Review
The Cured (Drama, Horror, Thriller) (2017)
Director: David Freyne
Writer: David Freyne
Stars: Ellen Page, Sam Keeley, Paula Malcolmson, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor
As a brutal virus besets the world, the streets flood with ravenous zombies. Only after an extended period of hopelessness, a cure is fabricated, and those once infected with the virus might finally be cured. The only problem is, not all victims of this horrifying plague are receptive to this new solution. With these remaining diseased subjects being kept in captivity by the army in the hopes of finding a more widely effective treatment in the future.
Previously writing and directing a handful of shorts, David Freyne has presented ‘’The Cured’’ as his debut film at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. It has been produced by Tilted Pictures, Bac Films and Savage Productions while distributed by IFC Films.
‘’The Cured’’ is a breath of fresh air, at a time where the zombie sub-genre has been overused. It has some new ideas of handling such a film, using the natural talent of the actors to an infallible extent. Most noticeable amongst the talent is Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, who plays Conor; his eerie character creates some tense vibes that become truly chilling the further the film goes on.
Technically a zombie movie, ‘’The Cured’’ goes a lot further than is apparent and presents a well-executed social dilemma regarding the people once infected with the dangerous plague. The audience is stimulated to form an opinion about the circumstances the film presents, as those who once suffered from the zombifying disease are now shunned and maltreated by the public. Such strong provocation to form a socio-political opinion on a fictional scenario is hardly ever done in the way presented by David Freyne.
Not just the observational aspects but mainly the character development is quite good, letting you observe positive interactions that get turned upside-down once an intriguing plot twist is presented. Being pleasing, such aspects in the film have their low points as well, since, at certain moments, it seems the aversion is laid on too thick and too suddenly whether it’s logical to the story elements introduced or not.
Most performances are truly adept, capturing the essence of their characters. While all these factors are abundantly positive, the biggest downfall is that most scenes almost seem to be missing something, being somewhat bland, like fries without condiments. The most significant factor for this is likely the small budget it could use, which was quite visible in certain sets, most obviously the military facility.
A very decent Irish-made film gets somewhat hampered at points and even more so in the final act. Some much needed feel-good moments are taken away for no good reason. Which, in my opinion, ruined what was an excellent movie.
Verdict
Perhaps a bigger budget could’ve cured the fatal flaws the film has to deal with.
6,0
