EXTINCTION: ADAPTABLE FEAR

It seems that the horror genre changes from time to time, bringing various boogeymen to the forefront and then changing that to a different one for a while. Remember when THE EXORCIST came out and suddenly there was a ton of exorcism movies on screens? With TWILIGHT came tons of vampire movies. And now we have zombies. The success of THE WALKING DEAD has led to numerous zombie movies and while most are terrible there are the exceptions. One I write about on the blog called WYRMWOOD which is a gore filled zombie fest fans will like. And this week we get something new and fresh to the genre, EXTINCTION.

The movie opens with a busload of people being shuttled to an Army base. The bus stops and before you know can say flesh eaters it is besieged by zombies. Friends Jack (Jeffrey Donovan of BURNT NOTICE) and Patrick (Matthew Fox of LOST) fight off these zombies as others are crushed. Along with Emma and baby Lu they hide out but not before Emma is bitten.

Fast forward to nine years later. The world is a frozen wasteland. We’re not told if this is constant or if this is just winter, but it seems to be as desolate as it can get. Patrick is out scavenging for food and ammunition. He gets back to his home, a building surrounded by chain link fence and next door to Jack and the now 9 year old Lu (Quinn McColgan). The two homes are separated by the fence that also surrounds both. But it is the fences built by the people in these homes that becomes the focus of the story.

Sometime in the past, something happened that tore the two friends apart. Something so terrible that while Jack stays in his home barely scraping by with enough for him and Lu to eat, he continues to try and stay alive and well teaching Lu things like reading and writing. Patrick on the other hand has deteriorated. Long hair, unshaved and filthy he drinks most of the time when not foraging for food. His only companion is a dog he shares his home with. He spends his nights on the short wave radio trying to locate other survivors, all of this airing over speakers he’s rigged to his fence. Even though the fences are there, the fear of zombies is gone, all of them thought to have died out.

One day while scavenging in a warehouse in a nearby city, Patrick finds a fresh, half-eaten carcass of an animal in the store. Following the blood trail he finds a zombie but not like the old days. They’ve adapted to the cold. Nearly blind they rely on their supersensitive earholes to find their prey. As this one goes after Patrick he tears out of the building, locking it in. Heading home on his snowmobile he’s followed by the escaped zombie. Nearing home he fires off his gun, trying to alert Jack. When the zombie knocks him off the snowmobile, Jack hesitates shooting it. Patrick survives but at a cost.

Now with the knowledge that the zombies have adapted the two houses must unite if they are to survive. They must find a way to get over whatever it was that happened in the past. The secrets from those days unknown to us, the viewers, will eventually be revealed. The possibility of other survivors is always considered. And the last hope for a future rest in the combined efforts of two men who have grown apart over the years and a little girl who wants nothing more than for them to unite and find others.

What makes this movie good is the same thing that makes THE WALKING DEAD good. That is while the story is framed in the world of zombies it isn’t about the zombies that is the center story involved. It is the story of humanity, what people do in the face of adversity to survive. It’s the story of two people who were once close as brothers but have drifted drastically apart. It is the story of a small girl raised in a world without others to play with, with no one but her father there to be by her side, who wants to feel safe and find a world like she’s heard of. What makes this and that series so special is that it focuses not on the killing creatures but on the human beings and what it takes to remain human under these conditions.

Both Donovan and Fox have proven they are extremely good actors. To carry off a series for more than a year speaks volumes. Both turn in fine performances here that make you long to find out what happened in the past. McColgan is the surprise here, a new young actress who carries off her role with apparent ease making the character believable and one that we care about. We root for her to find a better world than the one she lives in now.

If this movie played in theaters it was a limited run at best. It falls into that category of movies known as straight to DVD but in the select group of movies there that deserve more attention than they received to date. For horror fans you’ll find a new fun movie that you’ll want to add to your collection. For THE WALKING DEAD fans you’ll find a movie that will tide you over until the new season starts. And for everyone else you’ll find a movie that shows the best of what humans can be in the face of a world gone to seed. Definitely worth a watch.

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