Title: Pandemic
XLrator Media
DIRECTOR: John Suits
WRITER: Dustin T. Benson
CAST: Rachel Nichols, Alfie Allen with Missi Pyle and Mekhi Phifer
Running Time: 91min
Rated: Unrated (language, violence, gore)
In Theaters on April 1st and on VOD and iTunes on April 5th

In the near future, a virus that causes brain swelling and insane violence has taken over the planet. Dr Lauren Chase (Rachel Nichols, Chicago Fire) is separated from her husband and teenage daughter after the fall of New York. She goes to Los Angeles to rescue the few remaining uninfected survivors, and also find a way back to her daughter.  She leads a team with Gunner (Mekhi Phifer, Divergent series) , driver Wheeler (Alfie Allen, Game of Thrones) and navigator Denise (Missi Pyle, Gone Girl) that have been given the mission to search for uninfected, only to be cornered and hunted down by the hordes of infected.  Their mission for survivors turns into a turkey shoot, and it’s kill or be killed. Feeling like the people in charge have abandoned them, they take it upon themselves to get back to the safe zone untainted.

The Good: The first person shooter type scenes were fun to watch. Missi Pyle in a serious role; wow, I was pleasantly surprised.

The Bad: The story was tired and boring. The characters were not likeable. I couldn’t care less about Lauren finding her child and getting to safety. It was kind of like watching Fear the Walking Dead. Same type of story only I was completely removed from feeling for any of the characters. The ending was predictable and took too long to get there. Were the filmmakers too afraid to commit to “zombies?” The infected still have some sort of lucidity, but they are uncontrollably violent and cannibalistic? Yeah, I didn’t care for that angle.

If you’re a zombie apocalypse or mass contagion story fan, you might find Pandemic “just okay.” With the cast, I had higher hopes and was quite disappointed. There’s nothing new to see here.

Acting: B
Story: D
Technical: B
Total Rating:C+
Reviewed by: JM Willis