Escape To The Cove

Writer and director Robert Enriquez’s Escape To The Cove is both prophetic and disturbing in its vision of mankind’s future.  Consider the opening in which a family photograph is splattered with mucus or something spit up from an infected human being.  That’s right, Escape To The Cove is a timely pandemic flick in which fear, destruction, and greed has swabbed the deck of dear Mother Earth’s sailing vessel with human remains.

"both prophetic and disturbing in its vision of mankind’s future"


This is an empty world.  The shots of the vacant cities are eerie and seemingly unnatural as a very weary Cairo Yazid (Garrett Barghash) wanders past almost everything post-apocalyptic that you can imagine.  We even get lots of empty school bus barns as he makes his way from town to town.  But what is he in search of?  Turns out, just a safe space to rest his bones.

A young woman, Olivia (Dana Kippel), who damn near saves his life when he comes across some infected zombie-type victims, knows of a place where peace and safety stands for all who are brave enough to search its golden shores.  It is called The Cove and that is where the two of them - tired of ducking The Wanderers - are headed.  

But they aren’t alone.  Keep that in mind as this zombie flick has more political intrigue in it than it does your typical zombie chomp-chomp bites.  Not that I mind, though.  Well-shot and well-directed, this small budget independent feature offers much in the way of drama as this rumored safe haven.escape to the cove lg2

It turns out that Luther (Mike Markoff) and his particular brand of pirates want in on The Cove’s location, too, but their reasons are far more disturbing than Cairo and Olivia’s.  They want Captain Benjamin Solomon’s (Enriquez) daughter for their own.  He won’t tell them where it is.  What follows, as Solomon and Cairo’s fates become intertwined is an intense struggle of wills as a few pirates try to decide who gets to Escape To The Cove.

While the movie is smartly made, some of the characters and the performances suffer from a fate that doesn’t allow them to be fully fleshed out.  There are also only a few key sequences involving the zombies, which for a movie selling itself on INFECTED ZOMBIES is a bit of a bummer.  However, there is one sequence that really shines as we are introduced to water-bound zombies called, wait for it, "Sea Lions" and these beasties pop out of the water with GLOWING blue eyes.  These brief moments are highlights in an otherwise typical post-apocalyptic thriller.  Could we have more of this, please?

Complete with a cameo from Eric Roberts and a fun performance from Phillip Cook, Escape To The Cove is now available in the US and Canada on digital streaming platforms.

3/5 stars

Film Details

Escape To The Cove

MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime:
94 mins
Director
: Robert Enriquez
Writer:
Robert Enriquez
Cast:
Garrett Barghash; Robert Enriquez; Phillip Cook
Genre
: Horror
Tagline:
Fear of other people is what got us in this whole mess in the first place.
Memorable Movie Quote:
Theatrical Distributor:
Tricoast Worldwide
Official Site:
Release Date:
January 21, 2021
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:

Synopsis: In the near future, a pandemic has ravaged the earth. Fear, greed and destruction have made way for such terrors as famine, pirates, and zombies. CAIRO YAZID's, only chance for survival is to join forces with a curmudgeon, SOLOMON, also still untouched by the fatal virus, as he is the only one who knows the secret location of the safe place known simply as THE COVE.

Art

Escape To The Cove