Maggie is not your normal zombie movie. It’s a film that rises above and transcends genre. Released in 2015, Maggie tales the story of its title character, a young woman who has been infected by a zombie style virus that is very slowly turning her into the flesh eating, walking dead. Abigail Breslin delivers a remarkable and heartwrenching performance as Maggie. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s portrayal of her father is shocking as it’s not only moving but sympathetic as well. Overall, the film is very well written and directed.
There are no big action scenes, no burning cities, and very little gore in Maggie though the gore that is present does its job just fine. Instead, Maggie is a quiet, often slow moving look at what it’s like for a parent to lose a child in the setting of an almost post apocalyptic world. Throughout the film, the viewer knows what is surely coming but hopes and longs for something else, a miracle cure, a spiritual healing, anything but what must be. And when that ending comes, the film handles it in a tasteful manner, sparing the view the gruesomeness that could have been. For some, this is a blessing while other may be disappointed as Maggie ends on a quiet note of pain and not with a thundering shotgun.
Maggie is a zombie movie for inetelligent and mature viewers seeking more than just the next heart pounding series of jump scares and raging battles with the undead. It is an underrated gem that deserves being sought out.
