The Day - DVD

Film: In a not-too-distant future, our world is nothing but a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Civilization has perished, food or safe shelter is scarce for the survivors. Adam (Shawn Ashmore), who lost his wife and child to a brutal assault, has banded together with friends Rick (Dominic Monaghan), Henson (Cory Hardrict) and Shannon (Shannyn Sossamon) to form a small community of purpose, joined by the closeted Mary (Ashley Bell). Hoping to find a new and safe home somewhere, the group wanders the dreary land. But exhaustion, starvation and disease push morale ever lower. When they seek refuge in a farmhouse, it seems there is finally a chance to rest and regain their strength. But far from it: the discovery of a secret cache of supplies alerts a group of bloodthirsty strangers who have been waiting in the adjacent forest for new victims. A fight for life and death begins, which seems to be lost even before it has really begun...

In The Day, director Doug Aarniokoski creates a very dark, extremely bleak vision of the future, strongly reminiscent of the end-time thriller The Road. What the filmmaker has captured here in autumnal Ottawa, Canada is bleak and apocalyptic in the best sense. In the first few minutes, where the film travels at a very steady pace, the viewer is drawn deep into the action. Here, the exhaustion, the cold, the hunger that the group is struggling with becomes downright palpable. This also creates a high level of tension, even though not much actually happens. This changes in the second half of the film, where the film ramps up the action, tension and gore considerably.

As atmospheric as the whole thing is and as excitingly staged as the second half in particular is, the film also has two problems that tarnish the overall picture a bit in the end. The lesser of the two is the fact that Aarniokoski doesn't really manage to find new sides to the genre of end-time horror. Much of it feels like it's been seen before, whether in the aforementioned The Road, The Walking Dead series, or the German post-apocalyptic Hell. But since the familiar elements are at least grippingly staged and well acted presented, this weak point is only slightly negative weight.

More serious is the fact that the script has some clear weak points. Besides the partly very thin dialogues it's the unfortunately very one-dimensional drawn characters and the somewhat clichéd dramaturgy that tarnish the entertainment value of the film a bit. The fact that the characters remain rather superficial is especially noticeable in the last third, where the fate of individuals should actually mark the emotional climax of the story. Thus, however, the last twenty minutes have some high show values, but very little emotional impact.

So, on balance, The Day is a good and also exciting post-apocalyptic thriller, which, however, its potential, which is built up by the intense imagery and the decent actors, is unfortunately too little used by the weak script. But even if in the end the very big enthusiasm is missing, genre fans here can definitely confidently access!

Picture + Sound: The film has a greatly reduced, very drab color scheme, which makes the action in some moments already almost like a black and white film. This makes the hopelessness, cold and wetness that the protagonists have to deal with really palpable. The sharpness of the picture is on a good to very good level, especially in the brighter moments, only in the darker moments there is a slight loss of detail. The sound in the first half of the film is mainly determined by the dialogues and smaller ambient noises such as rain, then in the second half a few clearer sound effects provide a little movement in the surround area. Good!

Extras: Except for a few trailers, the DVD unfortunately has no bonus material to offer.

Conclusion: The Day is a good end-time thriller that takes its time in the first half to build up a dreary and gloomy atmosphere, which then unloads in the second half in a bloody fight for life and death. To be sure, the film doesn't manage to wrest new sides from the genre. But even on the well-trodden paths of the apocalypse, the thriller offers exciting entertainment, which on the technically well implemented DVD is marred only by the lack of additional material a little. For fans of bloody end time thrillers but still: Recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp