The Girl with All the Gifts (film)
The Girl with All the Gifts is a 2016 British post-apocalyptic science fiction horror film directed by Colm McCarthy and written by Mike Carey, based on his 2014 novel of the same name. Starring Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, Glenn Close, and Sennia Nanua, the film depicts a dystopian future following a breakdown of society after most of humanity is wiped out by a fungal infection. The plot focuses on the struggle of a scientist, a teacher, and two soldiers who embark on a journey of survival with a special young girl named Melanie.[3]
| The Girl with All the Gifts | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Colm McCarthy |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Mike Carey |
| Based on | The Girl with All the Gifts by Mike Carey (uncredited) |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Cristobal Tapia de Veer |
| Cinematography | Simon Dennis |
| Edited by | Matthew Cannings |
Production company |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures (United Kingdom) Saban Films (United States) |
Release date |
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Running time | 111 minutes[1] |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2.3 million[2] |
Plot
In the near future, humanity has been ravaged by a disease caused by a parasitic fungus transmitted by bodily fluids. The infected have turned into fast, mindless flesh-eaters, referred to as "hungries". Mankind's only hope is a small group of hybrid second-generation children who crave living flesh but retain the ability to think and learn. The children are imprisoned by a group of soldiers led by Sergeant Eddie Parks, and go to "school" at an army base in the Home Counties, where they are experimented on by Dr. Caroline Caldwell. Helen Justineau is responsible for educating and studying the children. Among them is an exceptional girl named Melanie. Melanie is brought into a lab by Caldwell to be dissected to develop a vaccine for the disease.
When the base is overrun by hungries and the lab is breached, Melanie escapes and wanders outside, where soldiers are being violently attacked. She is stunned by what she sees but attacks and bites two soldiers who are trying to restrain Helen. Justineau and Melanie jump aboard an escaping truck with Sergeant Parks, Caldwell and two surviving soldiers, Gallagher and Dillon. The soldiers want to shoot Melanie, but Justineau and Caldwell protect her. Melanie is restrained and muzzled to prevent her from biting the others. Dillon is killed when hungries attack as the group stops for water, and the truck is disabled.
The group reaches London by foot and make their way through a swarm of dormant hungries using a "blocker" gel that masks their scent, rendering them largely invisible. They take shelter in an abandoned hospital for the night. Caldwell reveals that "second generation" hungries were discovered after newborns killed their infected mothers by burrowing out of the womb. In the morning, the group realise they have been surrounded by hungries. Melanie, as a second-generation hungry, is ignored by the hungries. She explores abandoned houses and chases then eats a stray cat. She helps the group by leading the hungries away with a stray dog so the group can escape.
As they progress through London, they come across piles of infected bodies encircling the BT Tower, which has been overgrown by a massive fungal growth. Caldwell explains that the growth contains seed pods which, if released, could release airborne spores that would end Mankind. They take shelter in an abandoned mobile laboratory that was sent into the city earlier by the military authorities.
Caldwell, injured and dying of sepsis, reasons that she can save the human race by sacrificing Melanie to complete her vaccine research in the lab. As the group runs out of food, Gallagher ventures into the city on a supply run but is killed by a tribe of feral children, who have learned to track uninfected people despite the blocker gel. When the rest of the group is surrounded by the feral children, Melanie kills the leader with a bat. The remaining children back off, allowing them to escape.
Caldwell attempts to dissect Melanie upon the group's return to the lab, imploring her to sacrifice herself for Justineau. Melanie comes to the realisation that she is not an experiment, however; her kind, human-fungus symbiotes, will be the future. She escapes and sets the towering seed-pod structure alight, causing it to release an immense cloud of spores. Caldwell chases after her but is killed by the tribe of children.
Parks leaves the lab in search of Melanie but becomes infected by the spores. He hands Melanie his gun and tearfully asks her to shoot him as he does not want to turn into a hungry. Melanie obliges and shoots Parks as he is about to turn. In the lab, Justineau stands inside the sealed door, watching the spores fall.
