E.M.P.: 333 Days

It's a shame there are so many low reviews on this film, but that's a result of today's CGI adrenaline-junkie generation. If someone is looking for action/adventure, gore, sex, constant violence or any other post-apocalyptic "Mad Max" type nonsense... give this a pass. That's not what this is about.

This is a slow-moving but reasonably realistic survival film of the life of an 11-year-old girl following a high-sky EMP nuke strike that kills all the electricity in the U.S. (No spoilers there... that's all spelled out in the film description and trailer.)

Unlike so many films in this genre, it is refreshingly devoid of excessive violence, gore, nudity or language. I won't say anything about what happens during the film, but it has a theme, climax and believable ending... which is better than other such films I've seen.

Word is it was done on a $6500 budget. If that is true this provides a heavy kick in the tenders to Asylum films, since it proves that a good film can be made on a very low budget.

It is a slow-moving film. The directing fails in a couple of spots and it becomes a little dull, which is why I give it only 8 instead of 10 stars. For the most part the slowness is warranted. It's not intended as an action film; it's intended to provide a fairly realistic portrayal of what life might be like after such an event. Boredom and tedium is part of that scenario; throughout most of the film the director and actress gets that idea across while still maintaining interest and integrity to the film concept.

If anything, the film is a little too tame; in such a situation things would probably be far worse than portrayed here. But it's conceivable that, given a small corner of society and the right situation, this is how things would go. It's not intended to be typical nor ultra-realistic; the girl is in a special situation and the director sticks to that idea throughout the film. The directing and acting is good, surprisingly without jump-the-shark or just-for-the-action moments. It's just a story of survival from the viewpoint of one girl. If one is tolerant of films-that-tell-a-story, this can be quite a decent watch.

I was not expecting such a low-budget production when I selected the movie on Amazon Prime Video, and almost turned it off after about 15 minutes. That being said, I did appreciate the filmmakers' decision to focus on the main character's experiences and no "fluff" which would have been beyond budget. Chaotic events were handled by sounds rather than a bunch of extras, but the few times this technique was used I was expecting to see SOMETHING. A few scenes with lack of visuals did make them feel very low budget. They ended up being a reminder of this and did detract a bit from the film's flow. The rural setting lent itself perfectly to minimizing the need for unnecessary human contact and I found it completely believable; the filmmakers clearly borrowed from The Walking Dead's clever use of isolated sections of rural spaces to film a lot of scenes without much cost or chance of interruption. The father-daughter flashbacks were also very well used and demonstrated a realistic aspect of preparedness without delving into fanatical behavior. Naimh was given just enough pre-event training and assistance to help her when she needed it.

Film length was just about right, with the post-event day count helping break it into manageable chunks. Character development was almost non-existent other than the lead. It would have been nice to get a better sense of Will and maybe even the creepy guys.

The best low-budget films are the ones that allow the viewer to enjoy the story and forget/not realize they are missing anything. EMP: 333 Days nearly pulls that off. Wonderful acting from the young Ms. Ferreri in the lead role.

Low budget and low key but the actors were easy to watch and the film was not depressing or absurd, rather it was somewhat engaging.

For a movie that was made for $6500 it is well worth it hour and a half

Sure they could have gone into a lot more detail. But the girl starring in the movie was quite good, and her character's instincts were believable and well done. Absolutely worth a watch.