The Girl With All The Gifts (2016)

Every time I think there is nothing new to come out of the zombie genre some incredible film maker comes up with a new way to resurrect what should be a dead concept. The latest, an earnest drama about a "zombie girl," ends up being one of the most powerful and riveting films I have seen all year.

Zombie movies at their best are allegories (consumerism, rage, conformity) the ills of our lived modernity are often explored through this trope. Here writer M.R. Carey and director Colm McCarthy are exploring the othered, the ways we exploit and fear them, and the ways they often lead us into new worlds.

Carey and McCarthy beautifully breathe new life into the undead with this tale. They bring a minimalist, straight forward approach, one which focuses on the strength of their cast and story over spectacle. Newcomer Sennia Nanua is a strong, gifted centre taking on an almost impossible role and making it real. Her role is complicated and brutal and inspiring. She pulls it off beautifully. Everything about The Girl With All The Gifts comes together in that lightning in a bottle way that just makes you glad to see it.

If anything The Girl With All The Gifts proves that no genre runs out of new stories to tell. When people talk about "fatigue" of certain types of films (superheroes, vampires, whatever) they are being lazy. Sure there are zombie movies out there which are just repeating old ideas (get it, undead) but it's not because they are zombie movies. It's because they don't have anything new to say. That's not the case with this one, a beautiful, powerful film which will not disappoint. 

The Girl With All The Gifts
Starring: Sennia Nanua, Glenn Close, Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine
Director: Colm McCarthy
Writer: M.R. Carey