Post-Apocalypse Archives | Otaku No Culture

Altered Turns Cyberpunk Eugenics Into a Quiet, Uneasy Family Drama

Director Timo Vuorensola trades spectacle for restraint in Altered, a mutant-versus-normal sci-fi drama led by a committed Tom Felton performance that keeps the film emotionally afloat.

Well GO USA
Spoiler Alert

Tom Felton gives it his all in a cyberpunk eugenics drama about a fractured society where mutants and normals exist in constant tension. Altered marks a shift from what Timo Vuorensola, best known for Iron Sky, usually delivers. Instead of pulpy action excess, this film leans into a youth-focused formula, with Felton firmly at its centre. He plays Leon, a paraplegic mechanic who moonlights as a cat burglar while acting as a father figure to Chloe, played by Liza Bugulova.

Their bond is established quickly through necessity. She distracts, he sneaks, hacks systems, and steals crystalline energy sources that power advanced technology. Living outside the city, they survive by relying on each other in a world where people either fend for themselves or form uneasy alliances. The dynamic is effective, and their mutual dependence carries the film from beginning to end.

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We Bury The Dead, In Lest We Grieve

A restrained zombie drama led by Daisy Ridley, We Bury the Dead trades splatter for grief, memory, and moral unease, following a woman searching for closure on the edge of a disaster zone where the dead may not be fully gone.

Vertical, Umbrella Entertainment
Mild Spoiler Alert

Daisy Ridley is an actress who’s selective about the roles she takes on. Whether she’s carrying the weight of the Skywalker name or stepping into something far more grounded, her presence brings a quiet gravitas that helps sell the story. In We Bury the Dead, she plays Eva, a woman suspended between grief and hope, unsure whether to mourn her husband Mitch (Matt Whelan) or believe he might still be alive.

Mitch was working in Tasmania when an EMP device accidentally detonated. With communications crippled and information scarce, Eva fears the worst. As media coverage reveals the scale of the devastation and the number of lives lost, the only certainty she has is uncertainty.

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Ideas on How to Change Netflix’s The Electric State for the Better

Despite all the star power used to get fans of post-apocalyptic tales excited for The Electric State, this film generally falls flat for its execution, but I got ideas on how to salvage it.

Now Streaming on Netflix
Spoiler Alert

The Electric State is not an entirely terrible film. Had The Russo Brothers taken more creative liberty and came up with adding a horrific element, I’d love it! When the robots in this film made me think of those from the cinematic adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s, just what I imagined up would have been even more thrilling! But when this work is based on the work of another talent’s work, I have to wonder if Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag would approve.

While this work fails as being a road trip movie, where Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) leaves her foster home to search for Chris (Woody Norman), at least parts of the world building are done right. And when she knows her brother is a genius in science and robotics, this can lead to problems in the long run. Someone can take advantage of him. In what he knows about combining the two, nobody or no device can be safe.

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In the Lost Lands, Home Will Feel Far Away!

Paul W. S. Anderson’s In The Lost Lands feels more like a set up for an upcoming role playing game that fans of of the post-apocalyptic genre can take part in!

In the Lost Lands Movie Poster Dave Bautista is almost ready to replace William Shatner as host to The UnXplained should the opportunity arise. That’s because he’s getting the practice in with Paul W. S. Anderson’s In The Lost Lands. In this lengthy adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s, I am left wondering if this star will ever find a woman he can stay with instead of staying a drifter. Technically, he did in The Killer’s Game (movie review), but in other films prior, I sense he’ll always be a loner.

This science-fiction post apocalyptic adventure opens with him explaining how the Earth destroyed itself, and unlike The Knight’s War where the protagonist is in search for a woman with power to change the tides of war, here this individual wants nothing to do with Gray Alys (Milla Jovovich). She’s been searching for someone like Boyce (Bautista) to guide her through the said world.

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Hunting for Demons in Frankenstein: New World’s Next Chapter

Much has happened with fixing up what’s considered official for Mike Mignola’s version of Frankenstein for Dark Horse Comics. And in a world without Hellboy, he may well be this New World’s saviour!

Dark Horse Comics

Some knowledge is required to understand why Frankenstein exists. He’s replaced Hellboy in this New World series of comics being helmed by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, and Thomas Sniegoski. This monster has grown beyond what readers know from Mary Shelly’s work and “officially” took on his creator’s name… And I suspect he’ll become more than an Oracle to the survivors of “Ragna Rok.” Officially, the only canonical material readers need to know are Frankenstein Underground and New World.

While mutants run amok on the surface, in the Hollow Earth, the last survivors of humanity live in peace. It is here where Lilja, a young girl, is worried about her people’s future. As a result, she wants to speak to the oracle (Frankenstein) to alert him of this fate. When he’s in a state of meditation, many people have left him alone, but when the shouting match is loud enough, he’s awake. She hopes he can investigate and also tag along.

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Dave Bautista. From The Killer’s Game to In The Lost Lands, What is He Seeking?

The answer is not the next bunch of films this action-star will appear in. As Dave Bautista continues to be a fan-favourite for action-adventure, maybe it’s time for a change of pace.

The Killer's Game Movie Poster starring Dave Bautista The Killer’s Game is Available to Stream or purchase on Amazon Prime.

In the Lost Lands Release Date: Feb 28, 2025

After keeping up with Dave Bautista with the recent movies he’s appeared in, I’m glad he’s still got the right stuff. He’s a presence which can’t be tamed. And based on these latest works, I think he’s looking for that next great idea so he can show to the world he’s leading man material. He needs a movie to show how versatile he is. While I enjoyed My Spy, the sequel didn’t really do much since it fell into a traditional formula. After Guardians of the Galaxy, he’s on the quest for the next big franchise.

After The Killer’s Game, a respectable action-romance thriller, he’s still searching. With this film, he’s a hit-man who finds out he has an incurable disease. But after finding love early in this tale, he wants to get out of the game. Although he keeps Maize (Sofia Boutella) out of the loop in what he does, everyone is out to assassinate him! The idea is good, and the two performers have some great chemistry. But it didn’t screen everywhere and I had to wait for its VOD release, which wasn’t long at all. Overall, it deserves a C+ for effort, and showing how easily this actor can get typecast.

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