← Back to Reviews
in
The Night Eats the World follows Sam (Anders Danielsen Lie), a musician living in Paris, that finds himself to be the lone survivor of a zombie apocalypse that has ravaged the city. As he barricades himself inside a small apartment building, Sam has to find ways to keep the zombies at bay while also coping with the loneliness and depression of his situation.
This is certainly not the first time that fiction and cinema have explored the implications of a sole survivor amidst a zombie apocalypse (or any other "apocalypse", for that matter). Sources like The Last Man on Earth and its multiple adaptations, as well as 28 Days Later, have all shown us eerie visuals of lonely men walking around deserted cities to varying effects.
Despite not treading new ground, I thought this film did fairly well in trying to explore the deterioration of Sam's mental health. Danielsen might not reach peak levels, but he does a good job conveying the different angles of a character in his predicament: scared, frustrated, resourceful, bold, desperate, lonely, depressed.
I also appreciated the film's slow pace. The film still finds time to have a few intense moments that give it a couple of jolts of energy, but the focus is always the character. There is an interesting supporting performance from Denis Lavant as a zombified old man trapped in the apartment's elevator, with whom Sam develops a "bond", and their interactions add some layers to his mental state.
According to Wikipedia, there have been 400 zombie films released worldwide in the last 20 years, as opposed to barely above 100 in the previous 20. With such a vast amount of output, it's expected that the genre would become as dead as the beings they portray so, much like Pontypool, its always refreshing to find a "lone survivor" among all the rotten ones that's not following the norm.
Grade:
THE NIGHT EATS THE WORLD
(2018, Rocher)
Freebie
(2018, Rocher)
Freebie
"Dead is the norm now. I'm the one who's not normal."
The Night Eats the World follows Sam (Anders Danielsen Lie), a musician living in Paris, that finds himself to be the lone survivor of a zombie apocalypse that has ravaged the city. As he barricades himself inside a small apartment building, Sam has to find ways to keep the zombies at bay while also coping with the loneliness and depression of his situation.
This is certainly not the first time that fiction and cinema have explored the implications of a sole survivor amidst a zombie apocalypse (or any other "apocalypse", for that matter). Sources like The Last Man on Earth and its multiple adaptations, as well as 28 Days Later, have all shown us eerie visuals of lonely men walking around deserted cities to varying effects.
Despite not treading new ground, I thought this film did fairly well in trying to explore the deterioration of Sam's mental health. Danielsen might not reach peak levels, but he does a good job conveying the different angles of a character in his predicament: scared, frustrated, resourceful, bold, desperate, lonely, depressed.
I also appreciated the film's slow pace. The film still finds time to have a few intense moments that give it a couple of jolts of energy, but the focus is always the character. There is an interesting supporting performance from Denis Lavant as a zombified old man trapped in the apartment's elevator, with whom Sam develops a "bond", and their interactions add some layers to his mental state.
According to Wikipedia, there have been 400 zombie films released worldwide in the last 20 years, as opposed to barely above 100 in the previous 20. With such a vast amount of output, it's expected that the genre would become as dead as the beings they portray so, much like Pontypool, its always refreshing to find a "lone survivor" among all the rotten ones that's not following the norm.
Grade: