NEW LIFE: That’s Not Ebola, Raymond

Ever since the pandemic began and decided it would hang around, a few films have been released that decided to capitalize on the theme of contagion. New Life, written and directed by John Rosman, is very much one of those films. I went in not knowing anything about it, which if we are being honest (and that’s how I like to do business) is my favorite way to see a movie these days. Having no information and just letting the film speak for itself and dictate to me what the story is about is a very fun way to be surprised, and often let down (that honesty again) but that in and of itself can still be surprising. All of that being said, I think you should know that continuing to read will put you into some spoiler territory. There’s no way I can talk about this film without crossing that border.

The film begins in the middle of a foot chase featuring our lead Jessica (Hayley Erin) bloody and with a black eye, being pursued by armed men. We don’t know why she’s running, we don’t know where she’s coming from, and we certainly don’t know where she’s going. At least not yet. New Life likes to keep all of its cards close to the chest until its ready to lay them out. At times this is fun and leads to a couple of very good reveals but at other times, such as the first forty minutes of the film, it can be frustrating, leaving us to wonder just what the heck is going on. We are quickly introduced to the other players such as Elsa (played by Sonya Walger), no not that Elsa, who we are lead to believe at first is a hit-man? She’s not a hit-man. And Tony Amendola‘s character Raymond who is set up as a handler for Elsa. He kind of is a handler for Elsa, so there’s that.

Ambiguous For Ambiguous Sake

I hinted at the film not revealing its hand too early (which I can respect for sure) but in this instance rather than ramping up the suspense all it really did was make the first third of the movie a slog. A quicksand that we had to trudge through before we could get to the actual story on the other side of the pit. It was a bit of a challenge at times to get invested with so little of the information being shared with us. Again, I get it, but there were a couple of little nuggets that could have been fed to us that would have made all of that ambiguity worth it. As it was, getting to the heart of the matter of what was playing out was a struggle. It was like eating crab legs, that meat is pretty delicious but those shells can sometimes be real work.

Slowly it is revealed that Jessica is carrying a very strong form of Ebola (though that isn’t the truth, stay with me here) and Elsa has been contracted essentially by the government to bring her in for study. They need to stop her from traveling because she is spreading whatever she has to everyone she comes in contact with, including a very kind, elderly couple that help her with food and a ride further north. Jessica’s pit stop at their home, and their collective kindness, sealed their fate without any of us realizing it. Jessica’s next stop is a bar where she picks up a temp job from Molly (Ayanna Berkshire) who I have to say, turned in the best performance in the entire film. Her presence was felt and her character was well drawn. Of course by now we know where this is leading so the two of them sharing a shot glass was a bonkers, completely off the wall, bad idea. Still, Molly was the best this film had to offer even if it was only a short and pain filled time on screen.

Honestly, More Of The Same

New Life isn’t a bad movie it just doesn’t really break any new ground in a genre where we have seen these tropes play out over and over. The “she’s a carrier but not infected we need to study her for science” zombie trope has been done more times than Freebird has been yelled out at concerts. And that’s very much what this film turned out to be, a secret zombie romp. My favorite line is delivered around the forty minute mark and comes from Elsa when she discovers that kind old couple that only wanted to help. Elsa shows up doing her investigation to find them completely zombified (the makeup effects were actually very cool) and decided to call her boss where she exclaims, very angrily, “This isn’t Ebola, Raymond!” I could have that play on a loop and be happy for months.

The directing from John Rosman wasn’t bad nor was it inspired it just kind of was, and that’s also okay, it didn’t have to be special. I think a lot of the things I saw as problems with the story could have been fixed in editing. The sequences of events could have been laid out differently and the impact would have been greater. Letting us know what Jessica’s problem was from the beginning, for instance, would have made all of the scenes on the farm far more tense and uneasy, it would have been powerful. Instead we were left to look back and wonder what could have been.

Fade To Black

I think for all that New Life had against it (according to me anyway) it was still a fun watch, even with as slow and frustrating as the first half of it was. The scenes with the infected were honestly some of the best depictions of zombie style interaction I’ve seen in a while. The makeup effects were gross and nauseating in the most beautiful of ways, I needed more of that. That said, the film did have something to say about the importance of taking a contagious disease seriously, the need for people to take precautions with their own health, and why masking really is a good idea. It took the zombie film from the class and race based underpinnings of the past and set it against what is currently happening in the world with an ongoing pandemic. I can’t be mad at it for that.

Would I watch it again? I’m not sure but what I can say is that I’m at least glad that I watched it the first time. Going in not knowing what to expect was fun and when the reveal finally did come that it was a zombie flick, it was a surprise (this time a good one). It was only after I finished that I started thinking about what could have been so in that respect I think it was successful. If you like smaller films with bigger ideas and aren’t afraid of a little blood (and sometimes a lot of blood) than I think you should give New Life a view. It’s a good one-time movie.