Writer-director John Rosman’s disease-filled film, optimistically titled New Life, contains quite the eclectic mix. The filmmaker tackles the horrors of isolation. The story deals with a pharmaceutical company with ulterior motives and the web of deceit and destruction the characters get caught up in. It’s all here, but is it presented in an entertaining way?
Jessie (Hayley Erin) befriends a stray dog while camping with her husband Ian (Nick George). Unbeknownst to her, the dog escaped from a nearby corporate laboratory. Ian wakes up coughing and is rushed to the hospital. In the isolation ward, he mutates into a cross between the decaying portrait of Dorian Gray and the titular character from The Incredible Melting Man. Jessie is discovered to be a carrier but has no symptoms, so she decides to go on the run.
Of course, having an infectious person running all over is not in good taste. So Agent Elsa (Sonya Walger) is hired by her old friend and boss Raymond Reed (Tony Amendola) to track down Jessie before the contagion can spread across the Canadian border. Reminiscent of the Coen Brothers Fargo with the pregnant police officer, Elsa has been diagnosed with ALS and is beginning to show symptoms that hinder her physical progress. Though a crack shot, Reed reveals in a rather brutal fashion that she was hired because her sickness makes her expendable. Now, the chase is on, but there’s a time for both the pursuer and the pursued.
“…Agent Elsa is hired…to track down Jessie before the contagion can spread…”
New Life is not an original film. This premise has been done before in television shows like Chris Carter’s Millenium; specifically the episode The Time is Now. However, Rosman succeeds in keeping the proceedings relatively lively. What makes the film work is the commitment to over-the-top action and maintaining a swift pace. The narrative is propelled forward by adrenaline and fear, and the tension is thick.
Hayley Erin delivers a solid performance and can handle the physical aspects of the role. Rosman and director of photography Mark Evan use the frame nicely. They’re conscious of the background and foreground action. Evan captures the wooded exteriors, shadowy interiors, street scenes, and chase scenes lovingly. There’s also plenty of gore, with blood, screams, and flesh falling off. The field-set finale is right out of the 1957 WWII picture The One That Got Away.
New Life entertains with fast-moving shooting action, creepy screaming creatures, ample guts, and moments of profound humanity. This is a lovely film that shows the promise of a team of filmmakers who know how to handle actors, story, and conflict in a slam-bang horror thriller. It’s an intense and thrilling ride that all should take.
"…shows the promise of a team of filmmakers who know how to handle actors, story, and conflict..."
