The film starts with our main character, Eva, looking out across the skyline as the explosion occurs. She is grabbed by her boyfriend, Sam, who leads her through the throngs of the building's other residents as they head down the stairs towards the door. They eventually realise that going outside is no solution, so a small subset of the residents happens upon the door of the cellar.
Mickey, the superintendent of the building, has clearly turned his cellar into a survivalist shelter. He tries to stop the group from entering, but they are too strong and force the door. Mickey, it turns out, is a selfish, hardened and cynical man who holds the secrets to the nooks, crannies, hiding places and supplies he has prepared for such an event.
A group of eight adults and a child lock themselves in and start to work out what to do. There’s Mickey (Michael Biehn), Eva (Lauren German) and her boyfriend Sam (Iván González), Josh (Milo Ventimiglia) and his younger brother Adrien (Ashton Holmes), Bobby (Michael Eklund) - a volatile friend of Josh and Adrien - Marilyn (Rosanna Arquette) with her young daughter, Wendi and lastly, Delvin (Courtney B Vance).
Mickey initially maintains control of the shelter, rationing supplies and enforcing strict rules. However, the fragile order is shattered when a group of soldiers in hazmat suits, looking like something out of Star Wars, breach the door using cutting gear. They seize young Wendi and take her away. During the skirmish, Mickey manages to kill one of the soldiers and grabs his equipment. Then have to decide what to do with the body! The group has no idea what is happening outside, so they decide that one of them should don the spare suit and investigate.
Josh is the one who does it - after much discussion, negotiation and bargaining - to try and rescue Wendi but also to report back on what is out there and who these soldiers are. I will leave you to discover what he finds, but he hurriedly scampers back inside. Following this, the soldiers decide to weld the door shut from the outside and be done with the group once and for all.
The film then focuses on the remaining group and how they behave towards each other. As their physical and mental health deteriorates, it becomes clear that the rations will not last forever - especially as Mickey is not being honest with the group anyway. It turns out he is a dishonest bloke - one of the group finds a baseball he had clearly stolen at some point from their apartment.
Trust between them dwindles, power struggles ensue, leadership is challenged, control shifts, paranoia sets in - and with no hope of rescue, some of the men decide they might as well "enjoy" their final days by sadistically abusing - and, in fact, sometimes torturing - those around them. They engage in grotesque power plays, particularly against the "weaker" members, including some of the men and both women.
Marilyn, devastated by the loss of Wendi, descends into severe mental illness and becomes a pawn in the men's sexual games. The group’s interactions devolve into ritualised abuse, sexual violence and cannibalism as they attempt to dispose of the dead bodies piling up in the confined space. Sam, initially the most passive, becomes increasingly erratic, while Eva struggles to remain humane amidst the horrors unfolding around her, the situation becoming unhinged and dangerous.
The question that remains is who will survive, if anyone; how that can happen amidst all this; and even if they do manage to get out of the cellar, what awaits them outside, given Josh's earlier findings and the core fact that a nuclear fallout is occurring.
The two female leads give the best performances, I reckon - particularly Rosanna Arquette (Pulp Fiction, Desperately Seeking Susan) as she descends further and further into madness as a result of the ritual abuse she receives and the total lack of hope for finding her daughter. She is a real joy to watch in the role, despite the harrowing nature of her character's arc; it is a very convincing and impressive performance. Lauren German (Hostel: Part III, Lucifer) is equally convincing and impressive as she leads the cast through the trauma.
So yes, it is a survival film that is executed quite well for the most part. Most of the cast do a decent enough job, and the direction is effectively claustrophobic, courtesy of Xavier Gens - the man responsible for Frontier(s) (2007) and Under Paris (2024). The pace is pitched about right, and the near-two-hour runtime flies by. It is a decent film and well worth checking out if you haven't seen it. It is available on various streaming services in the UK as I write.
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