An asteroid is heading for earth, and there's nothing that anyone can do to prevent it from hitting and destroying our planet, and everyone and everything on it. And of course, humankind reacts to it as expected, quickly abandoning all vestiges of civilisation and behaving like animals - not all of humankind though, those civilized enough abandon big cities and the like and make the best out of the last days somewhere off the beaten path. Among these people are Ryan (Jake McLaughlin) and Holly (Leven Rambin), who have taken their camper van to take off to the woods and have a romantic last few days. Of course their experience is a bit hampered when they stumble upon a family that has taken their own lives, and the deeply religious suicide cult next door (led by Dee Wallace) is also a bit distracting, even if the members are perfectly nice. But then they meet another couple roughly their age, Gene (Shane West) and Gabby (Sohvi Rodriguez), and have a nice dinner together, and are actually really happy about their new neighbours. Thing is, Gene and Gabby are not quite the nice people they first seem to be, and they have rather sinister motives for befriending Ryan and Holly ...

For the most part, this is a slowburn blend of end-of-the-world cinema and character piece, and the lack of sensationalism and exaggerated excitement really does the story good, does a lot to make the world our heroes live in palpable. Interestingly, the film very gradually and without one first noticing veers off into psycho thriller territory, and this is rather ingeniously worked towards, as in hindsight the hints are there throughout, they're just not driven home by sledgehammer. The result, in combination with solid performances throughout and a subtle directorial effort, is a pretty cool, unusual piece of genre cinema that well deserves a watch.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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