This month, I’ve been taking part in the Letterboxd Hooptober challenge. The goal is to watch 31 horror films in October, including films that meet specific criteria such as “directed by Wes Craven” or starring a black woman.

We started the challenge late, but at the time of writing this, we’re only three films behind schedule, with a horror film festival coming up at the weekend that will give us another opportunity to catch up.

I’m posting my thoughts on each of the movies here, as and when I get time.

Movie number six was Maggie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin and it was not what I was expecting.

Maggie

Don’t Get Bitten. (Really? That’s the best they could come up with for a zombie film?)

There’s a deadly zombie epidemic threatening humanity, but Wade, a small-town farmer and family man, refuses to accept defeat even when his daughter Maggie becomes infected. As Maggie’s condition worsens and the authorities seek to eradicate those with the virus, Wade is pushed to the limits in an effort to protect her…

We’ve skipped past Maggie dozens of times, mostly because I figured it would be a low-quality zombie action movie but how wrong I was.

The description really doesn’t do justice to this quietly intense, slow-burn drama. Yes, it’s a zombie movie, and yes, there’s a dash of horror, but this is a much more intimate, thoughtful film than you’d think with some really strong performances.

Definitely worth checking out (and don’t get put off by the slightly cheesy Arnie vs Zombie fight at the beginning of the film).

Maggie gives us a 2010 movie for Hooptober and that’s it.

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[Hooptober 11 – Maggie by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 23rd October 2024]