Living alone in a post-apocalyptic dystopian society, a family of brothers forced to live on their own while trying to survive the elements as well as the vicious, ravenous creatures they have chained up inside the basement which would threaten their existence if it were to be revealed.
This was a rather challenging if still enjoyable effort. One of the better elements of the film is the incredibly strong and accomplished storyline that mixes together some really intriguing elements. The main starting point about the brothers being sent off into the wilderness for their own survival and trying to balance not just their personal problems but the escalating situation around them is a fantastic one offering the chance to slowly introduce the brothers in this particular universe but also to focus on the individual growth that takes place during the film. As personal curiosity over the savage creatures in their midst continually brings the kids into danger forcing them to be saved while also needing to continue their traditional survival operations involving scouting abandoned locations for supplies, securing food, and other general security aspects at play, this aspect is brought about incredibly well spending nearly the entire time here with the kids. That fine setup brings about a series of fine sequences as the group struggles to maintain a semblance of civilization with the creatures living among them. Growing far more comfortable with what's going on the longer they're around the creatures, being skittish and unsure of what to do which nearly leads to several close calls where they get saved just before the creatures get to them into being confident enough to try to tame them. This leads into some really fun scenes here featuring the kids trying to stay alive which brings about some intriguing scenarios involving the kids and the creatures before taking the spectacular action route into the film where they have to fight back against a series of intruders which are brought into the fray. This allows for some of the more impressive sequences and action which has the great ploy of allowing for some solid make-up work on the creatures and plenty of bloodshed to all make for a really impressive effort. There are some factors here that do hold this one down. One of the main drawbacks present here is the unwieldy and uncomfortable running time that lasts far longer than it should. Given that so much of the film is spent with just the brothers living together trying to let their curiosity involving the preferential treatment of the particular creatures in their care forces plenty of scenes involving socializing or reconnecting with them which helps to instill the kind of storyline attempted here but instead comes off with the feeling that it could've been trimmed down to not eat up the running time. The final confrontation is also way too long with so many means of saving the kids just because of their age that feel unrealistic, and while the action is great introducing this many wild storyline elements just makes for a tough time here. Alongside the infuriating nature of the kids' stupidity continuing to put them in danger, it does have some drawbacks.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and children-in-jeopardy.
