One scene in particular that particularly bugged me was when Dr. Lyons saw that her lover was behaving differently from the rest of the zombies after the Cured Alliance released the resistant infected from their cells. After dedicating time and energy as the lead scientist fighting for the right to try and cure the resistant, she finally thinks she might have made a meaningful advance that MIGHT have cured her lover and justified all of the work and sacrifice she’d experienced. She then rushes into her lover’s cell WHERE A HOARD OF INFECTED WAS JUST RELEASED on the off chance her lover is cured. We already saw Dr. Lyons mistakenly think her lover was cured when she saw her lover sitting up on the bed, so I thought that perhaps she would be attacked by her lover, or infected when she kissed her. But no, she was miraculously cured against all odds. In this heavy moment where the doctor’s work came to fruition, the movie then reduces all of this into a cheap jump scare to kill her in the most meaningless way possible just to get you to flinch since you thought she was safe because she didn’t get attacked or infected by her lover a la 28 Weeks Later. What could have been used as a tool to add depth and emotion by letting the characters experience an intense sense of happiness, loss, regret, etc was thrown away for no one’s benefit but the viewer’s for helping to bring this dumb movie to a close sooner.

Other things I thought were dumb, not in chronological order at all sorry:

Why was there a zombie just waiting in the house for Abbie and Cillian and Senan? This doesn’t make any sense AND it’s just dumb lazy storytelling (I’m dumb and lazy so I’ll keep using that term because it will come up a few times).

When Ellen Page went into that quarantine area, why were there protesters there when there was an active infection threat? Don’t they have better things to do? I can only hope that they became infected so they can be part of the cured and live second class life they were subjecting the cured to.

Why did Ellen Page run into a zombie right in the quarantine (I think)?

I got chills when Connor put his head down and did the zombie nod/communication thing with the other zombie (who was promptly shot which abruptly ended the cool avenue they were hinting at exploring). Lazy and incredibly short sighted story telling.

The Cured in the Cured Alliance at one point get into a circle with their heads down and do this same behaviour. So creepy and interesting and different from anything else in the genre and then they do nothing to explore it! What a waste. This could have been so interesting and novel and they did not run with it.

How did the zombies not get the kid under the car? Again, lazy without achieving anything. It could’ve been more exciting or more logical

Also, they were both zombies in gowns which meant they were from the original wave of a couple dozen zombies Cured Alliance released. How did they make it so far? There was also a zombie in a gown in the final scene with Senan carrying Cillian. How did those original zombies not get killed right off the bat?

When Connor is shot while attacking Senan with the pipe while Zombies chase Cillian, why does the soldier not come check it out? Perhaps they thought Connor was a zombie attacking someone, but then they didn’t kill Senan who would’ve presumably become infected if he were a normal person? What a dumb way to end that altercation and allow both to live without having anything meaningful happen (like Senan finally beats Connor and decides to spare him! WOW after Connor bit him and inflicted him with this curse Senan shows mercy and forgiveness! NOPE! He’s shot, not killed, and escapes with no character devlopment).

In 5 years, 20,000 people were infected in Ireland. This is about the rate of dementia in the country (4000 per year). While everyone may have a friend who’s family member has dementia, I would not necessarily describe that as the country being “ravaged” (outside of the sheer brutality of zombies killing and eating people haha). But then those 20-50 infected that are released ON A MILITARY BASE (where the soldiers with automatic weapons are equipped to deal with the infected) then go on to infect 8000 people which presumably took 2 YEARS during the first infection. They would have been much better off leaving numbers out of this than picking numbers that feel both too low and too high.

Also, were the soldiers peeing on that one zombie in her cell when Senan interrupts them? What was that all about?

Overall a dumb movie with plot holes the size of trucks. Anytime you think they are about to start exploring the most interesting pieces of the world where the cured remember they go for the cheap thrill option while simultaneously making the story unbearably boring in the process. Don’t waste your time.

Well thanks for coming out of a ten year slump to say such kind things to me! I am very privileged. Keeping as many plates spinning as I do on this site, I have to realize that perfection just is never an achievable goal. But we can always learn to do better. Anyway, glad you enjoyed the review. And I do appreciate the kind words. There are other examples here on this site where I didn’t respond as well I am sure. Oh fun! A scavenger hunt!!

Take care Katy – and don’t be a stranger. There are a lot of movies like this one on these pages.

Taylor

Taylor

You also spelt the child’s name wrongly throughout- it is Cillian not Killian.

Just terrible, please don’t review anything else.