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[tab title="Movie Review"]

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Arnold Schwarzenegger. Zombies. I know what you are thinking and, trust me, I went there as well when I first heard about Maggie. Schwarzenegger, sans shirt, throwing zombies off his hulked out frame while screaming something about running to a tank or a chopper or an underground bunker. I shook my head and laughed. Then, from those critics fortunate enough to catch a screening of the film, I read just how awful it was … but something told me otherwise; something told me to give this film a chance.

And so I did.

Turns out, we can all relax because the richly dramatic film, directed by Henry Hobson, adequately defines the slow burn as Schwarzenegger plays Wade Vogel, a ragged man unable to protect his teenage daughter (Abigail Breslin) after she is bitten by a group of the living dead in Kansas City. Throw out everything you know or think you know about zombies. This film effectively conveys its true effects upon families.

There is a plague sweeping the world; a plague that seems to have spread via the grains in our diet. Its victims, after weeks of experiencing a painful transformation, become zombies wanting only the taste of flesh on their tongue. Did you hear that? Weeks. Not minutes. Not hours. Weeks. It’s a long-suffering change that gives them time to wrap up loose ends and say their goodbyes to the people they love because, according to the events in the movie, there is no cure.

But what happens when a father wishes to protect his daughter – who is indeed turning into a zombie with every passing day – from the outside world when they come calling? What happens when, acting in defiance of the public safety ordinance that reads all those individuals who are about to turn are to be placed in a holding prison (a sort of concentration camp for the undead), a father decides he can’t let her go? His time with his daughter is not unlike the countdown to a massive explosion. You know what is going to happen, you just don’t know when or how it will happen. That is the bleak territory of Maggie.

Situated in the Midwest, Maggie takes its time with locations and with the people populating John Scott III’s script. I was struck by its thoughtful and engaging tone. Let this one wash over you because it’s a hard one to shake. The pictorial poetry from Lucas Ettlin’s camera makes the violence, when it happens, effectively shocking – especially with some of the bodily dismemberment as Maggie discovers the true wrath of the virus churning within her. The notes on the film claims principal photography was in New Orleans but, as I live in the middle part of America, it sure looks like the long, stretching fields of Kansas to me. So bravo, Maggie, bravo.

Key to the success of the movie is the restraint its cast shows and, damn, if Schwarzenegger doesn’t nail this emotional performance. Co-starring J.D. Evermore and Joely Richardson as the ignored step-mom voicing her uneasiness about having Maggie in the house after she’s been bitten, Hobson’s movie has an unexpected depth as its actors and its mechanics never falter to make this material believable.  

It could be argued that nothing happens in the movie and, yes, that’s what a majority of people are complaining about. To them, I suggest they grow up. A lot happens in Maggie. A lot. But it’s not on an in-your-face action heavy level. The quiet events in Maggie are beyond disturbing and very rewarding, if you are paying attention. Both Breslin and Schwarzenegger give strong performances here.

Maggie, with grace and gives us the human side of the zombie apocalypse.

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[tab title="Film Details"]

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for disturbing thematic material including bloody images, and some language.
Runtime: 95 mins
Director: Henry Hobson
Writer: John Scott 3
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Abigail Breslin, Joely Richardson
Genre: Drama | Thriller
Tagline: Maggie
Memorable Movie Quote: "It's probably your father cooking up something he shouldn't have. I'll get the drops."
Distributor: Lionsgate
Official Site: http://maggiethefilm.com/
Release Date: May 8, 2015
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: July 7, 2015
Synopsis: A teenage girl in the Midwest becomes infected by an outbreak of a disease that slowly turns the infected into cannibalistic zombies. During her transformation, her loving father stays by her side..

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - July 7, 2015
Screen Formats: 2.40:1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD); UV digital copy; Digital copy
Region Encoding: A

Courtesy of Lionsgate Films, Maggie is presented with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer that looks absolutely beautiful. There is a darkness to the story and it, in turn, is wonderfully captured here with muted colors that still convey the real world. Nothing about the look of the film is stylized. Textures are crisp and colors, with blacks reliably strong, are sharp. The zombie effects look awesome throughout. The lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is adequate for this release.

Supplements:

Commentary:

• While silent for long stretches, Hobson does say some interesting things about the making of the low budget film. It is worth a listen if you really enjoy, like me, the movie.

Special Features:

Lionsgate slaps the traditional EPK on this release but makes more out of the supplemental material with some above average interview segments. There is one deleted scene that provides some marital information but is not essential. We should all keep a lookout for what Hobson and John Scott 3 do next.

• Making Maggie (18 min)
• Henry Hobson Interview (8 min)
• John Scott 3 Interview (7 min)
• Arnold Schwarzenegger (20 min)
• Abigail Breslin Interview (7 min)
• Joely Richardson Interview (8 min)
• Deleted Scene (2 min).
• Maggie Trailer

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[tab title="Trailer"]

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