MM D: Colm McCarthy. UK. 110 min. Sep 14, midnight, Ryerson Sep 18, 12:45 pm, Scotiabank 12. Rating: NNNN
This atmospheric British zombie drama seems 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.)
Melanie (newcomer Sennia Nanua) is 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. 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 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 humans aren’t all selfish idiots and the plot actually grows more complex as it goes on.
