Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Maggie’

Written by Scott Edwards

Finding a way to protect your children is a parent’s worst nightmare. After all, while parents often have ideas of what could happen to their kids, they never know what to prepare them for, much less what they can do if something actually happens.
 
When they get old enough and move out of the home, parents will wonder what things their children will be doing and worry about their well-being. A parent never stops worrying about their child, no matter their age or how good their life seems to be, there is always something that can go wrong and when it does, they always want to be there to help pick up the pieces.

Wade Vogel has been on the hunt for his runaway daughter for two weeks and has finally located her. In the quarantine wing of the hospital, Wade finds out that his oldest has been bitten and is now infected. Knowing the protocols about dealing with the infected, Wade is allowed to bring Maggie home, but will need to pay close attention to her transformation and when it is time, she will have to be turned back into the quarantine unit. With his current wife Caroline looking on, Wade tries to bring Maggie back into the family, but the attitudes between the two women have never meshed, hence why Maggie ran away in the first place.

Knowing that she only has a few weeks left, Wade tries to stay close to his little girl, but she is still a teenager and wants her own space. After her weekly ‘zombie’ checkup, Maggie is visited by her best friend and invited to hang out for the evening. Seeing her old boyfriend who is nearing the end of his infection time, Maggie wants to make the most out of it. But when she witnesses him being taken out of his home by the police, Maggie knows that she will be next. Developing more of the symptoms, Maggie is more fearful for what will happen to her and her father over anything else. Wade does not want to lose his little girl and shows how much he loves her, even when it means losing his wife in the process. With no medical way to stop the infected from turning into flesh eating zombies, could love be the answer that science has overlooked?

This is an interesting movie and more of a character study than anything else. With a couple of flashbacks showing the attack on Maggie, you don’t get to witness any attacks and the blood splatter that you would expect from a zombie movie. Maggie made up her mind to leave the house after her mother passed and Caroline moved in with her father, and even though the two never hit it off, Maggie’s step mother is trying her hardest to make it work, even with her infected step daughter. Wade will stop at nothing to keep his daughter safe from the world and even when he knows that she will die and start eating people, it is his only daughter and that love never escapes his grasp. With some beautiful shots and a good overall premise, this movie might not be for everybody, you just have to go in with an open mind and let the story play out. Happy Viewing and Stay Scared.

---