The Girl With All the Gifts

THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS (18)

D: Colm McCarthy

Warner Bros/Altitude/BFI/Poison Chef (Will Clarke, Camille Gatin & Angus Lamont)

UK 🇬🇧 2016

111 mins

Horror

W: Mike Carey [based on his novel]

DP: Simon Dennis

Ed: Matthew Cannings

Mus: Cristobal Tapia de Veer

Gemma Arterton (Helen Justineau), Sennia Nenua (Melanie), Paddy Considine (Sgt. Eddie Parks), Glenn Close (Dr. Caroline Caldwell)

*SPOILER WARNINGS*

The Girl With All The Gifts is a film which would be best appreciated if you know as little about the plot as possible, so to review the film with as little reveal as possible may be a challenge.

This adaptation of Mike Carey's novel breathes fresh life into a horror sub-genre which has quickly become stale with so much over-saturation with films and television shows over the past decade.

Set in a post-apocalyptic Britain, a group of young children are kept under strict military control at a subterranean complex, while a team of doctors seek a cure for the plague which ravages the outside world.

After a security breach, a small group of survivors escape with their lives and try to find other human survivors, unaware that their world is serious peril of dying altogether.

Character-driven and with a very intelligent twist, The Girl With All The Gifts is easily the most impressive British horror film since 2002's 28 Days Later, with a solid performance from juvenile actress Sennia Nunua who provokes both sympathy and fear of and for her ailment. Gemma Arterton also delivers her finest acting performance as well.

Recommended, especially to fans of horror who aren't necessarily expecting this type of horror.

7/10