Extinction (2015) User Reviews

Looking rather similar to the horde, but there's a decent drama on this desolated winter

[quincytheodore · 6/10 · 1 August 2015]

Chances are Extinction will remind audience to other zombie or survival movies, such as I Am Legend or even The Walking Dead television series. It uses many familiar elements in this already packed subgenre and honestly it doesn't boast that high of production value. The saving grace is its human drama, which may not be perfect, but acted and crafted fine enough to present a solid survival story.

Patrick (Matthew Fox) and Jack (Jeffrey Donovan) are two neighbors surviving in cold wasteland. Both of them had unusual past which eventually drifted them apart, but they now must reconcile to protect a child from escalating threat. The pace is shifted from present to past regularly to showcase their backstories while the story moves forward.

This method does set some nice character developments, furthermore the actors are definitely capable enough to make it work, seeing that the runtime of nearly two hours revolve around them. It does feel a bit slow at times since the angst and redemption theme are repeated frequently. The movie tries to deliver a few twists, these might not be outright predictable, but not exactly strong and occasionally reaching too far to produce emotional tone.

Actual zombie assault takes much less portion of the movie than the drama, yet it is still made pretty well. Design and effects look better than most of smaller budget flicks. It won't look cheap or campy when the action starts, but it does tend to follow overused path of bald white creature and its quirky antics.

The effort put to personal story and action survival might not suffice to rise above the horde, but it doesn't go to waste since Extinction, despite its flaws, is adequate for a survival tale.

Not your typical zombie flick

[solidsnake1983 · 6/10 · 31 July 2015]

As far as the film goes, a tragedy takes place at the beginning of the movie which puts the two men against each other. Now when I first saw the trailer to this flick I knew it wouldn't be a high budget film. So going into the first 1 hr of the film had me a bit worried that it would be full of cheesy special effects. But instead the script writer maintains focus on the two protagonists and the kid, which is a smart way to do a low budget film less gore, less explosions, less cost. I found it to be quite scary at certain points especially when you see a camera turn away from one of the actors you know something is going to pop out behind. Matthew fox does a pretty good job maintaining a strange character with some sort of secret but if you're like me you can piece it together no problem. I really enjoyed the make up designs for the evolved zombies, but it didn't pan out to be as great as I expected. If you dig movies such as the descent or even 30 days of night I'm sure you will find a shed of enjoyment with the film. Don't over sell yourself thinking it is a complete sleeper it will have its moments, but unfortunately a short hand of them.

More about human relationships than zombies

[Stevieboy666 · 6/10 · 15 June 2018]

This didn't start off too promising for me - a zombie attack on a bus load of passengers with lots of blurred, shaky cam (I hate that), indicating yet another zombie apocalypse movie (yawn, this has been done to death). But then it's fast forward 9 years to a frozen place called Harmony, where we find three survivors from the bus attack. Jack is living with a young girl called Lou, who refers to him as Dad. Next door is Patrick, a drunk who lives with his dog. They are no longer on speaking terms until events take a turn for the worse.. This film is a slow burn, it's more about the relationship between these three characters than the zombies (perhaps infected would be a better word to describe them). So it may put some horror fans off who may become impatient but I found the film to be well made, well acted and although it is quite predictable I was intrigued as to what was going to happen. One thing that I thought stupid however was that these creatures appear to be naked apart from wearing white pants! If you like horror combined with drama then highly recommended; if you just want a zombie gorefest either get prepared to hit the FFWD button or give it a miss.

With humans as unlikable and dumb as this, who minds extinction?

[fedor8 · 9 May 2016]

The zombie genre has been bled dry, nothing new there; there is literally nothing new anyone can eke anymore out of it to make another great zombie flick. I certainly haven't seen a good zombie flick in over a decade. Instead of being creative by coming up with new creepy concepts, the vast majority of "film-makers" are content to milk the last molecules out of zombie and vampire genres.

Only two adults (at the outset) are left in the world – yet they don't talk. That's a whole new level of dumb they're trying to sell, just so they can do injustice to that overrated movie term called "dramatic conflict". The notion that these two guys won't talk due to something that occurred eons ago, regarding some floozy from years back, is too stupid. It just doesn't wash. No matter what argument or hatred is going on between grown men, an extraordinary situation such as a zombapocalypse should have brought them together, at least to the point where they can talk and grudgingly co-operate. Beggars can't be choosers, yet the writer thinks they can. People forgive each other under much less stressful conditions, when they don't have to, let alone in an unpopulated, frozen wasteland in which co-operation is essential to survival.

