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It always fascinates me when there is a discrepancy between 'user' ratings and the critics. I don't know why people are unimpressed by this film. It is an original and surprising sort of urban New York 'coming of age' story, with very good performances, subtle humour and Austen like irony. The plotting is brilliant, but above all else it is kind and humane; kind to its characters and really quite profound in its humanity, without ever once losing its indie lightness of touch.

Quietly original take on ageing and compassion in a society where traditional family life no longer exists.

This film is sometimes a variation on the 'Lost' project, perhaps combined with 'Assault on Precinct 13'. Reviewers who are disappointed by not having an answer to all the mysterious details, have watched from too oblique an angle. Questions about what exactly has happened or is happening are a hook, sure, but they are the syntax of this genre.

This is a deliberate B movie, but with reasonable production values. The well loved tradition of 'isolated group' in a survivalist nightmare, picked off one by one, is well executed, and the characters are interesting, which is half the battle.

There are moments of genuine 'creep', but the special effects are not of the obtrusive kind. In that sense the film is classical, and almost 'noir', if that is not too close to being a pun (not to give the plot away).

Over all, the film has style, in the same way that Terminator had style (although I am not suggesting they are equally good), and it is another interesting take on the coming apocalypse (should it come).