User reviews

Bleak and fairly effective low-budget survivalism in the post-apocalyptic hellscape. Set ten years after the no-need-to-explain end of world (one character notes: "it's been two years since we heard a bird chirp)and with, in the first half of the movie, a cinéma vérité feel, what remains of humanity seems to be running on fumes. Whereupon, events take a turn for the worse.

Produced by and featuring Dominic Monaghan, the script initially appears to tread the conventions of a zombie movie, until it becomes clear that the five main characters face opponents far worse than the undead.

Well considered use of color-bleached cinematography keep the protagonists trapped in a NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD milieu even as the enemy enjoys blue-eyed, blue-sky color.

The almost black and white color drained tone fits with the movie's grim, desperate atmosphere. The plot is simple: a small group of survivors, an abandoned house, and "Danger" lurking everywhere.

The Day directed by Douglas Aarniokoski based on a screenplay by Luke Passmore tries hard to be a serious survival film, but it's slowed down by boring melodrama and cringeworthy dialogue. The characters feel like stock stereotypes, and the overuse of dramatic music adds to the unintentional comedy. If you're looking for a thought-provoking film, this isn't it.

Filming took place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, during the fall of 2010

There is a twist, but overall, it's a below-average, almost bad movie.

Up to this point the first three reviewers were raving about this and added a very positive vibe out for this movie. While I won't disagree with them (it's a decent movie), I cannot fully share their enthusiasm. The movie is excellently shot (moody if you want to call it that) and has a stellar cast. But I never felt that it went places (no pun intended) or had the upper hand on other, similar movies.

One of them being "The Divide", which I thought had some interesting ideas and was also confined in an area, but was also more compact and more suspenseful overall. The movie on hand is good too and if you like your end of the world thriller to have some drama and action mixed in, this won't disappoint you. Just don't expect it to be more than meets the eye (characters are well drawn, but nothing pushes this over the edge for me)

Saw this movie in Toronto and loved it! It's not your typical post-apocalyptic thriller. There is a lot of action - as the previous reviewer said it picks up after about half an hour and the adrenaline is pumping from there on out. But it also has pretty deep character development and some emotionally intense scenes. The cast has some recognizable faces (Sossamon, Monaghan, etc.) but no huge stars or clichéd action heroes that detract from the characters. I thought the tension and emotion seemed really authentic. It was also shot in a really cool way. All in, it had everything I was looking for in an action film but was more unique and memorable than I was expecting. Can't wait to see it again on the big screen!

I had high hopes for this movie with the cast involved. And to be honest, I loved it. It's not the best movie I have ever seen, but I have recommended this to people, and will definitely watch it again.

It seems a bit low budget at first, but you truly forget about it as it was shot very well. The acting is perfect for the type of film it is and if you have seen it you can see how some of the actors put their bodies to the limit. It makes me as the movie watcher happy to see actors give it their all for a 'smaller' film like this.

Acting was great, plot was good, all around a good flick. Pay no attention to those who bashed it, apparently remakes and big budget crap is what they were looking for. This is a solid movie!

"You have fortification and you know they're on their way and you have me...I'll kill them all." After the apocalypse the world is a wasteland. What started off as a large group has now become 5 and the 5 are looking for food and supplies. While on their a road they spot a farmhouse and decide to check it out and think they have a place where they can rest, get dry and regroup. Things change quickly. Going in I was expecting this to be along the lines of "The Divide" where a group is locked in somewhere and they have to band together to get out alive. This is more along the lines of "The Book Of Eli" where it's a group against another. The movie is pretty graphic and gory in parts but it's nothing really over the top and most people should be able to handle it OK. For a movie like this the cast is pretty well known and while the acting isn't amazing it is very good and fits the movie. This is nothing that is Oscar worthy but for a movie of this subject it is actually pretty entertaining and better then I expected. I liked it more then I thought I would. If you are into movies like this then you will really enjoy this surprise. I give it a B.

Although I heard a few negative comments towards this film, I still had expectations that I would like this more than comments mentioned. However I felt let down by this one.

