Horror Palace

RAILWAY CHILDREN

Year: 2012
Studio: Independent
Director: Jason Figgis
Stars: Catherine Wrigglesworth, Emily Forster, Adam Tyrrell
Language: English (UK, Ireland)
Length: 1:46
Sub-genre: Infected (zombie)

This haunting film looks at the day to day survival of two sisters, Evie (Catherine Wrigglesworth) and Fran (Emily Forster), as they struggle to survive in the aftermath of a worldwide viral epidemic in which the adult population has been decimated. In a genre which is (let’s just admit it) oversaturated, Director Jason Figgis manages to find a fresh wrinkle. The survivors of the epidemic, must deal with their new surroundings, which continue to be horrific, even though the infected have all (presumably) died.This is the situation the two young sisters find themselves in. To keep each others’ spirits up, they read from the classic childrens book, The Railway Children, that the film gets its name from. Eventually, they encounter other young people who are just trying to survive, as well. These kids, however, have not managed to transition to the new reality as smoothly, and are more hostile and ruthless.

Now this movie is not a conventional horror movie, but it is unsettling, as we follow the two sisters dealing with their challenges, which could result in dire consequences for either one, all the while presenting flashbacks of the encounters many of the characters survived. In these flashbacks, we get most of the horror in this film. It did disappoint me, as a horror fan, that they chose to pull back from anything resembling gore in these sequences, but it did set the psychology of the survivors. The real meat of the story is how the various surviving kids adapt to the situation, and their inherent mistrust of everything, considering they were largely attacked by their infected parents. Some try to survive and maintain a level of morality, most tread the line while huddling together behind amoral, survive as a group mentality, and some dip into the survive at all costs mindset that includes (insinuated) cannibalism. The film definitely brings to mind the classic, Lord of Flies.

The film is shot wonderfully, and presents a nice collection of views from wide shots of surrounding landscape to huddled intimate scenes. It captures the bleak situation of the tale adequately, and is one of the films’ strong points, along with good acting from nearly all participants. The few adult actors do a great job of portraying the madness they suffer once the infection sets in. It is really chilling. Another suprisingly startling scene involves an encounter one of the characters has with a young boy who is alone drawing pictures in an abandoned building. The child’s reaction to being interrupted was well thought out, and helped bring depth to the story.

There really isn’t that much gore at all. An underachieved shotgun wound, and facial contusions are about it. There are the “cannibal” scenes, which are extra disturbing considering it’s small children devouring the human flesh, but it is far from graphic.

The writing is compelling, though it feels as though it could have been better told in a pair of films, or even a miniseries. The pace gets a bit hastened toward the end, and leaves a bit too much of the story unexamined. I really would like to know more about some of the characters.

The soundtrack is very melodramatic. A bit TOO much for my tastes, though I loved the exit track, and some of the main music was enjoyable. Pretty mediocre overall.

That being said, this film gets in your head, and you really get behind the two sisters in their struggle. It is also a very female led event, which ads to the appeal of the movie. I can’t begin to recommend it to the hardcore horror audience, due to it’s underwhleming lack of gore, but those whose tastes are a bit more adventurous will certainly find much to like in this little gem of a movie!

Reviewer: Boss Butcher

Date: 11/26/2012

Rating: 7/10

Recommendation: High rent /For Hardcore horror fans: AVOID