The Day

"You have fortification and you know they're on their way and you have me...I'll kill them all." After the apocalypse the world is a wasteland. What started off as a large group has now become 5 and the 5 are looking for food and supplies. While on their a road they spot a farmhouse and decide to check it out and think they have a place where they can rest, get dry and regroup. Things change quickly. Going in I was expecting this to be along the lines of "The Divide" where a group is locked in somewhere and they have to band together to get out alive. This is more along the lines of "The Book Of Eli" where it's a group against another. The movie is pretty graphic and gory in parts but it's nothing really over the top and most people should be able to handle it OK. For a movie like this the cast is pretty well known and while the acting isn't amazing it is very good and fits the movie. This is nothing that is Oscar worthy but for a movie of this subject it is actually pretty entertaining and better then I expected. I liked it more then I thought I would. If you are into movies like this then you will really enjoy this surprise. I give it a B.

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.

The only thing that I think hamstrings this movie is poor production quality. They shoulda just burn the house down rather using VFX that says it is present in the movie. Otherwise, the screenplay was taut. People who confuse action for fast, abstruse editing cuts, a-la Michael Bay maybe disappointed but action that forwards the script will delight true movie connoisseurs. Good indies are hard to come by. Finding one is like finding a treasure. For me 'The Day' is to zombie/apocalypse what 'According to Greta' is to coming of age and 'City island' is to family dramedy.

The kills are good and guns don't don't have unlimited ammo. I'd say it does flag a bit in the second act but the climax delivers. But I'd also say that this movie is not for everybody. Save it for a day when not in the mood rom-coms are brain investing movies. Put your eyes on auto-pilot, grab a cold one, and viola! That's a decent 90 minutes right there.

Another post-apocalyptic flick that has it pro's and contras. What I liked was the way it was shot. Black and white to add to the darkness of such a story and colour when the world was still turning around without any problems. The contra is the use of CGI for red stuff and some killings. Nevertheless, it's still worth picking up if you dig flicks like The Road (2009).

There's nothing supernatural or creepy to this flick. You go rather deep into the characters before hell breaks out. But even that isn't scary or whatsoever. Again, it's positive to see that the good ones can die too. It never is rather gory but the shots taking place at night are sometimes a bit too dark to actually see the blood sputter around.

Still, not a bad attempt with a simple story about five survivors being exhausted and searching for a place to take a rest but once they found a house it doesn't seem what it looks like. It's a trap and things go awry from then. But even in the group of five there are things coming out of the closet.

I didn't had a problem with the ending as some did. A good low budget flick made for the lovers of dark (no pun intended) flicks with some brutality involved.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 2,5/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

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.