Plague (2015)

Why so much hype?

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Is there such a thing as a zombie drama? Because that more closely resembles this movie. It was much less of a horror film, truly, and more focused on the interactions between the people involved — which I'm okay with. Like somewhere between a zombie drama and a zombie thriller, since there were definitely moments of suspense and twists, but not very heavy on the action (or even on the zombies, in all honesty).It hit the stereotypes pretty hard, but I'm honestly not sure how possible it is to do a zombie movie WITHOUT hitting at least some of them. There's never really any explanation for why people started getting sick, what exactly the sickness does, or how long ago anything happened — all we know is that animals don't seem to be affected, which is just addressed in passing. Which is fine, I guess — we don't need a detailed back story for what is essentially just another zombie movie. But I felt like this was an area that they could have explored a bit to make it more unique. John at one point is kind of theorizing on the whole concept — he says "what if mankind's purpose is simply to live as a host?" — and it's like it almosttt got interesting for a second but then Evie literally just shrugs him off like he's a crazy person and that's the end of that.Then Charlie starts to get a little creepy. They definitely did a good job of kind of exploring that realm of things — like we're already in this freaky situation and our nerves are frayed and things are bizarre and chaotic, but let's toss some sexual harassment in the mix just to heighten the overall fear and anxiety. Jianai does a good job at flipping his personality — I mean, you already have an inkling that he might not be as great as he's cracked up to me, but all of a sudden he goes from this helpful, encouraging guy to just straight up sleazeball, and it's really terrifying. You start to wonder what exactly his motives are, and you really forget that there's infected people stumbling around at all.He preys on her commitment to John to get her to give in to his advances, which is a chilling scene. Again, you don't think there's much that could make their situation worse, but, oh, hey, here's Charlie to be a complete predator. The tension while Evie searches Charlie's car for some kind of evidence is wild. Charlie and John are mere feet away and he almost glances over more than once but she's determined to find something to corner him. I definitely found myself holding my breath more than once.Then John FINALLY decides to act like he gives a crap about their lives and makes Charlie leave. I kind of wish they hadn't had Evie LITERALLY cowering behind him during this scene. I'm not sure if I'm being insensitive to the crippling fear she must be feeling after her assault by him, but it was just disappointing to see them take such stereotypically gendered roles in that moment.But then Charlie comes back, super angry that they didn't appreciate all he had done for them, and John decides to just… do nothing. He lets Charlie take the gun and literally lays on the ground and SOBS while Charlie takes his wife inside to assault her again. I mean COME ON MAN. He lays there until his wife finally gives up screaming for help and it's painful as hell to watch because I can't imagine how hopeless and angry she must have felt that the one person who should have been putting his life on the line to protect her was just CRYING. Like, right, your fear in the face of having to be bold and fearless in this life or death situation far outweighs my desire to not get assaulted for the second time in as many days THANK YOU.But then a soldier shows up and mentions that he has a place he's going to that is safe and then John decides, again, to put his crap aside and and he winds up killing the dude and getting both his gun AND his directions to this safe place. He kills Charlie, FINALLY (he struggles but eventually succeeds, but not before Charlie manages to shoot Evie in the shoulder), and then him and Evie escape in his Jeep. They get to where the safe place supposedly is but Evie is just NOT HAVING IT and she just lays on the ground and cries, unwilling to even try to get up and escape despite infected people nearing their spot. So John is finally like, k have fun, leaves her a gun and walks off… but she decides to shoot him, saying "I need you to protect me", and she walks off as he is ripped to shreds by the infected group, and the movie ends eventually with her hearing a helicopter overhead.I just… I get it, it's more of a psychological drama than a classic zombie horror film. But that doesn't stop it from being kinda dumb. Which is too bad, really, because I feel like it had some promising concepts (as I mentioned, the hopelessness of having someone as predatory as Charlie around when you need him for other means of survival, and even Evie and John's crappy relationship)… but it just didn't quite go as deep as it needed to, or with enough gusto.

I thought this movie was well done and interesting. The characters were also fairly well done. Now for the spoiler..*SPOILER*I get that the husband was a pretty sorry, useless person in that situation. He let his wife down on more than one occasion and when the going got tough was going to kill himself and leave her behind. But in the end he was trying to save them. She was hurt, I get that, but he begged and pleaded with her to MOVE. She wouldn't move. So he decided he wanted to live, left her the pistol, and started walking away.. only to have her SHOOT him? WFF? If she was too hurt to move, how is it she suddenly has the strength to shoot him and walk away unaided? I liked her character up to that point and I thought that twist at the end really took away from the movie.

I am sure most of the 10/10 ratings are from the director and his family.This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The main character and her husband are two of the most unlikable people in a film. There is absolutely no story whatsoever. It starts fast then quickly slows down to the wife selfishly bullying the rest of the group as only her life matters.The husband is week and needy and pretty much worthless. he actually lets his wife get raped while he has a gun in his hand.The ending on the other hand is a whole other level of silly. The husband finally gets the nerve to stop his wife from getting raped. Goes in and shoots her attacker. Problem is the attacker doesn't die right away and shoots the wife.Long story short the husband and his wife drive away and the car shortly breaks down. The husband desperately tries to get his wife out of the car and get her to safety. She falls on the ground and refuses to get up as she is weak from getting shot. Her husband decides he has no choice and decides to leave her. He walks about 20 yards and is shot in the leg by his wife who is suddenly chasing after him. It makes zero sense. This is like the only action in the movie as there are a total of 8 infected seen from a distance in the entire movie.

The plot: After being abandoned by their group, two struggling survivors of a zombie apocalypse find salvation in the form of a highly competent stranger who offers to help them.Evie and John, a married couple, don't seem cut out to survive a post-apocalyptic world full of zombies. Both are academics, and they have little skill at foraging, surviving, or managing stress. Enter Charlie, a man who seems to be doing quite well for himself. He's got a rifle, car, supplies, and knows where to find more. He doesn't seem to want anything but a place to stay and companionship.From this point, the film becomes a psychological thriller. John and Evie become increasingly dependent on Charlie, and the story becomes more concerned with their relationships than it does the zombies, who become more of a background element. It's not too different from your stereotypical psychological thriller, but the Australian setting and occasional zombie attack may make it interesting enough for viewers tired of Cape Fear ripoffs.There are a few scenes that seem to drag on a bit. In one particular scene that kind of bothered me, Evie wanders through their dark and foreboding shelter, calling out quietly to John. Alright, a bit of suspense is good. But the scene just seemed to go on forever. I kept thinking to myself, "This is time that could have been spent on character development. Or plot. Or anything, really." Overall, the atmosphere was pretty good, but the intensity had a tendency to morph into melodrama at times.The characters are a bit frustrating at times, but if you're willing to cut them some slack and see this as a character study rather than zombie-killing outing, it's a lot more interesting. The original Dawn of the Dead packed a lot of action, character development, and satire into its runtime, and that's my gold standard for a horror film. This doesn't quite measure up, but it's not even trying to be an action film. For fans of slow-burn dramas, this will be a more enjoyable experience, as long as they can overlook the low budget.I guess it comes down to how tired you are of low budget zombie films and how much tolerance you have for slow-paced psychological thrillers. I'm fine with the latter, but low budget zombie films are becoming a bit tiresome. I'll still watch them, of course, but I've lost a great deal of enthusiasm for them in the past five years. I liked how stark and gritty this film was without becoming exploitative, but it wasn't exactly the most original thing ever.