Ever Since the
World Ended
Dir: Calum Grant and Joshua Atesh
Starring: James Curry, Linda Noveroske, Dan Plumlee, Mark Routhier
Licking the similarly pseudo-documentary Blair Witch into a cocked hat in virtually every department, EStWE portrays a world which, if perhaps not quite ended, is certainly limping badly. A plague ten years previously has reduced the population of San Francisco to less than two hundred, and the survivors are split between those trying to recreate the past, and those who want to move on. The dialogue is largely improvised; the directors knew what they wanted to say, but left saying it to the cast. This works well, since they are largely non-actors, and thus come across as natural and genuine - the recounting of facts doesn't require much formal acting.
As a result, the film is mostly a hugely convincing portrait of their largely-collapsed civilization, without much recognisable plot. Yet what it has, definitely works well, however, both the thread about a threat to the community from within, and their disastrous attempt to explore the surrounding countryside. This is not overplayed and, as a result, has more effective menace in five minutes than Blair managed from start to finish. After this was over, it was an enormous relief to walk out onto Sunset Boulevard and discover there were still people around.
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