What's with this "double whammy" apocalypse anyway? We've got a zombapocalypse AND a new ice age! I'd be curious to know WHY a zombie virus would cause such a radical shift in global temperature. Any explanations, movie? No explanation. Movie refuses to discuss this matter with me. Movie knows it's wrong. Movie is a dummie.

If anything, there should be global warming, not an ice age. Here's why: since zombies eat much more than humans (bless their wicked metabolism) – and yet remain skinny – this means they must do the brownie much more often than humans. The logical conclusion is that they fart more – which in turn would make the planet warmer, not colder. Am I right or am I right?

Nor can I accept the fact that TWO major events occur at the SAME day, after nine years of relative monotony: first the hippie gets attacked by a new breed of zombie, only to be contacted by radio minutes later - for the FIRST TIME in nine years – by another survivor. That's coincidenceitatis being brought to a level of absurdity that's an insult to viewers, even zombie viewers many of whom are not unlike the movie's zombies themselves.

It gets better. The little girl, who had been obedient for so many years, not leaving the grounds as ordered, suddenly decided it was OK to go for a NIGHT stroll – only a day after seeing a zombie for the first time! So let me get this right, movie: BEFORE seeing any "live" zombies, the girl didn't have that much interest in venturing outside, but as soon as she witnessed a zombie attack her neighbour, she somehow found that ENCOURAGING? "Hmmm, I used to think it wasn't safe leaving the house, but now that I've seen an alien-looking, deformed, vicious zombie with huge teeth attack another human right in front of my eyes – to which I reacted with shock, dismay and disgust - now I guess it's OK to go out. It's much safer out there with a zombie on the loose." Great logic, movie. Are we to believe all 9 year-olds are completely retarded, devoid of even the most basic survival instincts?

Still, at least she isn't dumb enough to have herself locked up in a basement; but that's precisely what her guardian does. There's hardly an experienced film fan that didn't see THAT stupid plot-device leading to the girl's endangerment.

Just exactly who or what threatens our less-than-merry bunch? A bunch of freakin' gollums, that's what. In recent years a dull fad has engulfed the world of horror flicks, a fad that is making many of them a lot less interesting: the gollum trend. We've seen gollum-like monsters in the overrated "Descent", we've seen them in "The Hallow", in "From the Dark", and many other recent monster movies. Must we have the SAME kind of monsters in every film?

Besides, if these zombie gollums evolved during the new ice age, shouldn't they have grown fur at least? No: the movie thinks it makes more sense to make them totally hairless! Now, that's a logical evolution right there. Darwin would be laughing his ass off. Clearly, American screenwriters have devolved to the state of an amoeba, because so few of them think anymore. Horror, fantasy, and sci-fi films are getting dumber with every new generation of devolved film-makers.

It mystifies me why the survivors have to resort to hand-to-hand combat with the gollums when they'd previously armed themselves to the hilt. And when they do finally get to shoot the gollums, they run out of ammo! I mean, here we have a world in which time is the one commodity the humans have in abundance, yet they never actually bothered to make sure they have sufficient supplies of ammunition. This is the kind of nonsense I'm talking about, a clear indicator that screenwriters have devolved from average morons who made average movies in the 40s and 50s to the sub-par imbeciles who never run through a script more than 2-3 times before submitting it to some daft director.

Well that was quite surprising.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 17 January 2016]

The world has come to an end, flesh hungry zombies now inhabit the planet, only two men, Patrick and Jack, and Jack's daughter Lu survived. Living in the aptly named town of Harmony, which is now snow covered and surviving only just. A divide separates Patrick and Jack, but soon they must unite when the Zombies hit the town.

I had read the usual reviews an was almost put off, it's true we have been swamped with Zombie movies over the last few years. You can't even visit a Cinema without the latest offering attempting to outdo the last. But there is something strangely enjoyable about Extinction, put together in an altogether more serious and grown up manner it has some very good points, some really strong production values, it certainly looks good, it's well acted, Matthew Fox puts in a good shift, even if he is hardly recognisable from the Lost days. Some great tension, a few jumpy moments.

On the downside the film is overlong, at almost two hours I did lose interest a few times, some of the scenes are a bit too dialogue heavy, they could definitely have done a bit of editing to get it to ninety minutes. At times the story seems almost small scale, considering the enormity of what's occurred, the confines make it a bit small at times. Some aspects of the storyline were glaringly obvious too, you knew what was coming.

