The Girl With All The Gifts, based on a novel (Bookshop link) by Mike Carey, who also wrote the screenplay, is set in a future where society has collapsed and humanity is nearing its end. What has caused this devastation?
There’s a fungus among us.
A parasitic fungus that infects people and turns them into cannibalistic zombies which the non-infected call “the hungries.” A small group of scientists protected by the military is racing to find a cure before time runs out on Homo sapiens.
The hope for the future is dependent on the youth of this dystopian world. They could be its salvation but the monsters still exist inside them. These children came from those who were pregnant and infected; these offspring carry the same parasite but yet their human side also still exists.
Dr. Caldwell doesn’t see these kids as human, but she does see them as the cure and will do whatever it takes to create it. They still educate the kids, and their teacher Helen Justineau does see them as human. One girl is exceptionally smart and kind. Melanie is a bit different from the rest, she has more control over herself as well as wisdom beyond her age.
When the military base is overtaken by the infected, Melanie, Dr. Caldwell, Helen, and some soldiers escape. The hope is to make it somewhere safe where the cure can be created. But the fungus has taken over everything. Plants have been growing and mutating from the collapsed hungries, the growth has overtaken a skyscraper. Pods that contain the fungus dangle like pine cones from the world’s largest and scariest Christmas tree.
The question becomes who shall be left standing. Will the world belong to humans or fungus? Will it be left to those best able to survive on this new Earth, those who have evolved with nature instead battling against it? Melanie holds the answer to all of it.
If you are familiar with the game and series The Last Of Us you may notice some similarities with The Girl With All The Gifts. The Fangirl takes a look at the possible connections.
(Spoilers in the video.)
The Girl With All The Gifts stars Sennia Nanua, Glenn Close, Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, Anamaria Marinca, and Fisayo Akinade. Directed by Colm McCarthy.
The Girl With All The Gifts is available with subscription on Prime; free with ads on YouTube, Pluto TV, Plex, and Fandango; $3.99 in the usual places.
To make requests and see the movie lists and schedules, go to WonkMovie.
The animated shorts are two different versions of The Tell-Tale Heart (Bookshop link) by Edgar Allan Poe. The first is from 1953, directed by Ted Parmelee and narrated by James Mason.
The second version is from 2006 by Annette Jung. I think the contrast of the two visual styles makes it even more creepy and fun.
Our next Movie Night selection is Happy Death Day, available with subscription on Peacock, Hulu, and HBO Max. $3.99 in the usual places. (Trailer has some spoilers.)
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CONTENT WARNING: At the 1:00:45 mark in the film a cat is eaten; it is not clearly shown, it is not graphic, there is no sound, and it lasts 37 seconds. That ends at 1:01:22. A bit later a dog is used as bait but runs away and nothing bad is shown or heard happening to it. At 1:15:37 a fake looking pigeon is shown being eaten, it lasts 25 seconds and ends at 1:16:02.
These things do add depth to the story and is not purely done to show evil intent.
Time to make the popcorn!
Now with less butter as I am watching my cholesterol.
BONUS TRIVIA:
Some of the aerial footage was shot by a second unit in the ghost town of Pripyat, near Chernobyl, in Ukraine. Director Colm McCarthy: "I was very interested in post-apocalyptic imagery and urban exploration. We wanted to surprise people rather than have people coming in expecting a studio level film. We sent a micro drone unit to Pripyat, Chernobyl to shoot helicopter footage with Pripyat doubling for urban London."