Extinction

Extinction

Starring Matthew Fox, Jeffrey Donovan, Quinn McColgan, Valeria Vereau

Directed by Miguel Angel Vivas

The Story:
Nine years after a zombie apocalypse, Jack (Jeffrey Donovan), his nine-year-old daughter Lu (Quinn McColgan), and his former best friend Patrick (Matthew Fox) are the only three survivors living in the frigid town of Harmony.  They've amassed a sense of community with electricity, food, and familiar comforts, even despite seeing another human being.

The two men live across the street from each other, and both share a tortured past as both were in love with Emma (Valeria Vereau), who perished during the outbreak.  Nine years later, and the two men haven't been able to communicate or even be civil to one another.

All that changes when one of the infected arrives, years after both men thought they were long dead.  Now mutated, the infected can run faster and hear better, but they've lost their sight, and their bites and scratches no longer turn people to the undead.

As the two men argue over what to do, Lu tries to bring them together in the hopes of leaving the small town in hopes of finding more survivors, as more of the infected begin arriving.

The Synopsis:
I've seen my share of zombie films, both good ("Shawn of the Dead," "Dawn of the Dead," "Night of the Living Dead," "Return of the Living Dead,") and the bad ("Zombie Strippers, "Zombie Farm").  "Extinction" falls somewhere between, slightly leaning toward the better side.  It's got its moments, but ultimately it's a bloated film that could've been cut down by some thirty minutes and not having missed anything important.

More family drama than zombie war, "Extinction" takes the world-ending motif and makes it very intimate, only focusing on three characters.  Jack is the doting father, the frightened survivor who fears every shadow and keeps watchful eyes on his young daughter all the time.  Jeffrey Donovan does a fairly decent job, except for the times when he's either really scared or really angry, and he does this thing with his eyes that make you laugh. 

Lu is the young daughter who, unlike most kids in horror films, isn't completely an idiot.  She's rather intelligent for her age, and she still has a youthful innocence to her.  She's not complaining about everything and making lengthy demands, but rather she understands what's going on, even though she expresses frustrations over being the only child around.

Jack is the enigma of a neighbor who you know has more to his story than he's telling.  At first he's rather hobo-ic, with a straggling beard and unwashed long hair.  He travels with his faithful dog and kills animals, ventures out for food and supplies, and generally doesn't give a care.  He's the antitheses of Jack, as he's seemingly not afraid of anything.

The three main characters hold their own in this film, and that's the saving grace.  If it were done with a low budget plan with no-name actors, it would probably fall flat.  As it was, it was already too long, but at least you were engaged in the actors.  If they were terrible, the film would be terrible.

Finally the big payout occurs, with the house being overrun by the infected.  The final fights were tense and vivid, with surprisingly decent effects.  The other big plus to the film is the setting itself, which was a barren winter wasteland.  It made you somewhat look forward to winter, as the sun shining off the snow delivered a beautiful visual. 

The Summary:
More family drama than zombie horror, "Extinction" compresses a worldwide event and turns it into a dramatic piece between three very capable actors.

The Score: C+