The Maze Virus came and outbreak followed — but what happens when the infected are cured and returned to being human? That’s the question The Cured asks … or at least eventually does … I guess?

I learned of The Cured from a preview. My understanding was that this was another zombie film, and as I started watching it I wasn’t sure if it was zombies or vampires. Checking the DVD case clarified things:

“In a world ravaged for years by a virus that turns the infected into zombie-like cannibals, a cure is at last found and the wrenching process of reintegrating the survivors back into society begins.”

So — let’s clarify — if the ‘monsters’ are ‘zombie-like’ then they weren’t zombies. The sentence does say that they were ‘cannibals’ … so I guess this is a post-cannibal virus-apocalypse film and not technically a zombie film — but just to be safe, I’m going to review it as a Z-film.

Let’s start with the fact that …

My library considers this a “Horror” film. I would call it a drama, that eventually has a modicum of horror, and then goes back to drama. And at that it is a dower drama film … which takes place in Ireland … because historically Ireland needs more dower.

The film stars Ellen Page acting as Abbie, who is an American woman in Ireland for no apparent reason that I can tell except to better sell this film to American audiences***. It has other Irish actors that did great but I don’t recognize their names, and they have lighter Irish accents which I suspect also helps to sell this film to American audiences. Lastly, it has Paula Malcomson as Dr. Lyons … which really doesn’t matter, or the fact that she has a light accent that’s good for American audiences. What’s cool about Paula Malcomson being in this film is having seen her as Amanda Graystone in the new Battlestar Galactica spin-off series Caprica.  By the way, I remember hearing her in one of the Caprica episode commentaries and she is HILARIOUS!

What I do like about this film is that — for the most part — it takes a very different approach to telling a cannibal story … remember, these are “zombie-like cannibals”, but for the moment let’s say that it is a zombie story (which I’ll come back to). This is after the hordes, after the apocalypse, it is during a time that people are rebuilding — and in z-films that’s, well … I can’t think of another film I’ve seen that does that. Also, there was a virus — and a cure was discovered that worked for about 75% of the infected people … which is 100% more cure than other z-films I’ve seen. The story-tellers use of ‘the virus’ approach to zombies quite possibly makes the most sense yet — it makes people mindless cannibalistic pack-hunters as opposed to other zombie-virus films where folks get the virus/infection and essentially go wild.

HERE’S A SPOILER

There is a point where the virus and infected reemerge, a new round of chaos briefly rampages through the streets (before turning back into a dower drama). Had that been 80% of this film rather than the maybe 20% and they replaced Ellen Page, this might have been my new favourite over 28 Days Later.

But no …

SPOILER OVER
Time For My Conclusion

This film holds a moderate rating at IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic. With me, that would be about right – it’s a thinking-viewer’s zombie film, it’s a drama zombie film, it’s dower, and it’s too Ellen Pagey. I am somewhat generously giving The Cured my moderate score of Yellow Puss — there are too many things that didn’t work for me, but in many ways it is a well made film.

LINKS for The Cured

The Cured at Wikipedia, IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic.  Better yet, go read a book, re-watch 28 Days Later, re-watch the new Battlestar Galactica or Caprica if you haven’t seen it, or buy a copy of my recipe book on Amazon and make some cookies.

*** The other mistake about Ellen Page acting in this film is that she’s Ellen Page. She’s barely more interesting to watch than that boring chick in the Twilight films. Remember — the brunette that has the same paralytic facial expression for every emotion — you know, the lead actress?!? I get the impression that the way HolloWood works these days is that an actor or actress rises through the ranks — not because they’re good at acting because most of them aren’t, so they’re elevating some other way — and HolloWood milks as much as they can out of that person until they have a few too many flops or the individual has a personal & public melt-down that’s too big to handle. When it comes to Ellen Page and “The Cured”, I got the sense that she was in this film because she’s just big enough to get attention for the film but not as so big that the Irish filmmakers couldn’t afford her. Furthermore, when it comes to reading about Ellen Page’s personal life and her “I know better than everyone else” high & mighty millennial attitude … quite frankly, were she and I in the same room … I don’t think I could politely excuse myself and exit stage left fast enough.