It doesn't take much of a wild guess to tell what my favourite sub-genre of horror film is. Of course then, I was excited to watch the debut feature length Salvador Medina written and directed Mexican zombie film Together Till the End (based on a short film of the same name). This indie film confines the majority of its 85 minute runtime to a single apartment and features just a handful of characters. Would this be enough to make for a compelling picture?
Elena (Jimena Bilsup) and boyfriend, Joaquin (Rolando Breme - 1974: The Possession of Altair) have recently moved to a new apartment in the middle of a bustling Mexican city. The film begins with them preparing to go on a vacation to visit Elena's mother. It is just before they leave that they discover something terrible. A deadly virus that had originated in Europe has made it to their country, and now the whole city appears to be over-run with victims; people who have died and returned to life as flesh-hungry ghouls. Joaquin wants to still travel to Elena's mums house, thinking it will be safer there, but Elena thinks maybe staying put is the best idea. The arrival of a suspicious stranger; Giovanni (Giovanni Gamba) creates an uneasy alliance, with the trio forced to work together to protect the apartment from being invaded by the hungry dead.
Together Till the End stays in the apartment location for about 99% of the film. The action only moves outside of it via Facetime video calls. Those parts were neat due to being presented in a narrow vertical format, as they would appear on a phone itself. Due to the relatively bland central location, there were also just a handful of characters, eight in total, most of which only made very minor appearances. Elena and Joaquin were likeable leads, with the later in particular standing out, due to being a flawed character. He is portrayed as a bit of a love-rat, but despite this, his character acts selfless and noble throughout the story. There didn't seem to be as much to Elena, she was decent enough but nowhere near as interesting. Giovanni was an interesting character, and while it was obvious that he may not be exactly who he claimed to be, he was a fun person to distrust, and the film makes no effort to hide his duplicity.
Being an indie film, there sadly were also just a handful of zombies shown here, roughly seven or eight in total over the course of the whole movie. At times this led to a bit of frustration as a viewer. In one scene, the couple are watching a news report on TV, but the camera is pointed from behind of it, so that you don't actually get to see anything. The same annoyance happens in a different scene where the couple are looking in horror out of their apartment window, but again nothing is actually shown, just some sound effects to suggest what is occurring. There are a bunch of action scenes, but nearly all of the violence is implied rather than shown, usually happening just out of shot. I get its the constraints of the budget, but it gave the film a bit of a slower paced feeling, especially in the meandering third act. I also felt the abrupt event that happened right near the end credits could have been handled a bit better.
Together Till the End was a decent indie zombie film. Far more drama than horror, this benefitted from some good dialogue, and I liked the occasional bit of dark humour thrown in. Personally I would have liked more ghouls, but regardless, this was a solid indie entry in the very crowded sub-genre.
SCORE:
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