EXTINCTION is a cheap Hungarian zombie flick that goes for the post-apocalyptic vibe on what is obviously a tiny budget. The setting is a snowbound house, where survivors hole up a decade after an apocalypse wiped out mankind and replaced them with feral, super-fast flesh-eating creatures. The protagonists are a couple of rival guys and a kid and they spend most of the screen time either fighting or in an uneasy alliance. The horror aspects of the production turn out to be very limited, at least until the climax, and for the most part there's just one zombie on screen at a time. What I disliked about this film was the look - all dark, cold and blue, just like many modern digital horrors - and the fakeness of the CGI effects, which render all of the big stunt scenes quite laughable. The acting is okay and the story offers more structured characters than you typically see in this genre, but this is nothing to get excited about...

Nine years after a zombie apocalypse, the former friends Patrick (Matthew Fox) and Jack (Jeffrey Donovan) and his nine year-old daughter Lu (Quinn McColgan) are neighbors in a calm snowy area in the middle of nowhere in Harmony. However, Jack hates Patrick and does not speak with him and the pivot of their hatred is Jack's wife Emma (Valeria Vereau) that has died. When Patrick is attacked by one creature, he succeeds to escape and saves Jack. Lu convinces her father to invite Patrick to have dinner with them. Patrick convinces Jack to move to another place with Lu; however they find a pregnant woman (Clara Lago) in shock and they bring her to Jack's house. Soon they find that the house is under siege of zombie-like creatures and their ammunition is not enough to kill all of them. What they will do to survive?

"Extinction" is another movie of this new genre, low-budget zombie movies with a dramatic storyline. Matthew Fox, from "Lost", is the great attraction of this film, but the plot is boring in the first half since the reason of Jack's hatred is totally predictable. The conclusion does not work well with Patrick's sacrifice. Actually is an easy way to resolve the situation of Lu. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Apocalipse" (Äpocalypse")

After an unnamed disaster there is an apparent viral infection that creates zombies and most likely is associated with the prolonged "nuclear?" style winter (Comet with alien infection?) After a brief "I don't think that's a good idea" we end up 9 years later with prudish Jack (Jeffrey Donovan) and young Lu (Quinn McColgan) living in one house while his ex-friend Patrick (Matthew Fox) lives across the street, each one surviving on their own.

Eventually we get to the spoiler on the DVD cover when evolved zombies attack. Not only do we never find out caused the event, the film is a little fuzzy on the event with Emma (Valeria Vereau) the dead wife and the apparent episode that lead to 9 years of separation of the two friends. I was expecting one more flashback to make thing crystal clear, but it never happened.

I liked the idea that it broke the zombie mode. I didn't like the lack of characters at the end of the world. Jack and Patrick lacked charisma and I would have never created a story around such dry characters.

Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.