Post-apocalyptic zombie tale has heart
It’s nice when a zombie horror movie (A) breaks a few rules and (B) doesn’t let on what they are too quickly. The Girl with All the Gifts handles both these challenges nicely.
In an unspecified postapocalyptic future, a fringe of humanity hangs on at a rural British army base, which houses a collection of prepubescent semi-zombies. Called “hungries,” they act like normal kids — they even have a kindly teacher, Ms. Justineau (Gemma Arterton) — until they get a good whiff of human flesh. Then they get, well, hungry. And you wouldn’t like them when they’re hungry.
Brightest of the hybrid kids is Melanie (a wonderful debut by Sennia Nanua), who has imprint-
ed on Ms. Justineau and would do anything to please her. When the base is overrun, they make for a new haven alongside career soldier Eddie (Paddy Considine), and Dr. Caldwell (Glenn Close), for whom Melanie is little more than Test Subject Four.
Fans of the end-of-the-world genre will find much to enjoy in this one. There’s London slowly going to seed, peopled only by shuffling zombie hordes. (One scene shows them in what looks like a shabby lineup at a govern- ment office; a real doleful queue.) There’s the bit where they have to move ... really ... slowly ... through an undead crowd.
There’s also more than a whiff of science in this fiction, including some attempts to explain the plague with talk of fungal infections. And humour, as when Eddie advises Melanie: “Don’t play with anyone who looks dead.”
The result is clever and remarkably humane, with the quasi-parental relationship between Melanie and her teacher creating a warm centre to the story. Which is just what every zombie (and zombie tale), needs.