Not a film you'd go raving about the monsters and the effects, it's more then that, it focuses more on the characters, the story of survival and human relationships. Pretty good, 7/10

Very high potential

[seularts · 7/10 · 3 August 2015]

This movie could have been so much more. it had all the elements to end up a masterpiece, but for whatever reasons the actions seem incomplete. The potential in this movie was beyond awesome, unfortunately they only scratched the surface.

The beginning of the movie wasn't all that promising but once I had a view at the first snow creature I was amazed how well it looked.. from afar. Once they got close, it lost all the fear that got me excited at first. I'm not saying they did a bad job, but the effects and costumes felt outdated and unpolished.

The acting was above average, even though some character decisions were sloppy here and there, never the less the movie did connect with the human touch after 9 years of survival in the wilderness with 2 men and a child.

The plot is unique and original but a bit rushed, maybe too many elements were included and there wasn't enough time to explore them in depth and evolve a better bond between them. One solid example would be the radio voices that were suggesting dementia, but they were there only for a few minutes in the movie then they weren't mentioned at all.

The movie is worth watching, even though the ending was kind of messy with little information what was going on. Maybe one day someone will try to remake it into something better and add more refined details that were skipped or rushed in this movie.

Not Bad

[coffeyn-10202 · 5/10 · 31 July 2015]

I just finished watching this film, fair enough it is you average run of the mill type. I however enjoyed the movie, I would say watch it and make your own mind up. The effects were good and the acting to, CGI was excellent not tacky low budget. I have seen far worse in the past, however this film is not one of them. I would watch it again, so saying that says something. If your expecting scares, jumps etc, whilst there are a few, it is very drawn out, the story gets you involved with the characters which is good, If I have to say this film sort of reminds me of legend with will smith, no doubt some people will not like it but hey better than watching paint dry.

Not massively original but still worth watching

[aghd2012 · 7/10 · 10 July 2016]

In recent years I have really struggled to come across a zombie horror movie which really interested me. This movie is not the most original I have ever seen and it is relatively predictable however I did still find myself entertained through 90% of the film. The characters were, for the most part, likable and it had some tense moments. The 'zombie' design was not very original but creepy nonetheless. The acting was decent and the setting was interesting. As the movie went on I felt it comparable to the likes of 'I am Legend', 'The Descent' and 'Signs'. All of which I consider pretty good movies so I wasn't too bothered about the obvious similarities. All in all I felt it was an hour and a half well spent and I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of this genre.

These zombies are coool

[bs-33435 · 2/10 · 14 August 2018]

