Doomsday

Aroview: Cult director Neil Marshall (THE DESCENT) returns with this gleefully anarchic, ultra-violent sci-fi actioner in which a taskforce from the post-apocalyptic near future enter a quarantined Scotland teeming with plague survivors to search for a cure for the deadly 'Reaper virus', which is threatening to wipe out London's populace.

Given a much larger budget to play with, Marshall skimps on the sci-fi elements while splurging on a relentless series of splattery set-pieces and B-movie gimmicks, including several decapitations, a rolling eyeball-camera, and for all the family - an exploding bunny rabbit. Not all of it works - as evidenced by the cringeworthy MAD MAX meets THE TRIBE punk-carny aesthetic of the feral villains - but as a tongue-in-cheek throwback to '80s excess this proves mightily entertaining, and if it occasionally seems to overstep the line between reverential pastiche and outright plagiarism, there's nary a dull moment to ponder what it all means.

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