SuperGrid ★★★

Saskatchewan director Lowell Dean’s last two movies, WolfCop and Another WolfCop, featured a cop who was also a wolf. SuperGrid isn’t exactly about a grid that is super — the “grid” in question is basically a two-lane prairie highway — but it is another fine genre picture, this one set in a run-down post-apocalyptic world. You could call it Mad Sask.

Marshall Williams stars as Deke Campbell, a road courier whose last trip ended poorly when his co-driver/ sister died. Keeping things in the family, he enlists his brother Jesse (Leo Fafard, the cop-wolf from WolfCop) for one last run to square his debts to kingpin/dandy Lazlo (Jonathan Cherry).

It’s a simple setup, but SuperGrid throws in enough unique elements to make this more than just a clone of more expensive movies. Particularly creative is the idea that, in a world where civilization is falling apart, a First Nations reservation has become an island of enlightenment. Tinsel Korey plays Eagle, one of several strong female characters, trying to stem a kind of zombie-lite disease that is also ravaging this world.

Throw in a few vaguely futuristic terms – Jacks, Overwatch – and a cameo by pro wrestler Jay Reso, and you’ve got a distinctly Canadian take on the genre. Because apocalypse starts with an “Eh.”★★★

SuperGrid opens Dec. 14 in Toronto, Ottawa and Calgary, and Dec. 18 on demand.