Descendents (2008)

Sorry, this movie sucks

hyped garbage

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

After a devastating war has left the world polluted, a group of Chilean children who are able to survive in the toxic world navigate through the treacherous, zombie-infested world in order to find a sea-side sanctuary.This didn't turn out to be all that great of an effort. The main problem here is the decidedly haphazard manner it's story runs through all sorts of rather inane and useless side-plots that don't offer up anything remotely interesting throughout. The concept of a post-apocalyptic wasteland populated by zombies is a concept that in itself is done to death and hardly interesting in the slightest, and to counter this the concept of having children grow a gill-like appendage to breathe through but other than that it's hardly all that new and this feature isn't explored or even granted enough time to really make a mark on what it means. All sorts of clues are guessed at, but it never gives a definitive explanation for anything since it's too busy with the single most irritating flaw in this, the constant sentimental strains and melodramatic turns it provides. This plays out more like a dark children's fantasy tale about their survival in the landscape more than being munched on by zombies or forcing them to face any kind of fears or life-lessons along the way as this constantly has them sitting around talking about the world at large or what it means to miss their parents who are left behind. The dreams and constant memory-fades that this wallows in are for the most part the main source of inspiration through this so it really doesn't bring in a lot of opportunities for zombie carnage throughout though that is on offer as well. The make-up isn't bad and the gore is certainly serviceable as the early attacks at the compound and their escape attempt are about the main threats by the creatures throughout this, so they take on the main gist of the action scenes here but otherwise there's just not enough spread throughout the rest of the film to really justify the remaining flaws being so persistent and focused in here.Rated R: Graphic Violence, constant issues of children-in-jeopardy, Graphic Language and drug use.

We "soft-hearted" Yanks will supposedly be drawn to anything with a kid or kids in it, as Chilean writer/director Jorge Olguin presumably knows. In "Descendents" his characters mostly speak accented English, so I gather he had his eye on the American market. His protagonist, Camille, born after the outbreak of (yet another) mysterious disease turning humans into crazed zombie-like creatures, has the telltale marks on her neck indicating she's immune to the killer bug. Most of the (relatively short) running time is about her wandering around either alone or with similar genetically fortunate kids trying to reach the ocean, where there is supposedly a boat and/or a friendly giant octopus waiting. (The kids keep their necks covered, presumably to hide the marks, although it's pretty clear they're immune since they're not coughing up blood and trying to eat people.) There are also a lot of flashbacks with Camille's now dead mother, which at first tug at the heart strings somewhat, but after a while I started to get the flashbacks confused with the present day scenes; they're all shot with that currently popular bleached out virtual black and white look that I guess is meant to give the proceedings a "documentary" aura. To borrow a term from the late Roger Ebert, we also have the "semi obligatory" cold blooded soldiers blasting away at anything that moves. (Come to think of it, "28 Days Later..." has an awful lot to answer for. Could Danny Boyle have had any idea he was writing the new rules for zombie fare?) Camille Lynch as Camille is stoic and completely believable as a kind of Alice in Horrorland, and the other kids are good too, although it's hard to keep track of who they all are. The adult actors are all competent. The settings and effects are impressive, especially on such a low budget. But I hesitate to give it the Ebertian thumb up, if only because there's really nothing here that hasn't been seen before (see above re Danny Boyle). I did like the opening using Camille's drawings to illustrate the violent demise of humanity, but at the end Mr. Olguin suddenly tries to insert an element of "magic realism," which in the South American context seems to mean "any goofy thing that strikes the writer's or director's fancy." Here it just seems bizarre after the preceding bleak real realism. But it is what it is. Compare this with Guillermo Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth" for a much more holistic vision of a child caught up in a real-life adult nightmare seamlessly intertwined with the fantasy element, ultimately more credible and thus more heartbreaking for all the dark whimsy.

First off, let me say that I am a big horror movie fan, and an even bigger zombie genre fan. This movie tried to capitalize on the booming zombie genre, but it fell flat on its face in an epic way.Picture yourself watching The Walking Dead TV series, Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, and any other zombie powerhouses. Now, picture yourself watching a movie called "Descendents" where the director has the camera jumping around when there's absolutely nothing happening, children play on a playground for minutes on end with nothing happening, and the constant replay of the SAME scenes from the little girl's memory. There was a lot of wasted minutes with meaningless crap. The movie is purely and perfectly POINTLESS. Now, picture this pointless drivel of a plot-less movie ending on a monumentally STUPID ending that is second to none in stupidity. You think Full Metal Jacket seemed like a different movie half-way through it? Well, you ain't seen nothing yet until you experience the genius of this movie's ending. It isn't even worth renting (not even on a free rental you may get from your cable vendor). Don't waste your money or free time. This movie looks like it was made in one day.Just so you're not fooled, this is no horror movie. It tries to blend social/political lines into an invisible plot mixed with an apocalyptic world. In case you still want to see it for yourself, I won't go any further, but, honestly, this movie isn't worth telling spoilers on. Why? Because it plain sucks. You've been warned.

Beyond Geroge Romero there has not been a zombie film that's loaded with this much social/political commentary. Jorge Olguin's 2002 follow-up to SANGRE ETERNA aka ETERNAL BLOOD is a very strong and original post-apocalyptic/Sci-fi/horror movie. For about a half a million dollars, the movie was shot in ten days, with mostly young children ranging from five to ten years old. The children's acting may not be up to par and some of the effects surely reflect the lack of budget & time but DESCENDENTS/SOLOS is a truly dark and disturbing movie set in a dystopian world that looks like a low budget mixture of 28 DAYS LATER and CHILDREN OF MEN, with strong echoes to Chile's past as a military dictatorship. Jorge Olguin is a talent to definitely keep an eye on.