THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS (Colm McCarthy). 111 minutes. Opens Friday (February 24). See listing. Rating: NNNN
When it premiered at TIFF last fall, this atmospheric British zombie drama seemed like a sedate choice for a Midnight Madness audience – at least at first.
An engaging mixture of George A. Romero’s Day Of The Dead and Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later…, it’s set in an England overrun by the ravenous victims of a fungal infection. They’re called “hungries,” but potato/potahto: they’re fast zombies.
Our hero is Melanie (terrific newcomer Sennia Nanua), a little girl being held at a military base with some other children as part of a desperate attempt to find a vaccine for the fungus. Melanie and her schoolmates aren’t mindless beasts, though they’re still capable of feral violence. And when the base falls (in rather spectacular fashion), Melanie, her teacher (Gemma Arterton), a driven scientist (Glenn Close) and a military escort are thrust into a scary new world.
Mike Carey’s script – adapted from his own novel – combines Romero’s ethical debates with Boyle’s unnerving sense of imminent menace, and finds human moments for every character. He’s also smart enough to avoid the traps those films fell into. This is a zombie movie where the living aren’t all selfish idiots and the plot actually grows more complex as it goes on.
Boy, that’s refreshing.