Z for Zachariah (2015)
Directed by Craig Zobel
In the wake of a nuclear war, a young woman survives on her own, fearing she may actually be the proverbial last woman on earth, until she discovers the most astonishing sight of her life: another human being. A distraught scientist, he’s nearly been driven mad by radiation exposure and his desperate search for others. A fragile, imperative strand of trust connects them. But when a stranger enters the valley, their precarious bond begins to unravel.
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What critics compared Z for Zachariah to
Sharing more similarities with 2015's quiet apocalyptic indie " Z for Zachariah " than the film its teaser trailer and promotional materials most resemble, 2004's M. Night Shyamalan thriller " The Village ," the film certainly conjures an unsettling aura but does so at a deliberate tempo where its characters' emotional journey and insular world takes precedence over predictable genre tactics.
The film’s nearest analogue is probably Craig Zobel’s underlooked 2015 thriller , Z for Zachariah, though that film—troubled with unease as it is—looks downright gentle compared to Shults’s harrowing chamber piece.
Psychological trauma isn’t exactly untrammelled territory as far as dystopias are concerned, with “The Walking Dead,” Z for Zachariah, Snowpiercer and the Hunger Games movies all touching on that subject to varying degrees just within the last several years.
From “Z for Zachariah” to “The Survivalist,” minimalist post-apocalyptic survival stories have repeatedly gone underseen, in part because they don’t entirely fulfill the potential of their central conceit.
While “It Comes at Night” bears similarities to such recent films as “10 Cloverfield Lane” and the little-seen post-apocalyptic drama “Z for Zachariah” — all are about strangers in close quarters after the social fabric has been ripped to shreds — “Night” lacks the fantastical elements of the former and is more tensely terrifying than the latter.
I’m all for a more subdued character-based end-of-days drama a la Z for Zachariah…
I felt the need to begin this article with those two sentences because "The Hunt," a new horror film directed by Craig Zobel ("Compliance," "Z for Zachariah") and written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof ("Lost," "Star Trek Into Darkness"), tells the story of liberal elites who kidnap 12 conservatives — heavily implied to be Trump supporters since they're often referred to as "deplorables" — in order to hunt them for sport.
On the surface, The Hunt resembles straight-forward hack ’em ups like Blumhouse ‘s The Purge, but Craig Zobel (of Z for Zachariah and Homestar Runner) has a little more on his mind.
Zobel has made some engaging and thoughtful films in the past, particularly the 2015 dystopian science-fiction drama Z for Zachariah.
Director Craig Zobel, best known here for getting Chris Pine, Margot Robbie and Chiwetel Ejiofor to hole up in Banks Peninsula for 2015’s Z for Zachariah, balances the visceral spills and one-degree-from-reality chills with the lighter, more flippant tone well.
Instead, director Craig Zobel ( Compliance , Z For Zachariah ) embraces the comedy, and if viewed as such, audiences are likely to connect it with more so.
[READ MORE: Our review of Craig Zobel’s ‘Z for Zachariah‘ starring Chris Pine, Margot Robbie, and Chiwetel Ejiofor]…
Cronin is joined behind the camera by director of photography Dave Garbett (“Z for Zachariah,” “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”), production designer Nick Bassett (“Guns Akimbo,” “Sweet Tooth”), editor Bryan Shaw (“Ash vs Evil Dead,” “Spartacus”) and costume designer Sarah Voon (“Chasing Great,” “Inside”), with a score by Stephen McKeon (“The Hole in the Ground,” “Primeval”).
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We either go down in flames, screaming, in bombastic spectacles like Independence Day and 2012 or we are extinguished with a little more dignity and grace, contemplating the fragility of our humanity and our place in the scheme of things in films such as The Quiet Earth and Z for Zachariah .