Doomsday

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:	2008
Country of origin:	UK / USA / South Africa / Germany
Director:	Neil Marshal
Genre:	Post apocalyptic infection horror
Starring:	Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, Malcolm McDowell, Alexander Siddig
Rating:	4/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0483607/
Tagline:	The End Is Nigh.
Favourite line:	"I'll tell you what I lost. I lost my mind."

What an odd movie.

The plot:
It's 2007, and Scotland is ravaged by a deadly infection that sees the flesh slew off the bones of all infected. Unable to contain the outbreak, the authorities quarantine the entire northern area of the British Isles, effectively cutting the country in two, building a wall in the same spot as Hadrian some two millennia previously to isolate the spreading disease.
Skip forward thirty years, and a fresh outbreak occurs, this time in London. With news revealed to the desperate British Prime Minster that an apparent cure is evident in Scotland, a crack squad of military types are despatched.
Their mission:
Find the scientist known as Kane who, when last known alive, had been working on such a cure and bring him back to England.
The price for failure in the mission?
Banishment to the infected wastelands of Scotland....

A tried and tested plot, really, with echoes of Escape From New York, 28 Days Later, Lifeforce and more besides.
Stylistically, this is pretty confused.
The initial scenes recall the aforementioned Lifeforce but, when the military enter Scotland, we are treated to a quarter of an hour or so of full on Aliens style action, replete with lines lifted straight from the sci-fi horror classic, as well as design that also borrows heavily - the guns, the vehicle etc.
Then things take an altogether bizarre turn, as we focus on the surviving residents of the infected zone, a rowdy band of bloodthirsty cyberpunk types that could have been lifted right off the set of Mad Max.
With an undeniable energy, lashings of gore and a black, black heart, this is a melting pot of genre cliches, all fused together to create something new, something a bit different, and something that is most definitely enjoyable, without being altogether convincing.
The OTT costume designs and wonderfully overplayed performance by Craig Conway as Sol, leader of the Scottish maniacs are a little difficult to swallow but, forget all that and just go along for the ride.
Marshall is an undeniable talent in the genre field, yet to truly put a foot wrong. With Dog Soldiers, The Descent and Centurion also under his belt, he is clearly a director to look out for if visceral, genre-literate cinema sets your fluids in motion.
Flawed, then, but highly entertaining all the same.