Eighth Annual FMS Scarelicious October Movie Series: #14 The Girl with all the Gifts

The Girl with all the Gifts was another suggestion by my friend Heidi B. and I'm awfully glad she pointed me to it.  This is a good entry into the subgenre of British zombie movies and while I think it's perhaps a little too long, I absolutely enjoyed it.

Melanie is about ten years old and has a tough existence.  Like a number of her peers, she is kept in a solitary cell, fed live mealworms and only allowed out to go to school, during which she is bound by her wrists, ankles and head to a wheelchair.  Melanie (and her peers) are zombie children, you see, and unlike the regular adult "hungries" that have overrun Britain, they are capable of conscious thought and able to control their flesh-eating ways.  At least a little.  Melanie is especially special, exhibiting politeness, empathy, loyalty and capacity for complex thinking.  These zombie children are being held in a military facility with research being done by Dr. Caldwell (Glenn Close), who is sure she can develop a cure for the zombie fungus.  When the facility gets overrun by zombies - which, of course it does - Melanie, Dr. Caldwell, Melanie's favorite teacher (Miss Justineau, played by Gemma Arterton) and a couple of soldiers are the only ones who make it out alive.  As they make their way into London, trying to rejoin the remaining humans, the resourceful Melanie becomes very helpful.

The Girl with all the Gifts wears its influences on its sleeve: an empty, zombie-ravaged London a la 28 Days Later; the cross-country trekking a la The Walking Dead; the military a la Romero's Day of the Dead - but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.  The cast is particularly strong with Close (pretty sure I never expected to see Glenn Close in a zombie movie), Arterton and Paddy Considine as the gruff Sergeant Parks, and Sennia Nanua is very, very good as Melanie.  If you like zombie movies with a little bit of soul, check this one out.