Newcomer Sennia Nanua stands tall as The Girl With All the Gifts in today’s new trailer for Colm McCarthy’s (Sherlock, Peaky Blinders) upcoming directorial debut.
Hunkered down in Birmingham with little hope of survival, McCarthy’s apocalyptic horror flick is the big-screen adaptation of M.R. Carey’s eponymous novel, telling the harrowing tale of Nanua’s Melanie who fast becomes one of the few remaining rays of hope amid the barren wasteland.
Forming a special bond with Gemma Arterton’s kick-ass teacher Miss Justineau, The Girl With All the Gifts kicks into gear when our unassuming protagonist becomes an instrumental part of the military’s survival plan and though it habrors many of the elements associated with the YA genre – a young Messiah figure destined for greatness, for instance – McCarthy’s thriller is much more in line with other British horror pieces such as 28 Days Later. Glenn Close and Paddy Considine round out the preliminary cast.
The Girl With All The Gifts has been penciled in for a fall release in the UK. No word yet on when Colm McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic feature will make the jump across the pond, but we’ll update this post if and when we catch wind of a US theatrical release.
The near future; humanity has been all but destroyed by a mutated fungal disease that eradicates free will and turns its victims into flesh-eating “hungries”. Only a small group of children seem immune to its effects.
At an army base in rural England, this group of unique children are being studied, subjected to cruel experiments by biologist Dr. Caldwell. Despite having been infected with the zombie pathogen that has decimated the world, these children retain normal thoughts and emotions. And while still being subject to the craving for human flesh that marks the disease these second- generation “hungries” are able to think and feel making them a vital resource in the search for a cure.