Years ago, the world was hit by a zombie epidemic. Since then, Melanie and her classmates have lived in captivity on a British military base. The children are hybrid beings – half human and half 'hungry', as the zombies are called – and they are used as guinea pigs to develop a vaccine. The scientist Caroline Caldwell (a great role by Glenn Close) sacrifices her patients one by one.
Until the base is flooded with 'hungries' and the mordacious Melanie manages to flee with a group of soldiers, the evil Caldwell and her teacher, the sympathetic Helen Justineau. The group travels to a weed-infested London, where moral dilemmas emerge. The result is a bloody zombie thriller with stunning sound effects and probing camerawork. At the end, the film turns into a coming-of-age drama when Melanie – convincingly played by the very young Sennia Nanua – proves that she really is a girl with gifts.
- Director
- Colm McCarthy
- Country of production
- United Kingdom
- Year
- 2016
- Festival Edition
- IFFR 2017
- Length
- 110'
- Medium
- DCP
- Language
- English
- Producers
- Camille Gatin, Angus Lamont, Will Clarke
- Production Company
- Poison Chef
- Sales
- Altitude Film Sales
- Screenplay
- based on a novel by Mike Carey, Mike Carey
- Cinematography
- Simon Dennis
- Editor
- Matthew Cannings
- Production Design
- Kristian Milsted
- Sound Design
- Dillon Bennett
- Music
- Cristobal Tapia de Veer
- Cast
- Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, Glenn Close, Sennia Nanua, Dominique Tipper, Anamaria Marinca