Okay, so first of all I do commend the director and writers for trying something different in the zombie genre, but along the way they stumble through many zombie cliches. The film opens on a convoy of survivors trying to get to Harmony, a fictitious city. I'm assuming it's fictional because I don't remember any cities so far north to have perpetual blizzards and yet also skyscrapers (observe poorly designed and obviously fake backdrops in the early shots of the film), seriously it snows all the time, did the zombie outbreak also change the weather? (Actually that's probably a better film idea than this one deserves.) Anywho, after an extremely inane action sequence to explain "how we got here" (that includes multiple silent stealthy deaths by a large crowd of screaming zombies), we learn in the present the main characters hate each other for some reason and dummy A (I will refer to them as such for the remainder of the review for obvious reasons shortly explained) takes care of dummy B's daughter and raises her as his own because "he ain't right" according to dummy A, or some such reasoning to shut up a "daughter" he treats like utter garbage in an apocalyptic situation (seriously, I get he's trying to be stern but it's a world where 99.9999% of the earth was eaten, including her mom, lighten up dude). So, yeah, in a world of complete destruction and death, the only two people that they know of are choosing to be little babies and are feuding like warring neighbors in a FREAKING ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! Are you kidding me? I'm led to believe in a world of almost all dead that they wouldn't put such things aside, for the sake of the baby girl they are trying to raise? The movie trudges on, more dumbness, dummy A watches dummy B nearly die "cuz feud", then dummy B has a subplot where voices in his head tell him to kill people (okay?), dummy A invites dummy B to dinner, ruined "cuz feud", etc. (side note: the director was obviously a HUGE fan of "The Walking Dead" due to multiple ripoffs, from limb hacking to avoid zombie infection, to "hit everything then hit nothing" good guy aim). We learn the zombies are back and evolving, now they are blind but they hear good. (Not sure how that's a evolutionary possible since evolution is to make a species better hunters, not worse, and they haven't been living underground.) For some reason this makes them...worse? Not sure why? They also no longer spread infection. Sweet. For some reason a pretty lady shows up to be pretty and talk about a survivor story. Seems condoms must be zombie food, otherwise I can't explain why you wouldn't use protection in a zombie apocalypse. Seriously, this is a world to raise a child? Maybe wait until after the cannibals are gone, 'kay? Yep, she's pregnant. Although that subplot means absolutely nothing, other than showin some belly it's never referenced in the movie again. So dummy B decided to cut up the first Uber zombie they met and keep it as a dog or something because pretty lady sees it and rightly shoots it dead because these suckers are pack hunters and he's been calling his buddies for a few days. Seriously, these guys are so dumb. How did they survive 9 years let alone 9 minutes?! Pretty lady is the only smart character, she informs them they are all dead meat, and they await the horde. The child gets unexplainably locked up in the basement so her dad can keep her outside of his view, safe in such situations I know. Things go bad, then well when the characters realize sound is bad (sidenote #2 : Did John K. from "The Office" get drunk and watch this movie and that's where "A Quiet Place" came from? Seriously, it has sound hunting monsters with wicked ears, who are killed by sound, and includes a Dad who dies at the end to save his kid....o crap.) and play some classic rock to mess the zombies up. Works until the generator that has been (conveniently blasting music day and night for weeks) conveniently dies, mid zombie battle. Nice. Dummy B decides to be a hero and lead away sound hunting zombies using his fleshy body instead of, ya know, throwing a rock or something. He gets Rambo'ed by God and shoots everything easily until he forgets to grab a sidearm or any extra bullets and gets eaten and dies and blows up. In that order. (Somewhere along the lines we learned Dummy B is the real dad of the child but he was a drunk and let mom die so dummy A raised the baby, this was an act of self sacrifice to atone for being an idiot. Didn't work. Still dumb.) Movie ends, mercifully for the audience.

Spanish/US apocalyptic action thriller with chills , terror and enjoyable father-child relationship

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 18 January 2021]

Two men , Patrick : Matthew Fox, and Jack: Jeffrey Donovan and a little girl : Quinn McColgan are the only survivors of a plague of Zombies that has killed most of humanity and transformed the rest into monsters , the sole survivors struggle valiently against the bloody and rabid creatures . They have been surviving at a peaceful and snow-covered location of Harmony . While , Patrick has faithfully sent out radio messages , desperate to find any other survivors might be out there . Mutants victims of the plague -the infected- lurk in the shadows watching every move . The two men developed a strong hatred that separated them , but when the infected show up , Patrick and Jack will have to join forces , leaving behind the past rancor. Perhaps , they are mankind's last people . Besieged and attacked , they know they are outnumbered and quickly running out the time. When the undead can evolve ...no one is safe ! They are the last !

This spooky picture displays terror , shocks , high doses of violence but also contains a sensitive family story in which two enemy men join themselves to protect the one being who means more to them than anything else . This international co-production manages to convey an eerie and creepy atmosphere to dismay . The film contains terrifying and hair-raising frames when the Zombies-alike attack , including lots of blood and gore . It blends Sci-Fi from Francis Lawrence's "I Am Legend" along with "George Romero's Zombies" , taking parts here and there.

It packs suspenseful and frightening musical score by Sergio Moure . As well as colorful and adequate cinematography by cameraman Josu Inchaustegui , showing shining and brilliant color when dawn and sun rises . Being shot on various locations in Vielha , Lleida, Spain and Budapest, Hungary . The motion picture was competently written and directed by the Spanish filmmaker Miguel Angel Vivas . He is an expert on rare atmosphere and creepy, horror flicks . Vivas is a good professional who has made some nice films as his first great hit "Secuestrados" or Kidnapped 2010, furthermore: "Reflejos" or Reflection 2002 and " Tu Hijo" or Your son 2018 . In addition , directing popular TV series as "Vis a Vis" , "Desaparecidos" , "Vivir sin Permiso", "Mar de Plastico" and "La Casa de Papel" . The picture will appeal to terror thriller enthusiasts .

One Frozen Mess

[jimkempster · 1/10 · 31 July 2015]

If I could give this movie below zero stars, I would.

