Feral (2017) Horror Zombie

Feral (2017) - This is an incredible detailed spoiler filled commentary I wrote while watching this film. I am not really reviewing it as I am experiencing it and writing my thoughts as I progress through the plot. So if you have plans to watch this film and don't want it ruined then stop reading now. Six twenty-something medical students get more than they expect on a camping trip when they find themselves face to face with zombies. The first scene is a man watching a woman turn into a zombie like creature, tied to a bed once she turns he puts a bullet in her head.  The other early scenes are all about set up, get into the woods do some simple character development and then hear some noises so they can get nervous. The director doesn't try very hard to show these youngsters know anything about camping, they are all walking with backpacks on but waist belts undone. Of course some can't figure out how to set up the tents, of course they have a fire that night and all have beer to drink. A practiced camper knows that beer bottles weigh too much, so if you are going to drink on a trip which is not recommended you bring distilled liqueur and switch it into a canteen. You don't have campfires, leave no trace camping is preferable and routes are planned these guys are just following one guy who "thinks" the lake is this direction. Enough complaining about poor set up, they have their fire and we get to know them and then it is time for bed.
  This is a perfect time to give us just enough about the characters couple by couple so we can get on with the scary. Alice (Scout Taylor-Compton) and Jules (Olivia Luccardi) talk about Alice not being able to come out to her bible belt father. Jules is from NYC where it is not such a big deal, she also worries that Alice has slept with most of the people on the trip. Jesse (Brock Kelly) and Gina (Landry Allbright) are at odds because Jesse thinks Gina is going to ruin the trip. She gets her character development by wearing a fur coat at the fire and sort of bitchily saying she is going to bed. Jesse is upset that Alice "is a lesbian now" and Gina feels like the girl he is seeing because he can't be with Alice. Matt (George Finn) and Brienne (Renee Olstead) are a very handsome couple, Brienne is Alice's best friend and their dialog fills in how Jesse is jealous of Alice coming out. The get engaged in this seen and so we have all the dynamics for a film. (or at least all you are going to get from this film.

  Matt taking a piss is attacked by a humanoid creature and so the fun begins with a scene of his guts being ripped out. Of course Brienne goes looking to come upon the gruesome scene and is chased while screaming. When the others hear the screaming they rush out and find her unconscious a bite on her face. We see a bit more in who the characters are with Alice taking charge of treating her. Both Jules and Gina are scared reaction people not showing much agency even after finding Matt's body. Jesse is there to butt heads with Alice. I loved the ridiculous bite in Brie's face all around her eye like the creature was trying to bite out her eyeball. It's going to leave a mark. Then the stupid scared girl line by Gina. "What if whatever did this is still out there and comes back." Hello, of course it is still out there! Then they all go back to bed? WTF! Now would be the time to build that fire and post a guard. What about Matt's body?
When morning is arrives we come in late on the scene of the group talking to local Bill Talbot (Lew Temple) who is sorry for their loss. WTF it looks like 10am and they just got up. Not hiking the fuck out at dawn no what a stupid premise. Instead of heading out to civilization they go to his remote cabin. Jesse and Jules are going to hike out to get help. Now the logistics of this are absolutely insane. Let's assume the group hiked all day to their original camp, without strapping their backpacks on correctly. That means they were one day from the parking lot. Now after going from there camp to the Talbot cabin they learn following the trail will take them to a service road that leads to the parking lot, but it is 20 miles long. Slow hiking is a mile an hour, that with rough terrain in the mountains, even in shape without packs the two could cover 20 miles probably in a long day. The terrain looks hilly but not mountainous. Jesse says if they cover four mph they can get out and back before sundown. That would be ten hours until sundown? meaning even in the height of summer it can be no later than say 8am. This means it must have been just sunrise when they met Talbot and headed to his cabin. But if the casual nature of there hike the day before is to be believed, the group probably did no more than ten miles into the wilderness and it they were lost probably did less than that. So assume they are eight miles from the car when they meet Talbot, then they carry the unconscious Brie for three hours to the cabin, probably a mile an hour to reach a cabin with a trail that is twenty miles long. That must be a trail that goes close to ten miles out of the way as it meanders back to the service road. Then in the very next scene we see mountains, so none of this is going to work. They don't take packs, water, snack or anything else. they are just going to follow a trail.
  Cut back to Brie awake and mourning Matt and Alice and Talbot now back where Matt's body used to be. "He didn't just get up and walk away." says Alice. Or did he? We cut between the that and Jules and Jesse arguing about Alice. It is just a way to get Jesse caught in a bear trap. As if the impossible logistics of the hike were not enough. There is this masculine toxicity with his character where he can't believe Alice is really gay because he slept with her. Is he worried he turned her gay by having bad sex? Now unable to free him from the bear trap Jules has to go back to the cabin. She does not make it before the sun sets. Even though Brie is awake she does not tell them that she was attacked by a humanoid creature. Does she not remember?  Alice and Gina don't trust Talbot and considering the first scene, we sort of know he knows what is going on in the woods.
