Hostile

No lie...I was really enjoying this movie right up until the ending. The post apocalyptic movie genre has always intrigued me mainly because I like to judge the decision making processes (or lack thereof) of the protagonists as they dart from one sticky situation to the next. The one common denominator in nearly every single one of these flicks is "OMG! Did you really think going into the dilapidated farm house by yourself and without a weapon or flashlight was going to turn out well?" This movie was no different. Our protagonist played by Brittany Ashworth immediately hit the right notes by coming off as capable, confident, and extremely self sufficient in the desolate landscape she was forced to survive in...and then she rolled her "Mad Max" Battlewagon when a "pre-end of the world photo" she obviously treasured blew out the window, and got a compound leg fracture in addition to an upside down hunk of useless metal, AND was stranded alone. Of course she'd be alone! But to her credit she did a good job fighting off the "things" you'd expect in a world gone to Hades. Then there was that ending. Oh boy. Up until then, not a bad run and I think most people would like it. Grade: B.

I love a good post apocalyptic thriller so I was looking forward to this one. It starts really well, and then quickly becomes odd, then frustrating, then just plain eye-roll worthy.

The entire movie jumps back and forward between timelines but does so in a way that feels very jarring. The entire relationship between the two leads felt unrealistic... so many plot points and character decisions just became too much of a stretch for me. I can suspend my disbelief to a certain point but c'mon guys...

I really wanted to like it, it was shot beautifully, the creatures were genuinely creepy, and it had potential.

Points for originality, I definitely wasn't expecting what I saw (though I did call the 'twist' about 20 minutes before it happened). The message that the writer tries to leave us with is a nice one but feels out of place in this genre and left me with too many questions.

This post-apocalyptic love story could have been very good, even great, had it not been for the jarring back-and-forth jumping between two different timelines.

The main plot-line finds our heroine injured and alone in a barren, zombie-infested no-man's land, hunted by a spindly creature with a bad skin condition. This situation could have been a nerve-wracking viewing experience, had the director not decided to splice scenes of her "life before" throughout the full run-time of the movie. This breaks the tension EVERY TIME, in both narratives.

If you want to tell a backstory, just tell it and get it over with!

The acting, music and cinematography was adequate.

Most movies if you don't get me within the first 10 minutes, I'm out. First of all I'm a fan of dystopian and post apocalypse movies, so it got my attention for over 10 minutes, there were deep sigh moments (the can we get the story moving sighs), but it kept me watching, and after a certain point I felt committed to see it through to the end. While I was watching I'm thinking to myself, is it so bad that I'm watching or is it just good enough to keep me watching, whether it's the former or the latter, I didn't regret the watch, but I wish I would've watched a better movie with that time, talk about opportunity costs!!! If you're watched out on the latest or streaming and you want to watch something for the sake of watching, this isn't a bad fare, keep in mind it's a low budget movie with decent writing and decent acting and the story keeps going just enough for you to not bail out.

It stands out in the overused zombie genre with its combination of horror (a bit?) and drama. Pace is slow with the amount of flashbacks but it pays off in the end. Don't expect to get a lot of explanation behind the apocalypse though.