Two young couples (Chris Pine and Piper Perabo, Pine’s brother Lou Taylor Pucci and Emily Van Camp) travel across a rural landscape that looks completely unpopulated thanks to a deadly and contagious virus that has wiped out most of humanity and has made most survivors rather hostile and motivated by self-preservation. Along their journey (they’re headed to the beach the brothers used to frequent as kids), they face many a moral quandary, and make several critical mistakes, especially when a distraught man (Christopher Meloni) and his clearly sick young daughter, flag their car down looking for some petrol so they can get to a hospital for a rumoured vaccine. Pine is the aggressively stubborn de facto leader of the foursome who just wants to reach their destination intact and follow the survival rules they have set out, with younger brother Pucci his compassionate opposite, and Perabo as Pine’s girlfriend with maternal instincts that begin to kick in when Meloni and his daughter turn up.
I don’t know what I’m more sick of, the dull state of modern horror, or the over-abundance of zombie/rage virus movies in the last ten or so years. This low-key horror drama from Spanish writer-directors Alex and David Pastor is indeed yet another zombie-like virus flick (there’s not really any zombies per se, but that proves a minor distinction to make, really), but it almost manages to be that rare good modern horror film I’ve been searching for (“The Hills Run Red” is probably standing alone at the top at the moment, I really liked that one). Unfortunately, like “Summer’s Blood”, it just falls ever-so short. It’s too slow and can’t overcome that samey feel to the plot, but it does have some things going for it.
The plot may be cliché (it’s essentially the second half of “The Crazies” remake plus the survival rules from “Zombieland”, sans humour) but the actors and relatively small group of characters kept me interested. I guess you could say the film gave me one of the things I’m always harping on about modern horror films- the need for characters who are either interesting, likeable, or relatable. I wouldn’t say these guys are especially likeable (Pine in particular is an a-hole), but even when they’re not especially likeable, they are at least interesting, and even understandable. Pine does things at certain points that seem horrible, but given the situation, they are understandably tough, but fair decisions. He’s not much of an actor, but his a-hole character is at least far from dull. As the younger brother just starting to assert himself, Pucci is probably the best of the actors, whilst Perabo really reminds you of how sad it is that such talent and charisma (she has oodles of the latter) have not been met with better success. There’s also an extremely unsettling cameo by Mark Moses that really packs a wallop. It’s the best scene in the film and the rather mediocre actor’s best performance since “Platoon”.
The cinematography by Benoit Debie is among the film’s highlights, a bit muted at times but not quite washed-out, and best of all it is never too dark in the night scenes that you can’t see a damn thing. If not for the plot and pacing (despite a short running time and an opening that puts you right in the middle of the situation, it takes forever to get anywhere beyond that), this would be a good film, but it’s just not fresh. Scenes of deserted streets etc. just don’t have the same impact anymore, because we’ve seen that kind of thing way too many times already (From “The World, the Flesh, and The Devil” to “28 Days Later” to “I Am Legend”).
OVERALL SUMMARY
I admire the writer-directors for their attempt to ground a zombie-like virus flick in some kind of believable drama (it’s kind of a road movie), but the plot itself is just too damn familiar for this to be anything more than OK.