At every turn, the writing, the story line, the ammo and food supply, the zombie underpants, even the bad snow flocking, fail again and again. One minute the little girl is acting mature beyond her years, and the next she's doing something inexplicably childish and absent of the fear she expressed a moment earlier. The wind howls, they talk about freezing cold, but the windmill on the farm never moves and they stand with the door open for several minutes--no frosty breath, no rush to lock out the elements. The plot flaws and continuity flubs add upon each other to become something unforgivable.

Yes the movie made me jump a few times, but throw anything by surprise at the camera and I'll jump, even if I'm loathing what I'm watching.

Someone must have told poor Matthew Fox and Jeffrey Donovan that they were locked inside the film project itself for their own protection and wouldn't be let out until it was over, just to keep them in it to the end.

A return to the core of the genre

[siderite · 9/10 · 2 August 2015]

At first I thought "Oh no, not another zombie movie!", but from the very first minutes I got hooked. The beginning scene of the film is great and reveals the overall theme of the movie: it is not about why or the how, it's all about the who.

Extinction is rather badly chosen a title, because the scope of the film is not global, but very localized, very human and personal. It feels more like a play, with a total of four roles that are worth mentioning. It is not about a problem that someone solves, but goes back to the core of the zombie genre, the pure survival of the group of individuals in a hostile world. The creatures themselves are very secondary with the focus on the people, with complex and well written characters.

Bottom line: this film deserves a lot more recognition than the IMDb rating seems to indicate. It is not a masterpiece, but certainly a work of art, not another recycled "run, shoot, run" clone. It lasts for two hours and it is a slow paced character driven story. So glad to see well written stories from time to time.

Good

[kathmummybear · 7/10 · 9 April 2020]

Well written directed and acted all in all a really good film and a very pleasant surprise

Not the best but not the worst.

[Dodge-Zombie · 5/10 · 10 June 2022]

I feel like lot's of different movies were used as inspiration for this one. It seems to have taken ideas from lots of places. It's worth a watch but only middle of the road. In the world of zombie type movies it's certainly not the worst one you'll ever see.

Sub-Zero Horror!... At Its Best!

[johnny-bev · 28 August 2015]

Well all I can say is what a pleasant surprise, just when I was looking for something that would fly under the radar this popped up!,in a world populated by c grade trash and Hollywood tripe movies this is the sort of film genuine horror fans will enjoy, although a little of a slow burner its apocalyptic arctic setting builds to a climatic yet somewhat satisfying but logical end without overstepping the overall mark.

Not a huge lot of replay value to be truthful but horror fans will enjoy it every now and then in the right setting as I will, well acted...well pretty much everything was done to above a good standard to be truthful and this will join my collection among many other from the same genre.

ps....not a real zombie film but something much more.

Not amazing but pretty watchable

[gluonpaul · 7/10 · 21 April 2019]

I think perhaps the fact this is termed a zombie movie puts people in the wrong frame of mind for it.

In reality there isnt a whole lot of your traditional zombie fighting movie in this, the zombies are more of an ever present threat in the background on top of which a human drama is playing out.

The drama is really the main point of the movie and its about two men and a little girl and the impacts of being imperfect people but trying to do their best for the girl.

Its not a bad movie, definitely watchable, just dont expect tons of zombie action there isnt an enormous amount of that.

Two Men And A Little Lady, And Zombies.

[Pairic · 7/10 · 9 May 2018]

Extinction: Two Men And A Little Lady, And Zombies.

Yes theres a Zombie Outbreak or Zomboid rather as they are not dead. Starts out with all but 4 of a busload of evacuees being wiped out in an attack. Two men, a woman & a baby girl survive but the woman has been bitten.

Nine years later. The men (living next door to each other) are bitter enemies, the girl lives with one who prefers a cloistered existence, the other is more of a survivalist. Flashbacks reveal the roots of their mutual animosity and the fate of the woman.

The Zomboids have developed and are encroaching on the humans territory, this and their feelings for the girl force the men to cooperate. To scout out new territories.and to search for other survivors.

While it does owe debts to I Am Legend and The Walking Dead this film succeeds on its own terms. A convincing Post-Apocalypse SF/Horror Thriller. 7/10.

80% dull drama, 20% predictable horror.