To start with, the positives. The director has done a very good job at creating a post apocalyptic feel! The colouring is very dull. So dull that it could almost pass as a black and white film in some scenes. I thought it helped capture a sense of pure dread and hopelessness. I thought the soundtrack was very decent also, being very similar to that of 28 Days Later. On top of all of this, the acting was top notch as well. So fortunately it does come with positives. However, having said that, the negatives outweigh them in my opinion. The story just seems to shallow. Basically a "Last stand" type of film, paying homage to classics such as "Zulu" and also to that of a recent British Horror Film called "Dog Soldiers". Showing us the courage that outnumbered parties must have in order to survive with impossible odds. The problem lies in the fact that the director seemed more interested in making it as violent as possible, instead of focusing on character development. We don't know too much about the characters and we don't know too much about the backstory, so questions will be raised, such as "how did the world come to how it was now". Another negative is the CGI'd special effects. The gore looked too fake and as a result, was nowhere near as brutal as it thought it was. Then we have an ending that I thought was pretty cool! I wasn't expecting what happened, so that's always a good way to finish up. Unfortunately the ending and the positive visuals in the film, couldn't prevent it from being a disappointment.

"The Day" started out very promising for me, but within a half hour unexpectedly turned a different direction. Which for some of you may actually be a plus but I'm old school. It is filmed in the greys of a post apocalyptic ravaged world with most of the movie set in an old farm house. The protagonists are not zombies, or aliens, or some lethal mutant virus....or even just survival of a wasted world and that's where it disappointed me. Yet I think most people into apocalyptic movies will like this movie a lot...(Especially If you like quite a bit of kickass action and blood and guts) For a movie obviously on a budget it's all VERY well done. The directing and acting is excellent. There are lots of scenes done at night, a bit hard to follow and a few editing slips, but the vast majority of this movie is HUGE leaps and bounds, in every aspect, above most smaller and lower budget productions in the post apocalyptic genre. So if the subject matter interests you, I have no doubt you should give this movie a try.

The only thing that I think hamstrings this movie is poor production quality. They shoulda just burn the house down rather using VFX that says it is present in the movie. Otherwise, the screenplay was taut. People who confuse action for fast, abstruse editing cuts, a-la Michael Bay maybe disappointed but action that forwards the script will delight true movie connoisseurs. Good indies are hard to come by. Finding one is like finding a treasure. For me 'The Day' is to zombie/apocalypse what 'According to Greta' is to coming of age and 'City island' is to family dramedy.

The kills are good and guns don't don't have unlimited ammo. I'd say it does flag a bit in the second act but the climax delivers. But I'd also say that this movie is not for everybody. Save it for a day when not in the mood rom-coms are brain investing movies. Put your eyes on auto-pilot, grab a cold one, and viola! That's a decent 90 minutes right there.

Another post-apocalyptic flick that has it pro's and contras. What I liked was the way it was shot. Black and white to add to the darkness of such a story and colour when the world was still turning around without any problems. The contra is the use of CGI for red stuff and some killings. Nevertheless, it's still worth picking up if you dig flicks like The Road (2009).

There's nothing supernatural or creepy to this flick. You go rather deep into the characters before hell breaks out. But even that isn't scary or whatsoever. Again, it's positive to see that the good ones can die too. It never is rather gory but the shots taking place at night are sometimes a bit too dark to actually see the blood sputter around.

Still, not a bad attempt with a simple story about five survivors being exhausted and searching for a place to take a rest but once they found a house it doesn't seem what it looks like. It's a trap and things go awry from then. But even in the group of five there are things coming out of the closet.

I didn't had a problem with the ending as some did. A good low budget flick made for the lovers of dark (no pun intended) flicks with some brutality involved.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 2,5/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

Seriously, this movie is so hokey and cheese ball, the dialogue is just awful, the overly dramatic drumming of the soundtrack is hilarious and that stupid filter... lol! It's good for a laugh if you enjoy bad movies like I do and I would've rated it higher if it wasn't being promoted as a serious attempt at the genre. If you're looking for something well written and not completely silly this isn't it. Go check out The Road or The Survivalist or The Rover if you're after something actually bleak, pertaining to the human condition and that takes itself seriously and that's post 2000's. This movie is none of those things except being newer, it baffles me how movies like this get any serious reviews. It's not unwatchable and I enjoyed it but I wouldn't consider it a serious movie, maybe an attempt at a serious movie but there's just too much working against it for it to be anything other than entertaining and comical.

