Maggie

We hear the poignant voice of Maggie Vogel as she desperately calls for her father during a deadly curfew in her city. Despite her pleas for him not to search for her, she expresses her love for him. The world is in turmoil, suffering from the brutal grip of the Necroambulist virus, which transforms its victims into ravenous zombies. In a frantic attempt to avoid further contamination, farmers have resorted to burning their fields and crops.

Amidst this chaos, Wade, Maggie’s father, sets out to find his daughter. Maggie finds herself captured by armed officials, who place her in a hospital area with others who have been infected. With a bite mark on her arm, she knows the inevitable progression of the virus is looming. Wade is granted permission to take Maggie home to sort out her affairs before quarantine becomes necessary. During their trip back, they stop for Maggie to pick up some sunglasses, where Wade encounters a zombie and responds with instinct, breaking its neck in a moment of raw survival.

Upon returning, Wade is welcomed home by his wife, Caroline, and Maggie’s siblings, Bobby and Molly. The children are quickly sent to stay with their aunt to shield them from the escalating tragedy of Maggie’s affliction. A heartfelt conversation occurs between Maggie and Bobby, who senses the grim fate awaiting her.

As days pass, Wade makes a drastic decision, burning down his fields to prevent any possible outbreak. Meanwhile, Maggie, confined to her room, desperately reaches out to her friends, trying to distract herself from the harrowing reality. However, her condition escalates when, one day, a simple cut on her finger begins to ooze a dark, viscous fluid. Terrified, she resorts to cutting off the finger and discards it into the garbage disposal. In a desperate turn, she and Wade encounter another family affected by the virus — a man, Nathan, and his daughter, Julia. In a struggle for survival, Wade kills Nathan with a hatchet, while Maggie, horrified, flees from witnessing what her father does to Julia.

Overwhelmed with guilt for his actions, Wade seeks comfort from Bonnie, the wife of the zombified Nathan, who regrets her own inaction regarding the quarantine protocol. She reflects on the betrayal of trust in the medical system, where her family was treated like a mere experiment rather than deserving individuals.

Desperate for answers, Wade consults with a doctor regarding Maggie’s options. He is presented with three grim choices: immediate quarantine, a painful cocktail administered in his presence, or a swift, merciful ending. Wade chooses to cherish their remaining moments together, bonding with Maggie over broken memories and laughter while poking fun at Caroline’s cooking.

Maggie’s friend Allie pays her a visit, inviting her to join a gathering with friends. Among the group is a boy named Trent, who, like Maggie, has been infected. Their evening spirals into a bittersweet moment when they share a kiss, yet as the sun sets, the reality of their circumstances weighs heavily on Allie, who sobs alone in her car after delivering Maggie home.

As Maggie’s transformation intensifies, she notices her eye color fading and begins to assert that she can smell food, a confusing claim met with denial from Caroline. In her quest for companionship, she seeks out Trent only to find a tense scenario where his father holds a gun, refusing to let him come out, recognizing it’s time for Trent to be taken away.

Days later, we see Maggie descending into deeper despair. She wanders into the woods where she encounters a wounded fox, which leads her home covered in blood, an indicative sign of her terminal condition. Wade tries to deal with the emotional turmoil by venturing into the woods to put the suffering fox down, paralleled by Caroline’s pleas for him to accept the reality of Maggie’s fate by calling the authorities.

When officers do arrive, Wade reacts in panic, entangling himself in a confrontation to protect Maggie, who insists she is alright, desperately trying to avoid being taken away.

In one final act of remembrance, Wade brings Maggie to a garden once tended by her mother, filled with white daisies, hoping to grant her a moment of solace. He assures her that she will not vanish from his life.

As her transformation nears completion, Wade sits in the living room with a shotgun in hand, unable to confront what he must ultimately do. Maggie, nearly unrecognizable, descends the stairs, her skin a ghastly grey, eyes blackened by the infection. In a haunting farewell, she kisses Wade’s forehead before heading to the roof, reminiscing about her mother. With a heavy heart, she leaps off the roof, her last vision being of her younger self joyfully playing among flowers with her mother.

Last Updated: October 28, 2024 at 17:54