  The overnight has Jesse stuck in the bear trap, Jules trying to find her way back to the cabin but hunted by one of the creatures. At the cabin a confrontation where Alice has Talbot's gun and trains it on him when he is standing over Brie with syringe that he says is antibiotics. "I have no choice." he says trying to give the shot, before she shoots him in the shoulder to stop him and knocks him out with the butt of the rifle. Gina is useless and afraid and when Alice goes outside to check on a noise she heard she leaves Gina with Talbot. At least we get some exposition about the virus that Brie has and Talbot escapes into the woods. So lets assume Talbot stayed in the forest after doing in his infected wife. He knew the creatures were around but did nothing to fortify his cabin. So maybe he knows the nature of the infliction. He stated that the virus was taking over Brie and that she would turn into something else. Since the opening scene took place in the cellar of the cabin as Alice and Gina find the space we know that he is not just a loner in the woods. He has potions that make one think he may have caused the zombie like creatures or at least was trying to find a cure. When Jules returns to the cabin just past the half way point this knowledge sets up the third act. So where are we, Jesse is in the bear trap hours away from the cabin and is soon dispatched by one of the creatures. The four women are in the cabin armed and caring for one of their own who will soon be a creature. Matt and the other creatures are roaming around outside somewhere and may run into Talbot wounded but at least in the know about the dangers around him.
  So what happens at the cabin? They all go to sleep, yep that is it. Next morning Alice and Jules leave the useless Gina with the gun and alone in the cabin with the changing Brie. They hike to Jesse and find him already turned on the ground but unconscious. The yellow eyes should be an indicator but they carry him back to the cabin anyway because he has a pulse.I appreciate that they are still taking moments to do further character development. We learn that Alice is a strong competent young woman with a good heart. All back at the cabin we are ready for the third act. Since they all sleep and do not lock anything up it is a perfect time for Talbot to get the drop on them.
  Lots of parts should build into a frenzy rather quickly if this is to be executed in a satisfying way. Talbot reveals his son is a creature, Jesse transformed rises from the dead, Jules sneaks up on Talbot with a knife. Useless Gina wakes and starts looking for Jesse scared as ever. This is a tiny cabin and the noise of Gina being attacked by Jesse, full creature now, gives the other girls a chance to jump Talbot. Jesse escapes jumping out the bedroom window, Gina is bitten and Alice and Jules are going to get answers from Talbot. I have to say I hate when the line "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you." just before giving the all too believable information that fills in the participants of said scenario. The "Feral Virus" as Talbot calls it, very science smart he was trying to find a cure for the first creature his son Ben. They are nocturnal and the virus transforms them into the creatures. The women know that both Gina and Brie are going to turn. All the creatures will come to the cabin because they want to feed on the living in classic zombie trope. So are we safer in the cellar or the upstairs. Is this "Night of the Living Dead"? Sure is close but with fast zombies. Also the trope of should the they kill their friends which is wonderfully played out comes into play. So locking Talbot in the cellar they have to make it through the night, virus goes dormant in the day which will give them a chance to escape.
  I like that the earlier character development comes into play in the argument about whether they should execute Brie. It is a natural conversation considering the circumstances and since Alice is the alpha it will eventually be up to her to make the decision. Joining Talbot (tied up) in the cellar and also tying up Brie they try to wait out the night seems like a smart idea. But leaving Gina unbound but sleeping is a mistake. Then the really big mistake. when Alice hears noises upstairs she goes to investigate. Maybe necessary for plot purposes but how many horror films does it take to know that you never go investigate noises, alone armed or not it is just crazy. I would think that having two zombies in the cellar with you and three more trying to get in could in itself be a really exciting climax. You would also have the antagonist of Talbot waiting for his chance to take control of the situation to spice things up further. Instead while Alice is creeping around upstairs Talbot is getting over on Jules who does not seem too bright in the scene.
  So instead of a action packed attack scene we have a slow burn creeping around the house. There is tension which is great but I hoped for more. Alice takes out a couple of the creatures so according to my count there is still one left up above and two potentials in the cellar. When Alice come down the stairs Talbot is waiting for her. she is knocked out falling literally down six steps. Talbot leaves her locked down there only to sacrifice himself to his son upstairs. When Alice come awake she sees the Gina creature hovering over her girl Jules and with a baseball bat in hand we get a fight to the death. Where she was never really friends with Gina anyway she does not hold back. One down stair and possible two upstairs. Brie waking and screaming gets the upstairs son of Talbot creature breaking into the cellar. The woman make a plan and Alice will handle the creature while Jules flees for her life. (Instead of double teaming the creature?) Alice is getting better at this and succeeds in finishing it off but now she is separated from Jules and the Talbot creature is on the loose. I dislike when you set up rules about the transformation and then break them. This is the case in this film where Talbit changed way faster than any other character that was infected.
  Then of course Alice has to decide whether to kill her girlfriend when she is infected by Talbot creature before he is killed. I have to hand it to the film maker, he plays the setup and scene for all it is worth. Unfortunately everything creeps back to a crawl meaning Jules turns very slowly and it is daylight before the end. this uneven action plotting where there are burst of action but no steady build to a climax is just unsatisfying for me. Our final girl gets to walk out in the light but of course the obvious omit of leaving Brie to finally change over  is revisited in the hopes of a sequel. Let me remind you she was the second person bitten and yet is the last to change. I think there was a giant opportunity for a third act that was missed in this film. It was filmed and cut well enough but I am not sure the script was good enough. (Who am I to judge right? someday I will write something and put it out into a cruel and critical world and then see how I feel about my critiques) I think Director Mark Young did what he could with it but maybe some more development could have helped.Well not really a pleaser for me. It is not horrible but it is also not one I would recommend.