FUTURISTIC THRILLERS: “Please Don't Feed the Children.” / “Lazareth,” / “The End We Start From.”

“Please Don't Feed the Children” (2024, Tubi) psychological thriller. A group of orphans head south in search of a new life after the country's adult population is wiped out from a viral outbreak. Soon they discover a dangerous secret from a deranged woman.   



       This movie was directed by Destry Allyn Spielberg, daughter of the master, Steven, and Kate Capshaw. Alas, dad's filmmaking genes didn't do well in this debut work by Destry. 

Yet somewhere there's promise in this dystopian nightmare until the nightmare got real. A creature showed up.

       Dad Steven's first movie (which he also wrote), 1964's “Firelight,” made when he was 17, showed hints of the future genius. Destry is 28. 🎥💻📽



“Lazareth” (2024, Hulu) thriller film, starring Ashley Judd, Sarah Pidgeon, and Katie Douglas. Plot: A woman protects her orphaned nieces from a self-destructing world, raising them in isolation until an outsider threatens their peaceful existence. 

       Of course, the plot isn't really new. I didn't mind. But then both the script and direction by Alec Tibaldi fail to offer any redeeming aesthetic value to this futuristic yarn, although it hinted at some intrigue in the first 15 minutes. Next! 🎥💻📽


“The End We Start From” (2023, Hulu) British survival film starring Jodie Comer as a woman who, with her family, has to endure displacement when a widespread ecological disaster floods Britain. 


       No complaints with Ms Comer's performance, as well as with Benedict Cumberbatch's brief appearance. Or the ensemble acting. All fine. Critics like it, I don’t. Nothing so new that wasn’t told in others that tackled the same subject. A boring, predictable yarn.

       Scripted by Alice Birch from the 2017 novel “The End We Start From” by Megan Hunter, the movie failed me due to the unimaginative, lifeless direction by Mahalia Belo. I feel the book is a much better engagement. 🎥💻📽

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