The Girl With All The Gifts (15.)
Directed by Colm McCarthy.
Starring Sennia Nanua, Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, Glenn Close, Fisayo Akinade and Anamaria Marinca. 111 mins
The zombie apocalypse remains the culture's preferred end-of-it-all fantasy, and one that the British have traditionally been rather good at: Shaun of the Dead, Dead Set, even, Cockneys vs Zombies. The most thoroughly British of British zombie films is Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, a film so PC it refused to label its packs flesh eating creatures Zombies: they may rip apart human flesh but there’s no need for them to be stigmatised. The Girl With is another rather fine and well-mannered zombie movie, and just as in 28 Days Later the menace isn't from the undead, but creatures who have become flesh eaters due to a virus.
The Girl With has all the things you expect of a zombie movie: an underground bunker where there is tension between military and scientists; the group of survivors moving through the derelict remains of a famous city; a scene where people try to tip toe through a group of zombies without rousing them; and it even embraces some more generalised sci-fi/ horror tropes, such as deadly alien spores floating in the air and carrying the infection. So there is plenty here that is reassuring and familiar but The Girl With is also very innovative. It has an entirely original central character – the endearing, swotty, polite, child zombie. Melanie (a tremendous performance by newcomer Nanua) is one of a group of infected children who have retained their humanity even while they lust for human flesh. Melanie is the brightest of the group of children who are taught by Arterton and experimented on by Close, in the hope they contain a cure.
The film makes the most of its limited budget, has a top notch cast and a distinctive, creepy score. Most of all though it has a winning mix of the familiar and innovation. From the very first moments the film grabs you, intrigues you with it world and reassures that it is going to be worth the journey.
Directed by Colm McCarthy.
Starring Sennia Nanua, Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, Glenn Close, Fisayo Akinade and Anamaria Marinca. 111 mins
The zombie apocalypse remains the culture's preferred end-of-it-all fantasy, and one that the British have traditionally been rather good at: Shaun of the Dead, Dead Set, even, Cockneys vs Zombies. The most thoroughly British of British zombie films is Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, a film so PC it refused to label its packs flesh eating creatures Zombies: they may rip apart human flesh but there’s no need for them to be stigmatised. The Girl With is another rather fine and well-mannered zombie movie, and just as in 28 Days Later the menace isn't from the undead, but creatures who have become flesh eaters due to a virus.
The Girl With has all the things you expect of a zombie movie: an underground bunker where there is tension between military and scientists; the group of survivors moving through the derelict remains of a famous city; a scene where people try to tip toe through a group of zombies without rousing them; and it even embraces some more generalised sci-fi/ horror tropes, such as deadly alien spores floating in the air and carrying the infection. So there is plenty here that is reassuring and familiar but The Girl With is also very innovative. It has an entirely original central character – the endearing, swotty, polite, child zombie. Melanie (a tremendous performance by newcomer Nanua) is one of a group of infected children who have retained their humanity even while they lust for human flesh. Melanie is the brightest of the group of children who are taught by Arterton and experimented on by Close, in the hope they contain a cure.
The film makes the most of its limited budget, has a top notch cast and a distinctive, creepy score. Most of all though it has a winning mix of the familiar and innovation. From the very first moments the film grabs you, intrigues you with it world and reassures that it is going to be worth the journey.
