Film Review: The Day (2011)

The Day (2011)
Director: Douglas Aarniokoski
Writer: Luke Passmore



Five out of twelve remain. Five survivors scavenging for food after an unknown or unstated apocalypse has devastated North America, perhaps the world. Crops no longer grow. Animals are all gone. Canned goods are a precious commodity. Many have turned to cannibalism. But not our group.

Led by Rick (Dominic Monaghan who also produces) the loose knit survivors stumble across an old farmhouse on their way to an ill defined place of shelter. What starts out as a roof over their heads for the night turns into a nightmare as they come to the realization the house is a trap set up by a band of cannibals. Low on ammo the survivors are forced to fight a fate worse than death.

Humans resorting to cannibalism in times of desperation isn't a new theme. Off hand I can think of the television series THE WALKING DEAD, the film THE SEVERED ARM along with a number of films based on the misdeeds of Alfred Packer touching upon or embracing the eating of long pork. The film seems to have drawn inspiration from Cormac McCarthy's novel THE ROAD and the film of the same name. The dystopian worlds in each have much in common. A world dying due to unstated reasons populated by those that have turned to eating human flesh and those that have not. THE DAY doesn't muster the same intensity but it does succeed enough to recommend it.

The acting is solid with Dominic Monaghan rising above the rest. The film is low budget with most scenes taking place on a road or in the farmhouse or its surroundings but the cinematographer sells the bleakness with washed out colours. The crew hammers home the dread by making the farmhouse look weather beaten and abandoned.

That's the difference between THE DAY and countless other post apocalypse films. The actors and crew do a great job selling the world and making it believable. The viewer has seen this film under different names with a different cast umpteenth times but here we take an interest in what happens. We know it's not going to end well but we still root for the good guys.

*** out of ****

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