User reviews

A mix of The Fugitive with 28 days later. But if everyone was idiotic. I didn't care about any of them.

Great premise but at less than 90 minutes it's too short for any of it to have any real impact. A lot of unearned attempts at emotional moments.

The "twist" is less of a surprise and more just expanding on what you already are able to understand.

There's a secondary story with Sonya Walger that is supposed to add depth to her character but it just comes of as superfluous. There's no impact to the story other than making the reason why's she's picked for this manhunt to be completely idiotic.

I typically don't want longer movies but this one could have used more time in the oven.

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.

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.

This movie was on sale on iTunes for five dollars so I figured I would give it a chance. The trailer was good and within the first minute or so I turned it off since trailers tend to spoil the whole movie. I started watching it and was pleased throughout the entire movie. It was engaging and original. You can tell it isn't high budget movie but the production values are exceptional and the soundtrack was top notch. There is nothing that feels "low budget" about this film. I am not a film school snob. I have no knowledge on any of that stuff. I typically have an extreme distrust of reviews, especially critic reviews, since there's a huge disconnect between the rotten tomatoes website when it comes to audience scores and film critic scores. The audience scores usually are substantially lower than the critic scores, and vice versa. I don't wanna spoil anything about this movie but I assure you if you like dystopian style movies that have a creepy mysterious twist then you will thoroughly enjoy this movie. There's only a few scenes that have mild jump scares so this is not a horror movie in any sense of the term horror. Every actor in the movie did an exceptional job. I highly recommend. This is a 10/10 for limited budget movies and my scoring is just a general one that judges everything and I use the same criteria for all movies. So, my 7/10 is quite good. I would actually be happy to watch this movie again and plan on doing so with a friend. Please be kind, this is my first IMDb review and I was too lazy to spell check. Sorry not sorry. Best wishes with your quest to find a good movie to kill some time with! -Brandon.

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.

I rented this because the trailer made it look promising.

When you watch this movie you honestly cannot appreciate the message of the movie if you have never watched someone with debilitating health issues have to come to grips with their life unraveling. Without giving anything away, there is a piece of dialog coming from a character that in my mind has to be one of the most powerful bits of script I have seen in a very long time. With regards to life and living, and the feelings of suicide, these words are spoken by someone who most likely was not acting when they said them.

For that one moment of beauty and purity, I will forgive the rest of the things that I think were a little ridiculous, and or unrealistic.

Would I say this is a fantastic movie? No, but parts of it are. The dialog I mentioned, some of the effects work were just awesome. Was the acting spectacular? Compared to "Madame Web" this is "Citizen Kane" or "Casablanca". The acting was actually pretty decent and the dialog pretty good. Casting was I think a little unorthodox however... once you see things fall into place you will likely think they did a good job.

The locations were pretty non descript, and only at a couple points did I have to suspend my disbelief. Even then it was not too big of a thing.

I think that when it comes right down to it, it is actually one of the better movies I have seen this year as the film does move along pretty well and it has some layers to it.

Most important about this film, the underlying message of it, is to Live. Live at all costs and live on your own terms. That to me is a hell of a message in a time when so many movies are just merchandising delivery systems.

I didn't have high expectations when I went to see this movie. This synopsis sounded intriguing, however my anticipation for this movie was limited.

The start is rather slow and our protagonist (Jess) meets and older couple and through their interactions you get to know her a little better. The order couple is lovely and definitely adds some emotional weight to the movie. We are also introduced to our other protagonist (Elsa) who is trying to find Jess. As soon as Elsa arrives at the older couples place, intriguing things start happening. From that point on the movie had my full attention since I like the subject matter. The first contact with our threat is made and it was portrayed really effective and was a thrilling contrast to the slow start. A minor complained is that there is a really cheap jump scare which was absolutely unnecessary. On the other hand there are some really well made makeup effects to be seen.

However the narrative progresses and there are new characters introduced. And then the movie kinda just ends. I felt like the ending was pretty abrupt and felt a little bit unfinished. It could have been a rather big finale but instead we get a pretty short ending. Overall I really like the idea of this movie and going in without knowing what exactly this was about was a really nice decision. It's definitely not a masterpiece or a movie that will be remembered in a couple of years from now with how many movies are being released nowadays, but it was certainly a good watch and a nice way to spend not even 90 minutes. [6,2/10]

It is a horror that I watched it.

If you want to veg out and not think then this might be an ok movie. If you have problems with any plot holes, logic problems, or a movie making sense then you better skip this.

The cast is good. The acting is ok. They even have decent background music and sound effects which I think really makes a difference. The make up is ok which I guess is the biggest horror part of this movie besides the time I wasted watching it.

The storyline says "apocalyptic proportions." There is nothing apocalyptic about this. It is just a bad story.

