| Forgive Us All is a New Zealand made western-horror drama set in a post-apocalyptic world where a virus has wiped out mankind turning humans into cannibalistic zombies. It’s interesting at times but also strange and has a hard time turning its theme into something compelling. Rory (Lily Sullivan) is bloody, sweaty and shaking with anger, fear and grief after just burying a family member. | | 2025
Directed by: Jordana Stott
Screenplay by: Lance Giles, Alex Makauskas, Jordana Stott
Starring: Lily Sullivan, Lance Giles
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This is slow to start and hard to get into. There’s a lot to like about movies with slow reveals where information isn’t given at the beginning and you have to wait for it or hunt for it to help explain who is who and what has happened. But there’s also a problem with too little information, and this movie firmly sits on that line in between intrigue and confusion for the first half hour.
For the second act of the movie, after all of the background information has been gleaned, and I’m ready to chew on some interesting character dynamics established, it unfortunately turns into a western action about nothing. There’s so little actual story going on here that there is very little to say or do. The theme is supposed to be about redemption, but that’s not really accurate; the actual theme is about forgiving yourself and moving on from guilt after not saving your family.
The camera work is really fantastic. Most scenes filmed to give a good sense of setting and at the same time heighten up suspense. Westerns typically have great cinematography, although there is an unnecessary yellow tinge to all the outdoor shots that do not help. As everyone knows New Zealand is gorgeous landscapes, and just because this is a post-apocalyptic New Zealand, it does not mean that everything has to be yellow.
The final act becomes a horror. Remember there are zombies, called howlers in the movie, hiding in the woods hunting down humans by scent. While the plot works and everything fits together, the atmosphere of the film has a hard time merging the western drama that it starts as and the horror movie it ends as.
Forgive Us All has an interesting setting, great camera work, intriguing set-ups, but it ends up being a very slight movie that has trouble combining its western and horror elements, that it ends up being not all that good or worthwhile. The good news is though that it’s distinctive enough that its target audience should be able to find it and the rest can ignore it.
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