lights that continually overwhelm the group as they keep getting afflicted with new threats one after another. Combined with the tension within the group in regards to how they’re going to get out of it alive and it offers a nice tension that grows throughout the film, making for a watchable time here.
It does have a few minor issues. The biggest drawback is most assuredly the low-budget on display which doesn’t really allow much of anything to take place here with everything looking rather cheap and obvious. From the low-rent CGI that’s used for some of the biggest spectacle scenes including the opening attack and later scenes out in the woods where everything takes place yet nothing is really visible, this one looks quite cheap and low-budget. Not having the money for some of the answers to what’s going on, as we never get to see the attackers firing on them in a firefight, the source of the strange lights floating around the campground or how the whole thing is resolved which seems to indicate it ran out of money and opted for an easy fix. As well, the film tends to rely more on talky exposition rather than go for the action it’s trying to showcase, switching things up focus on interpersonal arguments and discussions when they don’t have any purpose in the film by repeating things too often with interpersonal relationship drama rehashed over and over. These hold it back for the most part.
Overview: ***/5
Despite being a bit too talky to cover up the obvious low-budget nature involved, there’s a lot to like here with the urgency and chaos devoted to the situation that makes for a fun watch. Give it a look if you’re a big fan of these low-budget indie flicks or appreciate the more dramatic take on the post-apocalyptic genre, while most others who are turned off by the flaws should heed caution.
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