I was looking forward to this movie as positive reviews and a strong cast certainly pointed in the right direction. I now have very mixed feelings about it however. Let me see what's good - gritty shooting style, certainly nobody looked like they stepped out of a hairdressers. Expanding upon post apocalyptic themes hinted at in The Road. Displaying multiple sides of this story through characters. All looking good, however I felt I really didn't warm to any of them and they seemed mostly a little on the shallow side. There is an attempt most certainly at maintaining a modicum of realism which is appreciated however this stumbles on a hurdle when the action really kicks off and we veer into common territory of seemingly unintelligent foes. I think what got me most however was the dark night scenes there was mostly natural light used for effect however I found this hard to watch, I mean, what's going on hard. And that period of the movie ruined the narrative for me downgrading it somewhat. Maybe it was where I was viewing it..maybe not. I was going to give this a 4 however that's only because I had high hopes, its still better than a lot of movies so a 5 that should have been higher. I recommend the German film HELL certainly well above this movie with similar themes and much better execution.

For some reason (possibly due to the marketing) people seem to think that The Day is about zombies. It's not. It doesn't even feature a slightly hungry vampire. It's totally UN-supernatural (unless you count the fact that the world has - technically - come to an end and everyone's living in a post-apocalyptic landscape).

Five survivors take refuge in a farmhouse which basically doesn't belong to them. Soon, those who own it come for what they believe is theirs. Carnage ensues.

First of all I have to mention 'the look' of this film. I know it's meant to be bleak, but the film-makers have gone to the added length of basically draining all the colour from the footage. It certainly does the trick. The atmosphere is definitely bleak. During the night scenes, you might as well be watching a black and white film. This will appeal to some, others may find it a little annoying.

After a (very!) slow start, the five characters (of whom we get to know and care for reasonably well) come under siege from the owners of the farmhouse (apparently, in an earlier draft they were zombies). This is, of course, when the majority of the action starts. Although, it comes well into the final third of the movie, making the 'climax' shorter than you might expect.

The Day has a kind of '28 Days Later' look and feel to it (helped by the pretty good musical score) and plays out like Assault on Precinct 13.

I've seen a lot of reviewers raving about The Day, but, despite a few nice touches here and there (plus some bits that actually surprised a hardened film-goer like myself), I never thought it was that much of a classic.

In short, it's not bad. If you're looking for a post-apocalyptic version of Precinct 13 then this one could be for you.

I have to disagree with the majority of the reviews of this movie suggesting that it's wonderful, good, or even average. It is terrible. It's as if it is trying to gain the critical success of The Road by jumping on its coat tails, yet with none of the story writing, cinematography or acting skills.

The story writing is dull, shambling and disjointed. The acting ranges from wooden to just plain awful. The poor camera work and almost constant, low-contrast, low-impact black and white (why does the apocalypse always seem to affect the colour processing part of our brain?) really don't help things. The result is a film that is pretty much impossible for the viewer to invest in and leaves you craving something good to watch just to counter it.

There are a lot of parts where you are yelling at the tv as their choices are poorly made. In these movies you have to have believable choices. How did they survive for 10 years?

This movie was a great surprise for me as I wasn't holding high hopes for it. I'd heard a little about it and I had read a few things about it but I'm glad it wasn't over-hyped (not here in New Zealand any way). Although this kind of storyline has been done before the director has utilized it well here. I was in to the film from the start, and the characters were actually likable - apart from one, not going to give too much away but you'll know who I mean when you watch it. As for the action and blood, let's just say this film doesn't let you down. There are some good scenes in this movie and it was a pleasant surprise after some of the rubbish coming out of Hollywood lately. So I give it a solid 8 out of 10. A good watch.

(2011) The Day SCIENCE-FICTION THRILLER/ ACTION

Shown on black and white with the only thing that is in color are the dreamlike images. Centering on five sane survivors seeking for food, and they end up being tricked into staying at an abandoned house for the intention of being eaten by "infected" humans, since they resort to cannibalism. Low budget, and purely a cash grab movie, which I get weary, whenever I see 'semi-apocalyptic' movies, such as "The Hunger Games" and "The Road" that consist to have environments containing many trees and so forth, and there's like not supposed to be any food anywhere nowhere in sight. And that civilize people not taking the time to harvest their own food by using that soil and so forth. The other thing I hate about this movie is the fact, that there's no introduction here, for viewers have to figure out what kind of mangy ghouls or animals these five survivors have to deal with, resorting to viewers asking more questions than the movie is willing to give any answers.

This is the best show for suspense that I've seen since the 4 seasons of Line of Duty. Everything about it was excellent!