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 28 June 2016]

In the snow-bound town of Harmony, three survivors of a zombie plague—Patrick (Matthew Fox), Jack (Jeffrey Donovan), and Lu (Quinn McColgan)—live a day-to-day existence, convinced that the infected have long since gone (wiped out by the cold), and that they are now alone on the planet. They are wrong.

Director Miguel Ángel Vivas attempts to distinguish Extinction from the average zombie film by focusing on a small-scale drama that unfolds within a familiar apocalyptic setting. But after an hour or so of maudlin, plot-hole-ridden dreck guaranteed to have the eyelids drooping, Vivas ultimately resorts to the same bag of tricks used for so many other modern zombie movies—wobbly camera-work, rapid editing, growling sound effects to make the zombies seem more threatening, and CGI to 'enhance' the appearance of the undead—all in a desperate bid to wake up his audience.

The last twenty minutes or so of Extinction admittedly provides a few solid scares, but nothing that we haven't seen many times over. So much for taking a different approach. In the end, his film is just one more forgettable entry in a very overcrowded sub-genre.

Good Movie With Minor Script Issues.

[tiskec · 6/10 · 21 December 2020]

This movie is very emotional and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

The only issues I have with the script is at the start of the film. In the beginning the military seems to be escorting survivors of a pandemic that turned people into rabid infectious flesh eating mutants. There were two different buses that halted in the middle of the street. When military personnel on the following bus witness and hear gun fire from military personnel on the leading bus. Here comes the issue: the military men on the following bus radio to the bus infront of them after the gun fire, without a response. Any logical train of thought would've came to the conclusion that everyone was dead on the bus ahead of them. Knowing this, the military personnel on the following bus (which consisted of two men) requested for the driver to open the bus door. When he does one of the two military personnel goes outside and doesn't return for some time. Then the remaining military man requests the driver open the door so he can see what's going on. MAJOR LACK OF COMMON SENSE! This is the only issue I have with the films script.

Other than the shaky beginning, the film is quite well done. The characters are adaptable and have solid background and connections to one another.

I would've easily gave this movie a 7/8 if it wasn't for the start. I recommend it for a watch or two. Not bad.

What was that?!

[catigrun · 1/10 · 22 August 2020]

If you like horror movies, if you like zombie movies, if you like postapocalypse movies, if you like good acting and nice dialogues, if you like interesting plots, or if you just like movies - skip this one.

Interesting and New take on Zombies

[pisteyes · 7/10 · 22 August 2015]

Interesting movie that started off slow almost dream like but really picked up speed as the movie progressed. With both both main characters their is an underlining friction that is just beneath the surface. Both leads are played excellent and really showcased their acting ability. It's a post apocalyptic movie that really takes the Zombie theme and goes in a totally new direction. I really enjoyed the movie. I'd recommend it to people who enjoy Zombie / post apocalyptic stories and movie themes. I'm not sure of the young girls name you played the daughter in the movie but she is a young actress with a truly bright future.

This movie sux

[zenu-15130 · 1/10 · 31 July 2015]

This movie is a waste of eye sight. It is more frustrating in its glaring gaps of reality in the story line, it actually hurts.

Really, nine years to prepare and the best defenses they can build is a wire fence? They run out of bullets after 2 minutes of a fire fight? They move around without at least 4 side arms and a long arm? An idiot that believes he is protecting his child(not) by not teaching the child how to effectively kill as soon as the child can walk.

I can't believe that people get paid to write this rubbish. A thumbs up for the actors who would have wondered why they were asked to regurgitate the trite garbage they called a script.

A human drama set against the zombie apocalypse

[Rob_Taylor · 8/10 · 2 August 2015]

I was very pleasantly surprised by this film. Pretty much everyone is tired of the zombie genre by now but no one seems to be doing much to try and change up the formula.

Enter "Extinction", where the main story focus is on the relationship between the two main male leads. After a brief intro scene setting the zombie apocalypse stage, we are sent years into the future and the two men, though living next door to one another in their survivalist enclave, have nothing to do with each other. What has happened in the intervening time to drive them apart? Well, we learn that during the course of the movie, naturally, but it was nice to see that, although there are zombies in the movie, they aren't the focus of the story, merely the backdrop.

This type of movie works really well. The mystery surrounding the two men's falling out and the relationship with the little girl keep you guessing for a while. Of course, the "twist" isn't so wild or subtle that you don't guess it really early on, but it is nice, nonetheless.

The zombies, of course, though absent from much of the film, reappear at length, and we are treated to some nice moments of film making that put me in mind of older films. There is suspense and some nice moments of tension until they are finally revealed but there are a few too many jump scares.

