Hostile

Movie has a great premise and an interesting setup similar to "Buried", "Locke" or "The Wall", where most of the action is just the lone protagonist communicating with disembodied voices on a radio or cellphone. The post-apocalypse narrative was what I came for, so I was disappointed that so much of the film's scant 83 minute runtime is given over to a distractingly creepy "Pretty Woman"-style romance subplot presented as flashbacks. And when I say it's creepy, I don't mean in the way you want your horror movies to be. I mean the way the controlling, wealthy romantic interest, having met the main character once, later follows her home and then later still imprisons her in his own home until she kicks her heroin habit and falls in love with him. Stockholm Syndrome? The movie acts like this is normal and sweet.

Back in the main storyline, the titular "Hostile" creature is well designed and well played with the correct kind of creepiness to his movements and appearances. The standoff between the creature and Juliette eventually reaches its necessary showdown, to good effect with some nice echoes to "Predator".

Hostile is actually a good movie, but you have to make it to the end to figure that out. There is not nearly enough backstory to make much sense of things, and the ending, although touching, doesn't make logistical sense. Maybe fate? My suggestion? Lower your expectations. Don't analyze it too much. And expect a love story more than anything else. You do that, you'll enjoy this movie.

6/10- Comes together nicely (although not logically)

The apocalypse happened. "How" morphs itself into "What Now?"

Behind a plethora of sweeping landscape shots depicting the years following an apocalyptic event, Mathieu Turi's feature debut Hostile gives us the story of Juliette (Brittany Ashworth) and her struggle to survive.

Sounds cliche, right?

Wrong. It took a while to digest this film as initially I had written it off as "just another post-apocalyptic film." Let's face it, there are so many in this genre.

The film centers around Juliette and her struggle to stay alive following a debilitating car accident while on a scavenging mission. She must not only survive the barrenness of nature while badly injured, but a threat far more sinister.

We're offered abbreviated glimpses into her life pre-apocalypse as she longs for the days before everything went sideways. During these sequences is when Ashworth really gives a believable depth to her character. There's a palpable honesty in her interaction with the people in her previous life's sphere - most notably the sophisticated and charming Jack (Gregory Fitoussi).

Juliette's memories throughout the film not only to provide a contrast to her current situation but also provide a good break in the inescapable dread of being surrounded by unknown dangers.

The tension in the film is abundant and while the idea of the damsel Juliette needing to be saved borders on tongue-in-cheek, the climactic confrontation is equal parts tense and emotional.

I love a good post apocalyptic thriller so I was looking forward to this one. It starts really well, and then quickly becomes odd, then frustrating, then just plain eye-roll worthy.

The entire movie jumps back and forward between timelines but does so in a way that feels very jarring. The entire relationship between the two leads felt unrealistic... so many plot points and character decisions just became too much of a stretch for me. I can suspend my disbelief to a certain point but c'mon guys...

I really wanted to like it, it was shot beautifully, the creatures were genuinely creepy, and it had potential.

Points for originality, I definitely wasn't expecting what I saw (though I did call the 'twist' about 20 minutes before it happened). The message that the writer tries to leave us with is a nice one but feels out of place in this genre and left me with too many questions.

It stands out in the overused zombie genre with its combination of horror (a bit?) and drama. Pace is slow with the amount of flashbacks but it pays off in the end. Don't expect to get a lot of explanation behind the apocalypse though.