The Day

For some reason (possibly due to the marketing) people seem to think that The Day is about zombies. It's not. It doesn't even feature a slightly hungry vampire. It's totally UN-supernatural (unless you count the fact that the world has - technically - come to an end and everyone's living in a post-apocalyptic landscape).

Five survivors take refuge in a farmhouse which basically doesn't belong to them. Soon, those who own it come for what they believe is theirs. Carnage ensues.

First of all I have to mention 'the look' of this film. I know it's meant to be bleak, but the film-makers have gone to the added length of basically draining all the colour from the footage. It certainly does the trick. The atmosphere is definitely bleak. During the night scenes, you might as well be watching a black and white film. This will appeal to some, others may find it a little annoying.

After a (very!) slow start, the five characters (of whom we get to know and care for reasonably well) come under siege from the owners of the farmhouse (apparently, in an earlier draft they were zombies). This is, of course, when the majority of the action starts. Although, it comes well into the final third of the movie, making the 'climax' shorter than you might expect.

The Day has a kind of '28 Days Later' look and feel to it (helped by the pretty good musical score) and plays out like Assault on Precinct 13.

I've seen a lot of reviewers raving about The Day, but, despite a few nice touches here and there (plus some bits that actually surprised a hardened film-goer like myself), I never thought it was that much of a classic.

In short, it's not bad. If you're looking for a post-apocalyptic version of Precinct 13 then this one could be for you.

The almost black and white color drained tone fits with the movie's grim, desperate atmosphere. The plot is simple: a small group of survivors, an abandoned house, and "Danger" lurking everywhere.

The Day directed by Douglas Aarniokoski based on a screenplay by Luke Passmore tries hard to be a serious survival film, but it's slowed down by boring melodrama and cringeworthy dialogue. The characters feel like stock stereotypes, and the overuse of dramatic music adds to the unintentional comedy. If you're looking for a thought-provoking film, this isn't it.

Filming took place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, during the fall of 2010

There is a twist, but overall, it's a below-average, almost bad movie.

Bleak and fairly effective low-budget survivalism in the post-apocalyptic hellscape. Set ten years after the no-need-to-explain end of world (one character notes: "it's been two years since we heard a bird chirp)and with, in the first half of the movie, a cinéma vérité feel, what remains of humanity seems to be running on fumes. Whereupon, events take a turn for the worse.

Produced by and featuring Dominic Monaghan, the script initially appears to tread the conventions of a zombie movie, until it becomes clear that the five main characters face opponents far worse than the undead.

Well considered use of color-bleached cinematography keep the protagonists trapped in a NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD milieu even as the enemy enjoys blue-eyed, blue-sky color.

Up to this point the first three reviewers were raving about this and added a very positive vibe out for this movie. While I won't disagree with them (it's a decent movie), I cannot fully share their enthusiasm. The movie is excellently shot (moody if you want to call it that) and has a stellar cast. But I never felt that it went places (no pun intended) or had the upper hand on other, similar movies.

One of them being "The Divide", which I thought had some interesting ideas and was also confined in an area, but was also more compact and more suspenseful overall. The movie on hand is good too and if you like your end of the world thriller to have some drama and action mixed in, this won't disappoint you. Just don't expect it to be more than meets the eye (characters are well drawn, but nothing pushes this over the edge for me)

Saw this movie in Toronto and loved it! It's not your typical post-apocalyptic thriller. There is a lot of action - as the previous reviewer said it picks up after about half an hour and the adrenaline is pumping from there on out. But it also has pretty deep character development and some emotionally intense scenes. The cast has some recognizable faces (Sossamon, Monaghan, etc.) but no huge stars or clichéd action heroes that detract from the characters. I thought the tension and emotion seemed really authentic. It was also shot in a really cool way. All in, it had everything I was looking for in an action film but was more unique and memorable than I was expecting. Can't wait to see it again on the big screen!