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I couldn’t care less how discerning of a movie buff a person claims to be zombie flicks are difficult to resist. Trust me, you’ll still watch them. I suppose George A. Romero did not envision a zombie apocalypse when he produced the 1968 film, Night of The Living Dead on a shoestring budget in rural Pennsylvania. Try to outsmart me by saying the zombie genre is as battle-worn as the milk that’s been left out after being opened for a week. But what I do know for sure is that as long as one decaying corpse shuffles aimlessly, another will always appear out of nowhere to entice the seemingly uninterested spectators. In the last 50 years, I can conclusively state that there has been a plethora of mindless undead versions of creatures shambling around with the old-fashioned, zombie-like, sluggish movements made famous in The Walking Dead. Then there are the almost athletic track runners from 28 Days Later, the Killdozer monsters from Left 4 Dead, and even the experimental fungal spore hosts from The Last of Us. However, no need to announce your favorites, Z genre content is abundant. So, when I fell upon a French interpretation like The Night Eats the World, or La Nuit a Devoré le Monde to be more precise, taking a shot at it was all I needed to do for some fun.
I think it has to do with my peculiar fascination with End of the World stories, but that’s not the point…
We are pulled into the story of the inevitable collapse of Sam, an achingly broken Parisian musician who is rather mentally scarred (Anders Danielsen Lie, 22 July) by one of his relationships gone wrong, with dread for what the future has in store for him. During a move, his girlfriend Fanny (Sigrid Bouaziz, Personal Shopper) inadvertently packs all of Sam’s music and cassettes, forcing him to crash a rowdy housewarming party. The problems spiral out of control when he wakes up to what is left of “The City of Lights.” It transforms into an apocalypse awash with a flesh-eating disease that has turned every single one of its citizens into mindless, cannibalistic zombies. Now, Sam must come up with an unholy amount of creativity, to turn a Parisian loft into a fort that is self-sustaining to survive the ceaseless threat of being devoured alive.
I stumbled upon this film at the peak of the COVID outbreak, which is when most of us were probably fearful of the prospect of humanity’s self-obliteration, like most self-discoveries.
The concept behind The Night Eats The World completely shattered the expectation of me hearing unpleasant undead screams from below and the decayed urban regions. Such new-age brutality might invoke the crippled city and loud hisses. The film is, in fact, rather dynamic infused with little to no dialog along with music played from a women’s headphone or a small speaker. The disquieting silence paired with the subdued monologs and background noise of the building all but keeps the viewers at the edge. Each floor prop breaks while detailing an active character alongside the moans of plumbing that yearn for water. Every single thud feels as if it’s piercing the viewer’s eardrum.
This didactic silence makes the viewer quiet expecting the worst. While the previous zombie movies almost always blasted visuals of horror and gore, this film mainly focused on artistic aesthetics. Sam’s home is a charming vintage six-story apartment that looks like a twisted combination of a modern art gallery with pages of Apartment magazine. There’s an extreme sleekness along with pure horror and isolation that aids the otherworldly presence.
From counting marks carved in the filthy windows to collecting rainwater in spherical containers mounted on the roof, any child’s imagination would find a detail like that fascinating. There is a scene in which Sam tries his hand at scavenging in an empty world and ends up making an elaborate sculpture with the objects he finds and some tinkers. Sam is losing his sanity, which is pretty clear. One would want to join him. If the oceanic Waterworld divided the world’s aesthetic into crude industrial gas-punk and chrome desert, and Mad Max glamorized the split, then I’m hesitant to say that this movie portrays quarantine as a comfortable zone with oceanic bioshock and oxidized green hues.
‘The Night Eats The World’ is the kind of film that debuted much too early for its own good. The popularity of zombie films had already withered away by the time we were done with high school but was subsequently blasted back to life by the Zombieland sequel and the endless TWD spin-offs. Not to mention, the fact the film is European might alienate many from across the pond. However, this might as well be the film ‘Zombie Killer of the Week’ for all those brave enough to get back into the genre. The Night Eats The World is a contemporary gem that manages to evoke a sense of nostalgia which makes it perfect for the autumn season. Explore your surroundings and grab the thickest blunt object you can find before you head out for some skull-shattering fun.
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