Director: Carolina Hellsgård
Year: 2018
Country: Germany
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Zombie
Plot:
After a zombie virus is released, a woman decides to leave the fortified city she’s living in to go explore a safe haven in a different city, eventually joining forces with another woman in the same situation and bringing them to navigate the zombie-infested wasteland together.
Review:
Overall, this was a decent enough take on the subject. Among the better elements within this one is a solid and workable setup that allows for the traditional genre elements to come together rather well. The idea of the virus taking hold and getting released into the population at large, which soon forces the country to shut down and observe different styles to get themselves safe, ranging from a complete barricade that becomes impossible to get out of to attempting to work out a potential cure that could impact humanity over time, making for a solid starting point. The resulting desire to get out of the city and into the countryside where she’ll be safe from the ravenous creatures is a strong touch, allowing for the occasional interaction when they stumble across one of the zombies while also focusing heavily on the burgeoning friendship between the two of them the more they try to navigate the world at large, brings about some strong sympathetic touches here as this goes about developing this kind of story.
While not as prominent as expected, there are enough encounters here that this has some enjoyable elements to be had. The opening scenes, offering the kind of chaos and panic to be expected in a proper zombie film, focus on the swarming hordes of undead running after victims with plenty of the sort of carnage expected, and get this going along nicely as the series of interactions in the city and surrounding areas of the countryside provide a lot to like. Likewise, the encounters that come about with the two of them together, whether the ambush on the commuter train they find themselves on or the scenes involving them trying to stay alive in the cornfield they find, generate some strong elements here. As these allow for a great build-up to the final half, where not only is there the frenetic chase along the water dam that has a heartbreaking ending, but also the chilling battle in the forest that tries to bring its central premise into view alongside its solid gore and zombie make-up, giving the film some positive points here.
There are some problematic factors to this one that hold it down. The biggest detriment here is the immensely sluggish, and outright deathly dull, pace that completely drains the light from the film before it starts. Since very little in the film manages to bring about full-on zombie carnage beyond these few sections required to sell the idea of the outbreak at hand and what type of universe this has going for it, large sections are going on with nothing happening as we follow the two girls wandering the countryside, focusing on the philosophical conversations that take place instead of the swarming action. The hordes of zombie action disappear as these endless sections devoted to discussing the nature around them or what their potential resource is offer up such large parts of the running time that it becomes possible to forget this is a zombie film due to this setup, and it keeps the film from letting its premise get taken seriously. These end up bringing this one down the most.
Overview: **.5/5
A likable if overall flawed zombie effort, there’s a lot to like here, which is pretty much balanced out by the negative points here, and leaves everything in a generally middle-tier state. Those with an appreciation for this style of genre fare or the more undiscerning zombie fanatics will have the most to like here, while most others turned off by the negatives will want to heed caution here.
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