TIFF 2019 review: BLOOD QUANTUM is a welcome fresh take on the zombie film

At this point, it takes a lot to make zombies interesting. With decades of zombie films and years of The Walking Dead (and even Game of Thrones) tackling the undead creatures, it takes a fresh perspective and a new spin on the genre to really make the thought of once-human, flesh-eating monsters exciting again. Thankfully, writer/director Jeff Barnaby’s Blood Quantum offers a refreshing new take on the zombie film, transposing the action to a remote Mi’kmaq community, and making some trenchant observations about colonialism and isolationism in the process.

Following up 2014’s Rhymes for Young Ghouls, Barnaby’s latest focuses on a zombie epidemic affecting the residents of the Mi’kmaq community of Red Crow. Police chief Traylor (Michael Greyeyes) is tasked with overseeing a number of strange incidents in the community — hunted animals begin returning from the dead, and it’s not long before Traylor is dealing with locals who suddenly have a hunger for human flesh. But in an interesting twist, the Indigenous members of the community are immune to the virus, which leads to tense decisions about how to handle the non-Indigenous members in their community who are all potentially susceptible to the virus, putting everyone else at risk.

Traylor’s family is rounded out by a stellar cast including his ex-wife Joss (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers), his well-meaning, but troubled son Joseph (Forrest Goodluck), his violent son Lysol (Kiowa Gordon), Joseph’s pregnant girlfriend Charlie (Olivia Scriven), and Traylor’s gritty father Gisigu (Stonehorse Lone Goeman). As the zombie virus spreads and the bodies pile up (in ultra-gory fashion), Traylor’s family is pulled apart as they each try to address the deadly situation in their own way, balancing the needs of their community versus the potentially fatal “outsiders” in their midst.

Blood Quantum branches out into a number of different directions, and essentially becomes an entirely different film in its second half, but the stellar performances and updated take on zombie tropes filtered through the Indigenous expereince make for a captivating viewing experience. The horror hits closer to home because we become so familiar with the characters, yet the film also has some great comedic beats, especially in the earlier half before the shit truly hits the fan.

Beautifully shot in Quebec, with some intricate animated sequences woven in, Blood Quantum is a visually striking horror film bursting with ideas about the treatment of Indigenous cultures. Yet despite the heavy subject matter, Barnaby never hits you over the head with any particular message — he simply portrays the terror and claustrophobia of a community under attack, and lets his well-thought-out characters simply try to make their way through the morass intact, a proposition that grows increasingly less likely as the film progresses. There’s not much hope in Blood Quantum, but it definitely makes for a riveting journey.

No release date has been announced for Blood Quantum yet.