The Day - Warning: zombies not included!

For some reason (possibly due to the marketing) people seem to think that The Day is about zombies. It's not. It doesn't even feature a slightly hungry vampire. It's totally UN-supernatural (unless you count the fact that the world has - technically - come to an end and everyone's living in a post-apocalyptic landscape).

Five survivors take refuge in a farmhouse which basically doesn't belong to them. Soon, those who own it come for what they believe is theirs. Carnage ensues.

First of all I have to mention `the look' of this film. I know it's meant to be bleak, but the film-makers have gone to the added length of basically draining all the colour from the footage. It certainly does the trick. The atmosphere is definitely bleak. During the night scenes, you might as well be watching a black and white film. This will appeal to some, others may find it a little annoying.

After a (very!) slow start, the five characters (of whom we get to know and care for reasonably well) come under siege from the owners of the farmhouse (apparently, in an earlier draft they were zombies). This is, of course, when the majority of the action starts. Although, it comes well into the final third of the movie, making the `climax' shorter than you might expect.

The Day has a kind of '28 Days Later' look and feel to it (helped by the pretty good musical score) and plays out like Assault on Precinct 13.

I've seen a lot of reviewers raving about The Day, but, despite a few nice touches here and there (plus some bits that actually surprised a hardened film-goer like myself), I never thought it was that much of a classic.

In short, it's not bad. If you're looking for a post-apocalyptic version of Precinct 13 then this one could be for you.

I feel a bit bad only giving it 3/5. There were definitely some 4 star moments in there. If I could award it 3.5, I think it would be fairer.

6/10 May just keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights