Through the Ashes

USA • 2019 • 95m •

• Directed by: Michael Fredianelli. • Starring: Keely Dervin, Joseph Camilleri, Daniel Edward Miller, Deidre Rose, Michael Fredianelli, Johnny Gilligan, Boynton Paek, Trent Avvenire, Heather Ann Hall, Guillermo Gomez, Alexandra Fabbri, Lauren Silverman, Bryan Wilks. • Music by: Benedict Peterson.

A vicious man-made fire leaves the once idyllic suburb of Eternity reduced to rubble. Emerging from the ashes is Sloan, a housewife who spent months hidden alone in an underground bunker. Shocked by the fire's aftermath and her stark new reality, Sloan sets out to find her missing family amongst the wreckage. Befriended by an amicable guide named Peeky Joe, the pair journey through a radiation-riddled wasteland in search of The Disciples, a ruthless gang known to force survivors into slavery. But battling the new world order may take her to a point of no return in this action-packed post-apocalyptic thriller.

Review:

Some weak performances in key roles severely hamper this low budget post apocalpytic film which follows in the footsteps of THE ROAD in many areas including unrelentingly bleak overall atmosphere. The other big setback here is that the story and script spell things out a little too much in some areas and not enough in others. The protagonist apparently rides out the apocalypse in an underground bunker and emerges to find civil order completely wiped away... by the very same gang of criminals who visited her house just before the whole country fell apart? When did they have time to do all this?

We really needed some kind of news report or some other way of communicating what happened to society other than just getting it fed to us by the first character the protagonist runs into. Unfortunately the budget can't quite convince us that society fell apart the way that he explains it either. We see some very convincing charred ruins at the start of the movie but most of the rest of the film shows things largely as "business as usual" if you look to the background and while the irradiated survivors often sport filthy make-up, their clothes seem oddly clean. A more interesting (and populated) realization for the bad guys' fortress, more emotional investment in some characters prior to their deaths, and more depravity on the part of the villains would have gone a long way.

It's a shame things aren't made narratively more engaging because a few of the action sequences (including some shootouts and a car chase) later in the film work surprisingly well. There's even a scene where a woman climbs into an anti-aircraft gun and totally shreds an oncoming car. Also the young actress who plays the estranged daughter puts in a very spirited performance. Her character makes some pretty bizarre decisions but the actress comes across believable nonetheless. I also have to give props to the composer for producing some excellently 80's synth wave tracks to breath some life into the proceedings.

Worth checking out of post-nuke completists fresh out of Wasteland Weekend.

Review by Aylmer from the Internet Movie Database.

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