It seems to be a rule that movies around 90 minutes or less are not good. This is under that 90 minutes. I guess that was good for saving my time. Skip the movie and find something else.

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 had the opportunity to sit down and watch the 2023 movie "New Life" here in 2024, and of course I did so. Sure, I didn't even know what I was getting into here, aside from it being a horror or thriller that I hadn't even heard about. So writer and director John Rosman had every opportunity to impress and entertain me with this movie.

Oh boy, I wasn't exactly prepared for what writer John Rosman delivered here. The storyline in "New Life" was really a nice surprise, and I am very glad that I had the chance to sit down and watch this movie. It was a well-written script, narrative and storyline, and writer John Rosman really caught me off-guard here.

I genuinely enjoyed "New Life", but it sort of felt a bit incomplete. Perhaps a follow-up movie would bring more to the narrative, as "New Life" felt like it was only the beginning of something.

The acting performances in the movie were good, and they had some talented actors and actresses on the cast list. I wasn't familiar with the cast in the movie.

While "New Life" wasn't a movie that relied heavily on an abundance of special effects, I will say that the effects that were in the movie definitely helped bring the narrative to life, and also looked realistic.

While it might be somewhat of a niche movie, I think "New Life" is definitely a movie that is well-worth checking out, especially if you have an interest in both zombie movies and viral outbreak movies.

My rating of "New Life" lands on a six out of ten stars.

As so often the first wave of glowing reviews seem to come from the production crew, and I let myself get suckered in.

New Life is admittedly a cut above the usual no budget horror in the woods fare, but it suffers from poor writing.

The general idea is solid. We see a woman on the run from shadowy agents. There are little moments that give us an understanding who she is. As she hastily gathers her belongings, we see images of her with her family, before agents enter and she has to make a quick exit.

Visual storytelling like this is neat.

The problems arise whenever there's exposition. Primarily this involves the secondary plot about the agent chasing her. The writer tried to be more clever than necessary my making the agent suffer from a crippling illness, but that plot never goes anywhere. It's one of many attempts at unearned emotional and thematic depth, that hinder the film.

I get it, the runtime is short, and they needed to fill their 90 minutes with more than just chase scenes and scenes of people dying. But it feels tacked on and never meshes with the main plot.

Remove the agent subplot and nonsense, and you're left with 30 minutes of tightly shot survival thriller / horror. They could have done something with that.

About halfway through the film switches gear from thriller to horror. There's nothing you haven't seen before. People in gross makeup screaming and charging at the protagonists while a generic (but still effective) pounding soundtrack plays. These scenes are reminiscent to the second half of 28 days later, but without the sense of urgency or John Murphy's emotional score.

The movie is well shot and most of the actors do the best they can with the material they're given.

Seriously, I'm here just to defend this Smart well written well directed movie against all the dummies who have given it really low scores due to their own lack of insight and intelligence ..they've criticised it for reasons which clearly display their lack of understanding of the film... it is a clever subtle slowly unfurling story and has heart and a really good smart structure- just go watch it. Now. Ok I need to write another 170 characters..bla bla watch this film, support indie filmmakers with good approaches to familiar tropes and concepts, well worth your time , sci fi horror done right.

This is a great movie. What struck me particularly is the great writing and direction. It's a very spare movie that cuts all the excess that slows and spoils so many movies. You end up feeling for both the leads and that's really unusual and clever. It's also a very pertinent movie, considering we just came out of a pharmaceutically-created pandemic. This movie really impressed me, and it's stunning if this is the director's first movie. And, no, it's not a stupid zombie movie. If that is what you are looking for then look elsewhere. Although a pretty bleak movie, it's also a celebration of life and humanity.

"New Life," directed by John Rosman, recalls David Cronenberg's early films like *Shivers* and *Rabid* with its blend of grotesque disease, dangerous infected, and a hint of corporate conspiracy. The story tracks Jessica (Hayley Erin), a fugitive harboring a lethal pathogen, pursued by Elsa (Sonya Walger), a fixer with ALS linked to a shadowy organization. Its slow tension builds to unsettling, Cronenberg-inspired horror, with practical effects showing bodies twisted by a primal plague.

Rosman echoes Cronenberg's knack for unease and bodily betrayal-think less *The Fly*'s transformation, more the raw paranoia of his earlier works. Jessica's flight and Elsa's fraying resolve add human weight, while the conspiracy lurks subtly in the background. The Pacific Northwest setting lends a stark chill, and a mid-film shift keeps it engaging, though it lacks Cronenberg's deeper bite.

"New Life" is an interesting watch, particularly for its nods to Cronenberg's early style. It's a solid debut with strong performances, offering a fresh take that fans of that era might appreciate, even if it doesn't fully match its predecessor's intensity.