DOOMSDAY

UK, 2008, 113 minutes, Colour.
Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, Adrian Lester, Alexander Sidig, David O’ Hara, Malcolm Mc Dowell, Craig Conway.
Directed by Neal Marshall.

The title comes on big and booming and the film builds up from there! The action takes place over 28 years so it is rather like Doomsyears.

Writer-director Neil Marshall has a penchant for horror stories. His first film, Dog Soldiers, had werewolves. His second film, The Descent, had ghouls in subterranean caves. This one, with a far bigger budget and production values, is something of a collage of homages to (imitations of?) some of his favourite films. It begins with a 28 Weeks Later scenario plus some desperate attempts to flee like Escape from New York, moves to a London virus and political expediency situation from Children of Men, then turns into a Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome circus and, before it culminates in a Mad Max, road warrior chase, it visits a retro-medieval castle and community that is a mixture of Gladiator and Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

While the plot rushes along from the desperation of a plague epidemic in Scotland (2008) and the sealing off of the country to an outbreak in London (2035) and the need for a mission to Scotland to try to find an antidote, it is punctuated by some rather grisly effects that many will find offputting, some grotesque behaviour from Scottish survivors and some sadism in torture and cannibalism.

Marshall has secured the services of a strong cast. Rhona Mitra has a sure authority as the leader of the expedition, another female warrior, a futuristic Xena. Adrian Lester is her deputy. Back in London there are Bob Hoskins, David O’ Hara and Alexander Siddig while the king of new medieval Scotland is Malcolm McDowell?.

The plot and production are strong. It is just that the treatment is geared too exclusively to a frantic Playstation mindset.

1.A horror film? Futuristic film?

2.The flair and style of the film, the visuals, the sets, the costumes and makeup? Action? The variety?

3.The range of influences from Twenty- Eight Days Later, Excalibur, Escape From New York, the Mad Max films? Homage? Better or less effective?

4.The plague and the virus, its effect in Scotland, the infected people, their suffering, the attempts to escape, the ruthlessness of the border guards? Isolating Scotland? The surveillance? The presumptions that everybody was dead?

5.Katherine Sinclair, at the border, trying to save her daughter, her death?

6.2035, the virus recurring, the activities of the prime minister, Canaris as his adviser, Nelson and his being the action man? The need for the serum? Hopes for finding Kane in Scotland? The mission? The political implications?

7.Eden, her character, the warrior? Military? Her friendship with Bill Nelson? The choosing of the team, Sergeant Norton? The doctors? Her having the use of only one eye? Getting ready, the limits, the terms? Travel to Scotland? The weaponry? Security?

8.Scotland, the border, the visuals of the stagnant countryside, the animals? Glasgow? The people, their being stalked? The dangers? The survivors, mutants, a community, law and disorder, Sol and his appearance, talk, associates? Ruling Glasgow? The landmarks and the degradation? The parallel with Beyond Thunderdome with a kind of Scottish Bartertown? The costumes, the music, the arena, the fights? The men and the Can-Can? The music and the madness? The allies for Eden and her work?

9.The mission itself, the dangers, action, the strategies, the separation of the group? The laboratories? Deaths? Norton and his character, his help? The doctors? Their becoming victims?

10.The laboratories, the information, the search?

11.Action in London, the contact with the group, the decision-making, the prime minister with the virus, his death? Canaris and his taking charge? His ruthlessness? Nelson and his attempts to contact the group?

12.The countryside, finding Kane, Sol being his mad son? The pursuits?

13.The castle, the mediaeval way of life, the customs, Kane ruling it as a despot? His explanations of his motivation, disillusionment? The family? The jousts, the gladiatorial combat? Eden versus the giant? Her victory?

14.The pursuit through the countryside – and the images from Mad Max 2? The crash, survival?

15.Eden’s achievement, the publicising of Canaris and the film of his decision-making? Nelson and his support? The virus?

16.Sol, his character, death? Eden deciding to remain in Scotland, visiting her mother’s house? Her becoming the leader?

17.The film and its qualities in itself – and in comparisons with the films that it was emulating?