THE NIGHT EATS THE WORLD
Fantasia 2018 Film Festival Review
Review By John Pugh
What more could be explored within the already oversaturated genre of the undead? What else could feature debut Director Dominique Rocher bring to audiences that we have yet to experience with the decomposing flesh-eaters? Well, not a whole lot more, but that’s not necessarily Rocher’s fault. THE NIGHT EATS THE WORLD finds itself sandwiched between Danny Boyle‘s 28 DAYS LATER and Marc Forster‘s WORLD WAR Z. The big difference here is in the scope. Instead of seeing the world, a city or even a town affected by the zombie apocalypse, we are, instead, trapped within the confines of a low-rise apartment complex on the outskirts of Paris.
The film is based on the French Horror Novel by Author Pit Agarmen and therefore there could be a whole discussion about the comparisons of the book vs. the movie. However, I have not read the book so I am unable to comment any further on the adaptation.
The film begins with Sam (Anders Danielsen Lie), a musician, visiting his Ex-girlfriend’s apartment to pick up his old demo tapes. He wasn’t expecting a party with many people there. After some drinking and accidentally getting hit in the face, Sam makes his way to a back room and decides to barricade himself in it away from the other party goers. He passes out and overnight the living become the living dead. Now Sam finds himself alone, fending and surviving, as he sets up camp in the apartment building. Though a lonely survivor, he finds himself making friendly among one of the dead named Alfred(Denis Lavant), who is sadly stuck in an elevator.
THE NIGHT EATS THE WORLD delivers a few interesting elements, starting with the fact that our main character is a musician –and even more a percussionist/drummer. How on earth would a drummer make it through the zombie apocalypse where silence is key to survival? There are a couple of scenes where we see Sam creatively playing music by using common household items. In contrast, the scene from the trailer as he plays his drums with all of his might was entertaining as well. Secondly, I also found it interesting to have your main lead stay put in one place and not have them constantly running. Granted, I also feel this is what makes the film feel a bit redundant and slow at times. Lastly, the fact that the Zombies remain silent and do not grunt or make much noise at all was somewhat refreshing.
In the end, THE NIGHT EATS THE WORLD is a quiet and slow rolling film that, at times, induces occasional eye rolls by the poor choices Sam makes in his fight to survive. Though the film has some entertaining moments, I am for certain the filmmakers really only needed half the time to tell it. It really would have worked better as a short. As I mentioned in the beginning, I don’t see what more the director could have brought to the Zombie genre that we haven’t already seen through the superior Zombie films of the past.
THE NIGHT EATS THE WORLD ends up lacking some of the characteristics that made its predecessors so much more successful and memorable. Such as the liveliness found in Edgar Wright‘s SHAUN OF THE DEAD; the terrifying thrills of 28 DAYS LATER and its sequel 28 WEEKS LATER; the intensity felt in WORLD WAR Z; and of course the influential innovation from the father of the undead genre, George A. Romero‘s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.
