There are so many zombie-centered stories out there today that I’m sure some of you have experienced zombie fatigue. But before you shrug The Girl With All the Gifts off as yet another tired take on a reanimated corpse-filled apocalypse story, you should probably check out the trailer.
Think back to when 28 Days Later first came out. It was one of the first times a broad audience had seen a zombie story that was anything other than a tale about slow, shambling corpses searching for braaaaiiiinnnnssss. That movie was able to help give new life to the genre, and was one of the films that gave rise to the “zombie virus” type story as opposed to the dead rising from their graves.
While The Girl With All the Gifts isn’t part of the 28 Days franchise (so sorry to those of you who are still waiting for 28 Months Later), from the looks of the trailer it has the potential to reinvigorate the zombie genre in a similar way to Danny Boyle’s amazing series.
Based on a novel by M.R. Carey, The Girl With All the Gifts focuses on Melanie (played by Sennia Nanua), a “young hungry” (the film’s term for zombie) who happens to also hold the secret to the cure. Melanie is kept in captivity with a group of other young hungries, presumably by the military. While the young hungries act relatively normal, when provoked they almost instantly turn rabid. However, the virus acts differently for Melanie, and though she is still a hungry (and, I suspect, able to pass on the virus), she is uniquely able to think clearly. She can also take out hungries, and pass undetected among them.
The Danny Boyle-produced 28 Weeks Later included a similar subplot involving a kid becoming an unaffected carrier of the disease rather than becoming one of the infected horde, but kept this element as little more than an afterthought of the main premise. It looks like The Girl With All the Gifts is pushing that story much further.
What do you think of The Girl With All the Gifts? Do you have zombie fatigue, or are you excited for this movie? Do you think it can bring fresh ideas to the genre? Let’s talk about it in the comments!
Featured Image: Warner Bros.
