Uncontained

I am reluctant to call this "horror", and I don't think the movie ever really tried to be. Instead what we get is a rather approach to the "zombie" concept that is far more a drama about humans, family and finding yourself.

Acting is good. Sound is mixed so I didn't have to turn it way up to hear conversations and then go deaf when anything else made noise (a rarity these days. Bless you, sound mixer!).

Over all I think it was a strong production, with thoughtful writing and good acting. Would recommend.

No sex or nudity. Some passionate kissing.

Mild gore If there was swearing, then I missed it.

Well, the fact that the 2025 movie "Uncontained" was starring, written by and directed by Morley Nelson was cause for alarm, as movies with one person behind everything tend to be tedious and questionable affairs.

But I still opted to check out the movie, as the title was interesting and the synopsis sounded fairly interesting.

However, the movie was anything but interesting. This movie was pure torture to sit through. In fact, I ended up tossing the towel in the ring after 55 minutes of excruciating boredom. It was clear that the movie would never pick up its pacing or start to prove interesting. Writer Morley Nelson failed to piece together anything even remotely entertaining or enjoyable here.

I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, which was one of the only things that worked in favor of the movie. But I have to say that I just didn't care about anything in the movie, so the acting performances shrugged off me like water on Teflon.

This is not a movie that I would recommend you to waste 99 minutes on watching. Nor is it a movie that I will ever return to and attempt finish watching. I just simply didn't care one bit about the pointless and monotonous storyline, nor did I have any interest in the cardboard cut-outs that passed for characters in the movie.

As for "Uncontained" being a horror movie? Well, I suppose if boredom in its purest and undiluted form counts as horror, then you're in for quite a treat.

My rating of this 2025 movie lands on a generous one out of ten stars.

I'll keep this mercifully short, since I only made it halfway through before deciding solitaire on my phone was far more compelling.

The good? Sure: decent concept, solid camera work. That's about where the compliments end.

The bad? Buckle up. Our fearless auteur apparently wrote, directed, produced, and starred in this masterpiece of nepotism. Naturally, he cast his family of non-actors in lead roles, because who needs talent when you have the same last name? Spoiler: they can't act, and it's painfully obvious.

But let's talk about the plot, which stumbles around like it's drunk in the dark. It's somehow both convoluted and insultingly simplistic, with all the depth of a kiddie pool in a drought. Characters make baffling choices purely to move the story along (such as it is), and any tension evaporates the second someone opens their mouth. It's like watching someone try to improvise a screenplay while forgetting what genre they're in every five minutes.

Maybe there was potential buried somewhere in there, but sadly, it's smothered under the crushing weight of unchecked ego and zero self-awareness.

Living in the wilderness, a man trying to protect his children from a horde of creatures roaming the area that have been reduced to a rabid, feral state is forced to stay at their house until their family arrives, which proves quite troublesome when various dangers threaten their chances.

This was a fairly enjoyable if somewhat flawed zombie effort. Among the better elements of this one is the immensely solid and overly fun setup that provides a rather intriguing take on the post-apocalyptic zombie survivor tale. Dropped into this one with the idea of the deadly outbreak having already struck society and forced mankind into pockets of survivors living in the snowy wilderness where they learn to fend for themselves all creates a strong starting point for this kind of genre effort. The focus on this one detailing the day-to-day life of the surviving kids as the guy arrives and tries to survive that includes him dealing with the intricate moments around the house taking care of the kids, keeping the property safe, and ensuring the creatures are unable to get to them which is a wholly unique touch to add to a zombie apocalypse. On top of that, there's a wholly intriguing touch here with the family dynamics being introduced with the arrival of the parent into the nix so that the interplay between the kids and the hunter gets another adult to work off of so everything makes for a generally fun time. That said, this one does have a couple of big issues with it. The main element with this one is the immensely underwhelming and general lack of action in this one. Even though there are some brief spurts where it does manage to inject some life into the proceedings with his defensive work against the zombies or the final encounter protecting them from the militia outbreak, there are not enough of these elements or even enough good ones to justify this one. It goes on far too long trying to detail him going around trying to deal with the kids and their work within the house before going back to deal with the zombies, and it's possible to forget they're out there so infrequently does it feature them. That doesn't help that there's almost nothing here about what's going on, from the reason for the plague, how the kids have survived, what the locals are doing about the creatures, even what the purpose of the militia proves, or even how the ending makes sense so it causes some big issues overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, and children-in-jeopardy.

I love zombie movies but they're often predictable and follow the same old tropes. Uncontained breaks the mold and gives us new concepts and dangers to consider. I really loved this fresh take on a rotting genre!

The mystery of the Man is slowly unfolding when we get more questions about the children he meets and where are their parents?

Uncontained opens up slowly, layer by layer, and by the time you think you know where it's going, you're neck deep in uncharted waters.

I love indie horror movies with a single location and small cast because it's all about the story and characters, not a bunch of extras dying and huge explosions.

Uncontained has interesting characters and new ideas about the "zombie" concept. I highly recommend it.