Arrow Video Frightfest Halloween Review: Last Survivors

Devastated by the brutal chaos of 2002’s World War III, young father Troy (Stephen Moyer) elects to grab his son, give up on what remains of mankind and hotfoot it to an isolated cabin in the snow.

Rebuilding their shattered lives, Last Survivors then shunts forward to modern day, with son Jake (Drew Van Acker) and father spending their days fishing for food, chopping wood and on the lookout for other remnants of the human race – the Marauders.

Having been regaled with these tales of terror since childhood, Jake is the inquisitive type, always looking to push the physical and mental boundaries in his search for a little bit more knowledge of what went before.

But one of those pushes sees Jake come face-to-face with Henrietta (Alicia Silverstone) – and this may change everything…

There’s an interesting story buried in here – looking at our reaction to trauma and how running away from our problems may not always be the best answer.

But the problem with Last Survivors is the whole thing is so overblown it practically hurts, from oh-so serious dialogue, to an at-times overbearing soundtrack to a series of performances that seem to think this is some highbrow piece of work.

It is all so very earnest, rather than being any sort of fun and it leaves the whole thing coming off as, well, dull really.

There is nothing particularly wrong with Last Survivors and some of the location work from director Drew Mylrea, showcasing frozen wastelands and isolation actually had me pining for some time away from it all.

But it does not really work as a Frightfest film – and is definitely a film you just sort of sit through rather than enjoy.