Ultimately, the human drama enhances what would otherwise be a boring zombie movie and makes it into a very decent film indeed. The two main actors involved, Matthew Fox and Jeffrey Donovan, handle their roles very well and give very good performances.

That said, if you prefer your zombies slow and shambling, or your zombie flicks to be fast paced and violent, then this one may not be for you. On the other hand, if you want to try something a little bit different in the zombie apocalypse, then give it a go.

SUMMARY: More human drama than zombie-fest, though there are plenty of them towards the end. Well worthwhile if you want something more than "Pew-pew-pew! Die Zombie Die!" to watch.

MY FRIEND FLICKA

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 28 April 2019]

After an unnamed disaster there is an apparent viral infection that creates zombies and most likely is associated with the prolonged "nuclear?" style winter (Comet with alien infection?) After a brief "I don't think that's a good idea" we end up 9 years later with prudish Jack (Jeffrey Donovan) and young Lu (Quinn McColgan) living in one house while his ex-friend Patrick (Matthew Fox) lives across the street, each one surviving on their own.

Eventually we get to the spoiler on the DVD cover when evolved zombies attack. Not only do we never find out caused the event, the film is a little fuzzy on the event with Emma (Valeria Vereau) the dead wife and the apparent episode that lead to 9 years of separation of the two friends. I was expecting one more flashback to make thing crystal clear, but it never happened.

I liked the idea that it broke the zombie mode. I didn't like the lack of characters at the end of the world. Jack and Patrick lacked charisma and I would have never created a story around such dry characters.

Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.

Insultingly Bad

[wildernessbarbie · 3/10 · 22 January 2021]

I love zombie movies, and appreciate fresh takes on the genre. However, the pointless and glaringly obvious errors and nonsensical events just say "lazy writing."

After "something bad happens" to a bus full of people and two heavily armed military men, wtf would you OPEN THE DOORS and not just drive the bus away??? There's no real sense of urgency, and the "look out" somehow misses the monster that runs right up to them.

Aside from that, it's apparently winter all the time? Only explanation for murder/suicide bodies to be left intact and not decomposed after years.

Girl sees a monster DIGGING UNDER THEIR FENCE, and not only doesn't mention the breech to her Dad, he never notices the huge hole either. Even later, when it's obvious the monsters are back, still nothing. Then, she goes OUTSIDE, at NIGHT, through the gaping hole, to put plastic flowers on a dog grave. UGH.

Neighbor doesn't mention that monsters are blind and hunt by sound, which would be helpful to know when fighting them off.

Gasoline goes bad after just a few months/years. Wth does all the fuel come from for the generator, truck, and snowmobile?!!? There's a windmill, that never moves in all the snow, why isn't it working to generate power? Wth did the battery for the truck that's been sitting for years come from? How are is it not just frozen solid after sitting all that time???

It's supposedly freezing cold, all the time, so no idea where the wild herbivore animals (non-hibernating rabbit, horse) find things to eat.

Zombies wearing underpants? Really??? WHY?

There are no other kids around, where does the girl get ideas about what is and isn't appropriate for her age? Too old for dolls? Who cares?!

Speaking of cold... as my Mom would say "WERE YOU ALL BORN IN A BARN???" They are CONSTANTLY leaving doors wide open, day and night. Gathering fuel to burn to heat those homes would require HUGE amounts of energy = calories = food = additional foraging =even more work. Leaving doors open like that, having uncovered single pane windows, etc is just plain stupid, and serves no purpose. Not that there's even a basic attempt to make it really appear cold. No frosted breath, no snow on actors after being outside.

Monsters INSIDE THE WALLS??? Which movie is this? Because anyone who has ever seen the inside of an actual wall knows how stupid this idea is. Builders don't waste valuable materials, space, and effort building in huge dead spaces inside walls unless they're perverts, serial killers, bootleggers, or smuggling slaves to freedom.

Finally- Wtf is up with the ending?! What are they looking at? A sunrise? A working city? A space ship? Disneyland? Who knows! Nine years and apparently they never found a short wave radio that should have allowed them to contact people hundreds, or even thousands of miles away... instead just one person only 50 miles away.

I knkw we are all dredging the bottom of our watch lists 11 months into this pandemic, but this one still isn't worth it. Go watch a classic, or short indie film collection. Or the inside of your eyelids instead.