Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix, Jessica Jones, Humans) plays the lead and is, as always, convincing in her role. She is supported by Douglas Smith (The Alienist, Clarice), similarly competent as a lost soul searching for his girlfriend in amongst a new world where for humans who are not careful, Mother Nature is taking them back. All sorts of messages going on of course about what our species is doing to the planet and how we'd better watch out if we don't mend our ways.
Some of the make-up has been created interestingly for the humans who have been reclaimed, as various bits of greenery are growing out of various bits of their body, nature keeping them alive-to-thrive. Smith's character has got an extra problem to deal with, apart from avoiding being nabbed, in that he has amnesia. This pops up throughout as we're served up clues as to what the past has been for him and what he can remember about his girlfriend and where she might be.
He quickly gets trusted and invited into Carrie-Anne Moss' character's home as she sees an opportunity to have a physically healthy man around the place to help with the harder work, including taking a turn on the exercise bike which charges the batteries, assisting the solar panels, to bring her purposefully booby-trapped home some electricity. So they get along nicely until having to deal with passers-by and run the risks involved regarding who to trust and who to not. Throughout this, we're flashing back to what he (Ethan) remembers from time to time about his girlfriend and what happened to her, but he also really can't piece much of it together beyond the fact that they were in a car crash.
Carrie-Anne Moss is super in the lead and all those popping in for a quick turn do a great job including Frank Grillo (The Grey, Tulsa King, Kingdom), Kimberly-Sue Murray and Jonathan Cherry. They all contribute well to this post-apocalypse kind-of-survival story as the thrills and surprises roll. I really liked The Last of Us (2023) and this certainly had some nods to the atmosphere of that, though less of the scare moments - as much of this is more laid back - no jump-scares to contend with, which gets my vote!
It's nicely produced with some interesting photography, particularly with some of the interior sets, and yes, there is some body-horror gore here and there - but certainly nothing to hide behind the sofa from! As I said earlier, more to admire from the physical effects rather than blatant CGI. I do think that it's well worth a watch but don't read too much about it or watch give-away trailers. Go in blind and enjoy the ride. It's on a number of streaming services in the UK as I write.
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