Although the movie seems to have a pro-life undertone, it was quite good. The movie portrays a close-enough-to-realist take on the post apocalyptic genre, without an actual apocalypse. The movie relates emotions and the actresses did a great job.

After "It Comes At Night" had absolutely nothing come at night, i'm getting sick of these moody post-apocalyptic dramas with titles that are completely wrong or misleading as to the actual content of the movie.the movie at the start is about a single father with two young adult daughters, Nell and Eva, living in a house out in the woods on the west coast. Then there's a catastrophic power outage that ends up being far worse than a random outage. While the concept is broad enough not to be based on anything already written, it reminded me very strongly of the novel by William Forstchen "One Second After", about a father and his two young girls living in a small town in the Carolinas when a massive EMP event hits and they have to go months without power.The novel, which supposedly Newt Gingritch said inspired him to talk about the threat of EMP attacks on the US power grid, was incredibly written and dealt with a lot of the dangerous issues to be dealt with without any sort of electricity, including one of his daughters being diabetic and them having to constantly scour and barter for insulin and ice, while maintaining some manner of stability in the community. This movie does absolutely none of that. The father dies due to an inexplicable accident in which he is apparently wasting gasoline using a chainsaw to cut down a tree for firewood, only to have it come apart and saw his leg and he bleeds out. This leaves the two daughters to survive for many months in their house hidden away in the woods without power. There's never any real danger. They have a seemingly endless supply of clean water, enough not just to drink but to bathe and shave with regularity, and an even more endless supply of rice and beans that not only lasts them many many months, but lasts them throughout having Nell's boyfriend over for several days as well. They somehow continue to maintain the house for over a year, doing nothing but chopping firewood and going on with Nell studying and Eva practicing dancing. The only threat from people in town is when a random shopkeep they'd met earlier shows up to rape Eva and leave. At the end, suddenly the house is seeing huge pieces collapse due to black mold, and with Eva having a baby, she decides not only can she not live in the moldy house anymore but she wants to use the last of their gasoline to set it on fire and leave.I don't know how to handle a mold outbreak in a house, but in a post-apocalyptic setting where there's been no electricity in virtually the entire country for over a year, and no communication with the outside world beyond rumor, I think ditching and burning down a huge house that has gone 15 months without being raided or even discovered by potential bandits and looters is suicide. Another reviewer put it simply and truly; they would die very quickly in the real world. Even if we could believe that they had a perfect house with a huge supply of food and water that lasted them 15 months, they'd end up dead within days after scuttling it and going out on their own without any food or supplies or shelter and a newborn baby.

An apocalyptic movie about a family in the forest. I know a couple of friends who completely hated this movie. And there is one scene that is really despicable. When you see it, you'll understand. Some may even say it is completely unnecessary. It is depressing and I guess it was supposed to even further challenge the viewer.Whatever the case, the movie itself is pretty slow and some also might say boring. It is a slow burner, so there is that for starters. And there is really not that much going on. It does have some merits, especially in the family dynamic, but overall there is something missing. The actors do try their best, but it just isn't enough to put this in a really good place.

While the title and synopsis suggest a survival drama, this movie in fact gives you very little detail on the actual measures taken to 'survive' in a situation of prolonged power outage. Two sisters, Nell and Eva, are left orphaned after their dad succumbs to the injuries he received from a chainsaw accident, leaving them helpless at their house with no electricity.This is a story that tries to highlight the bond between the two sisters played by Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood who deliver terrific and above-average performances respectively. As such, the film packs an emotional punch but fails terribly as a survival thriller. For instance, one wonders how they look as gleeful and healthy as they are, even after a year of no-power (the reason for which isn't explained clearly either). How were they able to procure clean water? Surely, they must have decided on some constraints in the quantity of food they eat. But this doesn't seem to take any toll on their bodies (not even a minor blemish); Page's cheeks look round and rosy as ever. They must have had to hunt for food on more instances than what's shown in the film. They should have had to fend off more intruders than just the one guy who ends up raping the (supposedly) older sister. There are a plethora of possibilities that could have taken place in the lives of the two sisters. But alas, the director doesn't seem interested in expounding any of it.Logical reasoning does take a backseat too often, in between the highly emotional moments. Like Eva almost springing into a comfortable upright position just after she has gone through a painful delivery. Like Eva deciding to go ahead with childbearing after being raped. Like the posh house that starts falling apart in like a year and half of not-so- great maintenance (so much for modern architecture!). Like using their last available bit of fuel to burn their house down during heavy downpour and deciding to take shelter in a tree stump instead (with an infant, mind you!) while they could have at least used the gasoline to warm themselves later on.Nevertheless, the movie does score high on performances and this is probably why one wouldn't want to write off the film altogether. I just wish the movie probed more into the actualities of survival than staging emotional scenes.Verdict: Writing department needed to do a lot better!