EIFF 2015: Maggie, Review

★★

Are we ever going to be fed up with zombie movies? With the popularity of programmes like 'The Walking Dead' and many other films of a similar theme (see Life After Beth from last years EIFF) there seems to be a new zombie movie, TV show or game coming around every other fortnight, so for a film to stand out it REALLY needs to do something different.
 
Maggie is set in a world where not only has an 'Intersteller' style disease broken out stopping crops from growing, but a Zombie virus has spread across continents as well! The film starts with Wade (Arnold Schwarzenegger) trying to find his daughter Maggie (Abigail Breslin) who has been infected. This is where 'something different' comes in, the virus doesn't transform the victim right away, instead it's slow acting, like a cancer, with its victim knowing they have a bleak future ahead of them. Maggie, along with other patients is allowed to return home in the country, with around 6 weeks until she is to be returned, willing or otherwise to quarantine. 

 

For those of you expecting Arnie to be cutting down legions of undead in this film you will be bitterly disappointed. Schwarzenegger instead convincingly portrays a father surrounded by choices he doesn't want to make. Abigail Breslin's Maggie is a great performance with the character coming to terms with what will happen to her and watching her body and mind slowly warp beyond her control. 
 
This film suffers from what has come before, and what feels like a cop out ending that will leave you disappointed after all of the work building tension and drama. Even the lead performances by Schwarzenegger & Breslin can't save you from feeling let down.
 
‘Maggie’ will next be showing at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on Tuesday 23rd of June. For details and tickets visit the EIFF website