Film Review: THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS (2016)

 THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS (2016) UK 1hr 51mins

Director: Colm McCarthy 

"I'll come back because I said I would. I don't tell lies." - Melanie

"Then we're alive? So why should we die for you?" - Melanie to Dr. Caldwell. 

In a dystopian future most of the population has been infected by a fungal pathogen turning them into raging, mindless, flesh eating zombies. The pandemic has been rife for many years and on a base 30 miles away from the city of London a crew of Army soldiers and doctors have a fortified stronghold and are trying to find answers to create a cure for the virus. The "hungries" as they have been named are not safe to experiment on but they have a captive group of children that were infected in the womb and appear to be partially immune. They walk, talk and function as normal humans but they are dangerous and will react and attempt to eat the soldiers when they become hungry or if the soldiers protective "blocker gel" wears off. The children are kept in cells, fed maggots, strapped into wheelchairs and taken into class everyday. One particular girl Melanie (Sennia Nanua) shows a great interest in her education, especially stories of Greek mythology and teacher Helen Justineau (Gemma Arterton) feels very protective over her. Doctor Caroline Caldwell (Glenn Close) is also fascinated with Melanie but in a scientific way, she has been vivisecting the children to find a vaccine and she is almost certain that Melanie will be the one to provide the cure. Just as she is about to lay Melanie out on a table the building is overrun with hungries. Miss Justineau, an injured Dr. Caldwell, 2 soldiers: Sgt. Parks (Paddy Considine) and Private Gallagher (Fisayo Akinade) flee the base with Melanie in tow in an armoured truck. Scared of travelling with Melanie in the vehicle, Sgt. Parks finds a muzzle and handcuffs, forcing her to ride in the gun turret a top the truck. They head to the city and find it swarming with hungries in a dormant state. They cover themselves in blocker gel and move into the city, they soon find Melanie useful as the gel wears off. The hungries don't react to Melanie and she can go on ahead to find supplies and the safest route around them. This works for her too as she gets to feed whilst away from the team. They make some significant discoveries whilst walking round the city, they find a tower covered in vines protruding from the corpses of dead hungries. Dr. Caldwell believes it to be the second phase of the fungus' lifecycle that will bring on the end of the world as they know it. They find other children like Melanie but feral and living in a book shop hunting any live flesh they can find and finally they come across an armoured mobile laboratory that is still functional. Dr. Caldwell is now desperate to dissect Melanie and soon as she herself is dying from sepsis caused by the wound she sustained back at the base. Melanie, however, has other ideas. She makes her decision and chooses life for her kind.

THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS is an adaptation of the science fiction novel of the same name written by M. R. Carey and published in 2014. They both tell the same tale but in a slightly different way. The movie adaptation is bold, emotional and incredibly thought provoking. For me, it is the amount of thought they have put into the zombies themselves that really makes this for me. The way they thought about the infection, how it is spread and the way it has developed and mutated has some amazing attention to detail. Rather than just an after thought or a rushed back story this pathogen has a gruesome beginning and a devastating end. The disease is caused by a parasitic fungus which was possibly breathed in at first, killing the infected almost instantly and rendering them a blood thirsty killing machine who will then pass on the infection to others through saliva and blood by biting and feeding on the uninfected, this happens quickly. As the pandemic spread doctors made a grisly discovery at a maternity ward. Infected expectant mothers unborn babies were also infected, they ate their way out of the womb and were taken by the doctors. As they grew up they found that they were coherent, functioning humans but still carried a wild blood lust and were highly contagious. This is where Melanie and her class fit in. There are also the feral children that did not get taken by the soldiers and have formed their own language and primitive community. Not only that but you see the stage afterwards where the first infected have now perished and the fungus is using them as compost to grow and reproduce. It is a fascinating concept. The apocalyptic setting of a city long since destroyed with skeletal buildings, rotting motor vehicles and green trees and foliage growing through the devastation is both a depressing and awe inspiring sight. Colm McCarthy has really pulled out all the stops to create the right atmosphere here using a combination of drone footage from real life disaster areas like Pripyat, Ukraine (close to Chenobyl) and some effective CGI visual effects to create the city scapes of London we see in the movie. The hungries, or zombies are the fast type but not quite as enhanced as the ones in say 28 DAYS LATER (2002) or WORLD WAR Z (2013). They are quick to turn, fast and and rage fuelled but in a way the human body would allow. To start off they look like normal zombies but as the infection progresses they start to look more and more decomposed with huge green boils and become less mobile. The make up looks great and they try and incorporate practical FX in wherever possible. At some points it does get quite gory with shots of Melanie eating various domestic pets, wildlife and soldiers, there is a particularly creepy scene of a hungry pushing a pram and some great detail in the dead bodies sprouting vines.

The cast are fantastic with some great actors in Glenn Close, Gemma Arterton and Paddy Considine, but the shining star here is the young Sennia Nanua as Melanie in her first feature film. Melanies character is intelligent, strong, sweet and a bit of a dreamer which Nanua coveys with ease. You are on her side right from the get go. The human characters have their flaws and insecurities but are very relatable The tragic ending (for those who have not read the book) comes as a shock and a celebration as you route for Melanie right up to the end. 

Everything really works for this Sci Fi/ Horror crossover, it is a fantastically well written story, gloriously shot, directed and acted with an effective score. I am yet to find anyone that dislikes this movie even with the fact that it has fast zombies, I have not heard anyone moaning about this fact. Can it be that we have found that perfect balance of old and new zombie that no one has any complaints about? Who knows? All I do know is that this is a huge recommend from me and it gets a top spot in the cemetery scoring the full 5 brains out of 5!

THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS is available to rent or buy through Amazon Prime or on DVD and Blu Ray. The novel by M.R. Carey is also available on kindle or in paperback.