THE DAY

THE DAY

In the not too distant future, Planet Earth finds itself in something of an apocalyptic meltdown. A band of five survivalists, Adam (Shawn Ashmore), Mary (Ashley Bell), Henson (Cory Hardrict), Rick (Dominic Monaghan) and Shannon (Shannyn Sossamon) are determined however to persevere in their strategy of eventually finding a secluded corner of America in which to live out their days in peace.

Although the viewer is not enlightened as to what the actual catastrophe was, we gather by their conversations that a cannibalistic race has now infested the world and unless the gang keep moving they will find themselves on the menu!

Their optimistic plight is epitomized by a couple of jars of seeds Rick carries around with him. One his called "Hope", the other "Faith", and when they find some secluded land they will plant them and use them as a source of nourishment. Not sure potentially growing a ‘mystery vegetable’ would provide motivation enough for me not to switch allegiances to the cannibals myself but each to their own!

Anyway, with food supplies running low and tensions soaring in the opposite direction they effectively strike gold. Not literally of course but a seemingly untouched farmhouse they stumble upon contains masses of tinned food apparently prepared by the residents who appear to have fled.

The sudden change in fortune seems a bit too good to be true, which is confirmed when they devastatingly discover the house has been booby trapped.

But worse is to come when they learn firstly, the absconded residents are a comin’ home; and secondly, the discovery of the hideout was perhaps not solely down to chance…

THE DAY is a strange movie indeed. For a start the narrative dumps the viewer bang smack into the middle of a global catastrophe but stubbornly offers little in the way of explanations. What was the world changing event? How did these characters come together? How did they survive for the best part of a decade? On one hand this can be seen as letting the viewer fill in the details; on the other hand it felt a little like watching a TV show mid series trying to figure out what the Hell happened in the earlier episodes!

Despite the world in an apocalyptic state, the focus of the movie is steadfastly fixed on the characters current plight. This isolated drama is all good and well but the problem essentially lies in the fact that little background is disclosed about the characters. Admittedly the movie does open with Adam (clean shaven rather than heavily bearded) tragically having his wife and daughter abducted by the out of shot flesh chomping outlaws. But apart from him, the only character who is genuinely integral to the plot is Mary. She is by far the most interesting protagonist and Bell delivers a knockout performance in more ways than one. The other three are just there to make up the numbers for the sake of it would seem. We don’t even get to find out why Hanson has that irritating cough that hampers the crew’s travels!

The look of the movie is patently bleak with the present tense appearing almost monochrome with a subtle washing of colour here and there. Ironically, considering the movies title, the sizable climatic portion of the picture actually takes place at night and was so shrouded in darkness it actually made it difficult to make out the action. Even in the daytime scenes, the deliberate bleeding of colour served as a desolate canvas for which the almost luminous bloodshed to appear in.

So onto the good stuff and the movie tended to follow the distinct pattern of piercing tense creep scenes with frenzied gore. While this healthy smattering of crimson tinted violence at least justifies the granted 18 certificate, its execution was a bit of a disappointment.

The contrast of computer generated blood vividly splashed against movies’ gloomy pallor brutally exposed CG’s limitations. Most obviously, I don’t know what software they use, but the natural flow of liquid simply hasn’t been perfected. As ‘blood’ spurts out, its gush appears positively languid and its laboured descent tended to render the scenes utterly unconvincing.

Better was to follow when a slit throat or two used prosthetics, but in the killer twist that concluded the movie, computer graphics again tainted the carnage.

The movie is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 but being an online screener I can’t testify to the actually quality of the DVD’s picture and audio. It could do with the brightness being tweaked for a start before it’s available for retail!

Information supplied from the distributor confirmed there are no plans for any extras which is a shame. Not that this was a classic movie, but it least it would give writer Luke Passmore and director Douglas Aarniokoski a chance to explain their sides as to why the narrative was shrouded in such anonymity.

THE DAY is an easy watch with plenty of gore but is ultimately hampered by CG effects and a wafer thin narrative.

Review by Marc Lissenburg


 
Released by Entertainment One
Region 2 - PAL
Rated 18
Extras :
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