An OnDemand viewing on September 23rd. This picture was released back in June and had a limited run on a limited number of screens nationwide. It got a really good Rotten Tomatoes rating and looked interesting to me but it just didn't stick around long enough for me to get my butt to the cineplex.
The film has grossed around $14 million against a budget of $5 million. Trey Edward Shults, a relative newcomer who worked on three Terrence Malick films, wrote the screenplay and directed this dystopic, psychological horror film about what could happen when a viral outbreak strikes.
The film opens with Paul (Joel Edgerton), his wife Sarah (Carmen Ejogo) and teenage son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) having to dispose of the body of Sarah's father who contracted the disease.
Gross.
And by dispose I mean burn. We're talking bubonic plague type grossness. The smoke from the funeral pyre attracts some unwanted attention. Paul manages to subdue the intruder and keeps him quarantined. Will (Christopher Abbott) tells Paul that he was out foraging for his family when he found the house. Sarah convinces Paul that it might be a good idea to let Will and his family move in as they have livestock. Paul and Will are ambushed when they leave the house but eventually get Will's family and bring them back safely.
Paul lays out the rules and everything seems to go well. Though Travis, being a teenage boy, develops a bit of a thing for Will's wife Kim (Riley Keough).
Young. Cute and fresh as a daisy considering the circumstances.
Travis peeps in on Will and Kim and starts to has fantasies about Kim but they end like this...
Gross drool does not make for a very sexy dream.
Eventually, Will and Kim's son develops a symptom of the disease and Paul decides that everyone should isolate themselves. Travis' eavesdropping comes in handy when he overhears Will and Kim talking about leaving. Will and Kim try to leave the next morning but there's a bit of an armed standoff and it goes badly. I don't want to spoil the ending but it's not a happy one.
This was a really good film. Strong performances by the cast. A really good story and nice pacing for a 91 minute run time. Shults does a nice job with the tension and paranoia of the characters. His story doesn't spends any time on exposition. It's a nice character study about how regular people will try to survive when society breaks down (hint: it's not good). Shults leaves a lot to the imagination. There's a scene when Paul's dog runs away and comes back a few days later badly injured. Is it a monster? We don't know and it's discomforting. This film is worth a view if you're into this type of film.
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