Macabre…ish Horror Review: The Cured

 

 

The Cured, 2017/ 95 min

 

A plague caused by the Maze virus sweeps across Europe, it is specifically a blight to Ireland.

 

But a cure has been created and 75% of those affected and captured are treated and cured. The 25% who are resistant to the treatment are called The Resistant. And they are kept in captivity leaving the public in fear of another outbreak.

 

Cured patients, Conor (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor)and Senan (Sam Keeley), are rehabbing together and will soon reintegrate into society but Sgt. Cantor (Stuart Graham) disagrees that the Cured can be trusted in society and he treats them with hostility. He and many like him believe the infected should be euthanized.

 

On the bus ride home they encounter angry protestors greets them with violence.

 

Senan is plagued with memories and nightmares, he’s miserable but he is welcomed into his sister-in-law, Abbie’s (Elliot Page), home. Her husband, Senan’s brother, is still missing but she’s in the same house with her son, Cillian (Oscar Nolan).  Senan knows what happened to his brother, he still has memories from before he was cured. But he keeps it to himself.

 

In town there are check points and The Cured must travel with their documents.

 

Meanwhile, Conor, formerly an attorney is outcast by his family who cannot forgive his actions from before he was cured. He is ordered to stay away. Conor also is the one who infected Senan. Unable to find work, he creates an underground group whose aim is to recover the rights The Cured have lost, at first, the mission soon changes.

 

People who have welcomed The Cured and house them are also intimidated by those who are against The Cureds return to society.

 

Conor and Senan still have to endure Cantor who shows Abbie a photo of Senan and Conor together when they were infected and active. He also tells her they are telepathic and decide who to kill and who to infect. That they are still a danger. Abbie then confronts Senan when Conor confesses that they killed her husband, Luke (Peter Campion). Abbie then throws him out after he admits it is true.

 

Senan later realizes that Conor has no remorse for what he did before and what he’s doing now. He and his group are bombing and burning buildings to the ground and people are being killed. And he has an even more violent plan for the coalition. If The Cured must live this way then they will release The Resistant. The virus will rage all over again. And the one’s who will be safe are The Cured because The Resistant do not attack those who carry the infection.

 

This film was directed by David Freyne. This film came after and is part of the In The Flesh universe and set in Ireland. It’s a horror drama and it’s more story than mindless zombie fare, though there are graphic and gory moments.