Eradication

A terse and tense apocalyptic thriller/horror about a man trying to survive on his own after a pandemic ravages most of human population.

I often complain nowadays that movies are too long. It could just me getting old and grumpy, but runtimes for feature films have been creeping higher for awhile. And the prevalence of streaming platforms does nothing to constrain that trend, since a lengthier movie doesn’t mean theater managers get fewer showings per day to sell tickets.

“Eradication” is the rare film that, at about 85 minutes, I wish was longer. It’s a solid, inventive apocalyptic thriller/horror set in a near-future where a pandemic has infected most of the humans on the planet. Rather than immediately dying of the blood-borne disease, it seems the governments of the world have been proactively killing them off — hence the title.

It takes its time setting up its world, mood and small cast of characters. But then things feel rushed in getting to the fast-paced scary portion that is the meat of the movie. Still, it’s better for filmmakers to be in a hurry than languidly indulging themselves, as seems to be the standard these days. (Tarantino, Apatow et al.)

Harry Aspinwall, who also wrote the screenplay with Daniel Byers (“Penumbra”), plays David Baldwin, a youngish man surviving alone in a remote house somewhere in the U.S. hill country. As we learn in a video chat that opens the story, his wife, Sam (Anita Abdinezhad), is one of the scientists working on a cure.

She asks that David be patient and stay isolated until they figure things out. Sam also reveals that he is one of the rare people to catch the disease, known as S-LV, and survive without symptoms. So they need to study him to find a cure.

Flash to two years later, and David is still on his own. He follows a very regimented day — waking up, exercising, eating food out of cans, and repeatedly resetting a bunch of egg timers he has constantly ticking. It’s a little unclear what the little buzzers are supposed to do, but it’s become part of his life and David is consistent about following the regimen that’s been proscribed for him.

Conversations with Sam are fewer and shorter. She’s clearly on the edge of burnout, the work isn’t going as fast as anyone’d hoped, and it’s still too dangerous for them to be in close contact.

David’s “job,” if you can call it that, is to extract regular samples of his blood and turn them in to the scientific team. This is accomplished by a meet-up with a drone, which is also how his food is delivered. He’s been a good boy, but loses his cool when they include pork ‘n’ beans in his stash, angrily shouting at the drone, “I’m a vegetarian!” and walking off in a huff without turning in his blood packet.

I have to say I found this hilariously ludicrous as a pivotal plot point. I’m pretty chill about letting people eat what they choose, and count many vegetarian/vegan friends. But you’re really telling me that when it’s the apocalyptic end times, someone would refuse food because it has animal protein in it?

To quote our president: C’mon, man.

Look, I won’t eat okra because it’s the nastiest substance on earth, or foie gras because of the cruel way they force-feed geese to make it. But if I’m living in Zombietown U.S.A. and those are the only two food sources available, I’m hungrily downing okra-and-foi-gras casserole and calling myself lucky to have it.

Whoops, did I, in my mini-rant, let the cat out of the bag that there are zombies in this movie? There are. Or, at least, something on the undead spectrum. David’s little tantrum sets off a whole tidal wave of disastrous events that force him out of his small world, including a scavenging jaunt where he encounters an infected person who regards him as a surprise snack.

There’s also a mysterious figure in a yellow hazmat suit and gas mask stalking David with a crossbow. You can probably guess that Sam will also take a more personal involvement in David’s troubles, though I’ll leave you to discover the rest on your own.

For a low-budget feature, “Eradication” boasts solid production values and very good camera work by Alexandra Gilwit and Zachary Ludescher. Director Byers shows a sure hand for building tension, then suddenly pulling the rug out from the audience so they fall backward into a terrifying feeling of insecurity.

The sound effect they use for the undead’s slavering jaws is surely one of the creepiest things I’ve ever heard. There’s one terrific scene where David hears it coming from behind him, in a moment that is very horrifying but also unnervingly intimate. I get shivers just thinking about that clicking/chattering.

The movie’s last act is a rush-rush of adrenaline and danger, as you might expect. It’s actually the middle section that seems rather light. The story moves too quickly from relative calm to paranoia to frightfest for my taste. Always best to stretch out the scary stuff as long as it can bear.

“Eradication” is currently available to watch on the Tubi streaming platform.