Movie Review: The Cured

The Cured *** / *****

Directed by: David Freyne.

Written by: David Freyne.

Starring: Ellen Page (Abbie), Sam Keeley (Senan), Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Conor), Stuart Graham (Cantor), Paula Malcomson (Dr. Lyons), Natalia Kostrzewa (Allison), Hilda Fay (Jo landecker), Sarah Kinlen (Catherine), Peter Campion (Luke), Lesley Conroy (Katie).

 

The Cured is the third zombie movie I’ve seen this year – after Cargo and The Night Eats the World – that actually tries to do something different with the genre – which of course exploded in popularity with success of The Walking Dead, but really hasn’t had any new ideas since George A. Romero stopped making them. Like those other two films, the execution of the idea isn’t as ingenious as the idea itself – but it works well enough to give you the zombie fix you want, with at least a little bit of a twist.

 

The movie takes place in Ireland, the only country that was almost decimated by the outbreak of the Maze virus – which essentially turned people into what we would call zombies – has been quelled. The government has discovered a cure for the virus – and it works on about 75% of those affected – the last wave of which is about to be released back into society, as the government is also about to start a “humane” elimination of those who cannot be cured. There are many challenges those who are now cured face – they are looked down upon by those who were never infected, called murderers, given menial jobs, no matter what their professions were like before, and are basically treated like crap. Yet perhaps even worse for them is that while the cure has stopped their bloodlust, they still have all the memories of what they did when they were infected – all the killing, even members of their own families, are locked in their memories forever.

 

Senan (Sam Keeley) is one of the luckier ones – he has family, an American sister-in-law, Abbie (Ellen Page) and nephew – who are willing to take him in, a job at the facility where the infected are being held – it isn’t a great job, but at least you don’t have to interact with the public. During his time infected – and in the quarantine afterwards, Senan became incredibly close with Conor (Tom Vaughn-Lawlor) – who isn’t as lucky. He was a lawyer, running for office, before the outbreak – now he’s given a job as a street cleaner, where he is harassed by everyone. He has started to grow militant – and wants to get the cured to rally together. There is something creepy about the cured – they do seem to still share a pack mentality and connection, even though they are cured. And best of all, for them anyway, the infected don’t bother them – they still think they’re one of them.

 

The setup for the movie is extremely effective, as is the low-key world building that debut director David Freyne does. There are faded signs everyone around the city of what it was like during the outbreak, and he does a good job at building the simmering tension in the film. In the opening half of the film, the performances by Page – sympathetic, yet confused and suspicious, Keeley, racked with guilt and trying to be normal, and Vaughn-Lawlor, incredibly creepy, all do their jobs well. There is certainly a mounting sense of dread.

 

So it’s unfortunate that the conclusion of the film, while effective, becomes so familiar. We know that Senan is hiding a secret from Abbie – and figure out what it is, long before the movie tells us – and we know what will happen when the secret comes out, which of course it does. We also know what Senan is going to do when faced with a decision between the people – Abbie and her son and Conor, as he cannot please both. Most of the scenes in the second half of the film are the type of stuff you’ve seen in zombie films before – and done better. They’re still effective to be sure – and the ending has more bite than I thought it would – but I think a film that started with so much promise and originality, deserved an ending that does the same. Still, it does mark Freyne as a director watch – and gives us some good moments throughout. It’s not going to reinvent the zombie movie – but at least it tried something different.