New Life – Movie Review (4/5)

NEW LIFE is a horror thriller with a simple plot. Fortunately, it works surprisingly well thanks to a strong cast. It’s a story that could easily have evolved into an apocalyptic event. Read our full New Life movie review here!

NEW LIFE is a horror thriller with a drama edge as it’s quite slow-burn. It’s essentially a virus-thriller where we see the effects of the disease and they’re looking mighty zombie-like. Someone mentions the word “Ebola”, but clearly something else is going on.

Despite a very simple plot and a runtime of just 1 hour and 25 minutes, it’s a movie that packs a real punch. The strong cast and efficient storytelling must get deserved credit for this experience.

Continue reading our New Life movie review below. Find it in US theaters and On Demand from May 3, 2024, and in the UK on Digital from June 3, 2024.

A woman on the run, but why?

When we meet Jess in the opening scene, she’s already a woman on the run. We just don’t know why exactly, but then neither does she. All she does know is that someone is after her, so she’s desperate to cross the Canadian border to escape them.

On a solo mission, to get closer to her than the clumsy men, who look straight out of Men in Black or something, is a woman. He name is Elsa, and she’s quite a resourceful agent. When we meet her, we discover that she’s recently been given a life-altering diagnosis, which is catching up on her health. Fast!

Both Jess and Elsa end up in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, which is where Elsa discovers exactly how dangerous Jess is. Also, she finds out why she’s been given this extremely important mission. If she fails, it could cost millions of people their lives.

Also, it isn’t until the end of the movie that Jess finally discovers why she is being hunted down.

Film festival darling

We’ve had our eyes on New Life for some time as it has been playing at film festivals like FrightFest and Fantasia. In fact, it’s been quite the film festival darling, which is almost always a sign that you have a real treat in store.

Now, we finally had the chance to watch it, and it’s easy to see why it’s been such a darling. Both to audiences and critics.

The story is strong in all its simplicity, so even if I found a few of the story coincidences a bit heavy-handed, it wasn’t so much that I wasn’t still completely enthralled.

Also, with Hayley Erin (The Young and the Restless, Pretty Little Liars) and the always wonderful Sonya Walger (For All Mankind, Lost) in the two lead roles, it’s a treat for all genre fans.

Watch New Life in Theaters or On Demand

This horror thriller is the directorial debut of John Rosman. It’s a critically acclaimed debut at that and when you watch this movie, you’ll understand why. There’s a depth and intensity to it that works remarkably well.

John Rosman is the director and writer of New Life, so this is very much his brainchild. Now I’m just hoping he will continue working on genre movies so we can see more from this filmmaker. He even won the 2023 Audience Choice Award for Horror at the Heartland International Film Festival, which speaks volumes to me.

A movie like One Cut of the Dead also won audience awards at film festivals, and that’s why we watched it. If you’ve watched that particular movie, you’ll know it begins as such a weird experience that you want to give up on it. However, when I found out it was an Audience Award winner, I knew I was in safe hands. We ended up giving it a top rating!

For New Life, we didn’t quite reach that elusive top rating. Still, I can imagine future projects from John Rosman could get us there!

New Life is out in US Theaters and On Demand from May 3, 2024. Also, it will be available in the UK on Digital from June 3, 2024.

Details

Director & Writer: John Rosman
Cast: Sonya Walger, Hayley Erin, Tony Amendola, Nick George, Ayanna Berkshire, Blaine Palmer, Betty Moyer