New Life

I can't see a reason why a moviegoer is gonna dislike it, i mean, it delivers what it promises. As long as you know what this is about. So, it's not a horror movie and it's mislabelled here. This is a scifi thriller movie, leaning more into drama than horror. It's not scary neither mindless fun. There are some thrilling and intense moments but it requires your patience, it's a slow burn but it didn't drag. Furthermore, it's well acted and the script was not very good but good enough to make a viewer invest.

Simultaneously, i can't see a reason why a moviegoer is gonna love it or get excited. Really low budget for this genre, a bit amateurish production and definitely a movie which almost everyone who watch it, will forget in a week max.

So, lower your expectations, know what this is about and you will probably like it, if you like this genre. I have watched many trash movies and tv shows recently, NEW LIFE is defintely not like that. It's a good movie. Still, not a MUST WATCH. There are far better movies to watch (older movies mostly) if you have not much free time to spend.

John Rosman's New Life tries to breathe exactly that into the zombie genre, and only somewhat succeeds. This is a film with some good atmosphere, scenery and genuinely disturbing special effects but it's consistently unclear in narrative, distracted by its own weird subplots and never quite grounds itself in anything wholly cohesive. A young girl (Hayley Erin) is on the run from the director (Tony Amendola) of a nefarious institute who has hired a mysterious fixer (Sonia Walger) to track her down and eliminate her. Why? Well I've already mentioned zombies earlier which isn't a secret the film really keeps too well from the outset, so there you go. The film is at its strongest when it focuses on the young girl evading her pursuers, seeking food and shelter from a kindly farmer and his wife, the simplicity of moving from place to place. When the story pivots back to the fixer is when it sort of loses momentum; Walger is a great actress whose work I love in LOST, but she's saddled with an odd arc here. Too much dialogue and a bizarre subplot about her early onset ALS do nothing for the story at large and just muddy things up. It also suffers from a jarringly abrupt ending and a general lack of focus.

I almost skipped this movie after reading the extremely negative reviews it got on here, certainly the ones stating I shouldn't trust the first ratings as most often those are biased, a thing I totally agree with. But a friend watched it and told me it wasn't that bad so I gave it a shot and I'm glad I did because it was entertaining. Maybe not the best in this genre but still worth a watch if you like that kind of stories. I sure do. Hayley Erin and Sonya Walger play the main characters and we're both convincing. Sure there are no Oscar winning performances, neither for the script that feels like a déjà-vu but it's just easy entertainment and sometimes that's just all that I need.

Of the movie, you will get an interesting story. I was confused because in the first 40 minutes nothing happens, that would fit into the horror genre. I once saw a movie (out of respect for this one, I will not mention the title) where even the first scene, a girl stalked by her ex, is directed like a horror movie. This one has mystery, and then at some point there comes an aha!moment and then you kinda know what is going on. So, patience, dear watcher. I saw good reviews, then decided to watch this and it paid out. Also enjoyed the absence of big a-list names, so nothing was distracting. I only wish that one poster (which does not make sense and that scene is not in the movie) would not exist. Give it a go, it has themes like ALS, which you rarely see in cinema.

Agent Elsa Gray is tasked with tracking down Jessica Murdock, who's on the run and heading for The Canadian border. Unbeknown to Elsa, Jessica is hiding a deadly secret.

The short running time appealed to me, and that was both good and bad, good that I could squeeze it in one afternoon, bad because at times it felt a tad rushed.

The opening is simply bizarre, you won't know who's who, or what's happening, it really does take time to work out what's happening, the trouble is, when it does, and the action starts, it's not long before the credits roll.

Some good action sequences, and a few jump scares, there's nothing new here, nothing we haven't seen several times before, but there is some originality here.

The twist, when it comes it unexpected, it really did catch me off guard, a story I simply wasn't expecting.

Nicely acted, good visuals, with some rather effective makeup, overall a decent watch. I don't find myself saying this very often, I just wish it was longer.

6/10.