The film ends with a tearful Helen, safe but confined to the sealed mobile lab due to the lethal environment. Outside, the hybrid children of the army base, along with the feral children, sit together, kept sternly in place by Melanie. Justineau speaks through a microphone, once again educating them.[4][5]
Cast
- Gemma Arterton as Helen Justineau
- Paddy Considine as Sergeant Eddie Parks
- Glenn Close as Caroline Caldwell
- Sennia Nanua as Melanie
- Anamaria Marinca as Jean Selkirk
- Fisayo Akinade as Private Kieran Gallagher
- Anthony Welsh as Private Dillon
- Dominique Tipper as Private Devani
Production
The book and film were written in tandem, with Carey also writing the screenplay, which was placed on the 2014 Brit List, a film-industry-compiled list of the best unproduced screenplays in British film. Colm McCarthy came aboard as director for his first major feature.[6] The movie was originally titled She Who Brings Gifts but was later retitled, matching the book.[7]
On 23 March 2015, casting was announced for the film.[8] Of whether or not the film would be similar to the novel, Carey stated:[9]
We went a slightly different way in the movie, especially when it came to point of view. Where the novel moves between the five main characters and lets us see what’s going on in all of their heads, the movie sticks with Melanie all the way. And there are no Junkers in the movie. The base falls to a hungry attack. But it’s a case of two different paths through the same narrative space. The ending is absolutely faithful to the book.
— M.R. Carey, in an interview with Mom Advice[9]
Half of the film's £4 million budget came from the BFI Film Fund and Creative England, making it the biggest investment that the latter had ever made and one of the largest ever for the BFI.
Filming
Principal photography began on 17 May 2015 in The West Midlands, taking place in Birmingham city centre, Cannock Chase, Dudley and Stoke-on-Trent.[10] Filming lasted seven weeks.[11] Aerial views of a deserted London were filmed with drones in the abandoned Ukrainian town of Pripyat, which has been uninhabited since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.[12]
Release
Warner Bros. bought the United Kingdom distribution rights, while the film is being distributed in the United States by Saban Films.[12][13]
Reception
The Girl with All the Gifts received positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 86%, based on 125 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Girl with All the Gifts grapples with thought-provoking questions without skimping on the scares—and finds a few fresh wrinkles in the well-worn zombie horror genre along the way".[14] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[15]
Dave Robinson of Crash Landed described the film as a "tense and intriguing experience" noting that whilst its final act "goes a little off the reservation" the performance of lead Sennia Nanua will "make you both care [for her] and simultaneously feel on edge" along with the "smart choices" in the CGI department to create a "grounded feel" that offers clear similarities to 28 Days Later.[16]
References
- "The Girl with All the Gifts (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 23 June 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- "The Girl with All the Gifts". Box Office Mojo.
- Tartaglione, Nancy. "Glenn Close Among Cast of UK Zombie Thriller 'She Who Brings Gifts'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
- "The Girl with All the Gifts". Sight & Sound. BFI: 60. August 2016.
- "The Girl with All the Gifts (script)". Scripts.com. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
- Sandwell, Ian (10 February 2016). "Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, Glenn Close join 'She Who Brings Gifts'". Screen International. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
- Sandwell, Ian (11 September 2016). "Glenn Close says her new zombie movie is "more of a character-driven thriller", actually". Digital Spy. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
- Barraclough, Leo. "Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, Glenn Close to Star in 'She Who Brings Gifts'". Variety. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
- Clark, Amy Allen (3 August 2014). "Sundays With Writers: The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey". Mom Advice. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
- Young, Graham (9 June 2015). "What is 'She Who Brings Gifts' about?". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
- Wooding, Andy (24 September 2016). "'The Girl with All the Gifts' producer – Camille Gatin – In Conversation". Film Doctor. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
- Wiseman, Andreas (4 August 2016). "The story behind 'The Girl With All The Gifts'". Screen International. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
- "2nd US Trailer For 'The Girl With All The Gifts' Movie". VannDigital. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- "The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
- "The Girl with All the Gifts Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
- Robinson, Dave (15 September 2016). "The Girl with All The Gifts – Film Review". Crash Landed. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
