Director: Henry Hobson; Screenwriter: John Scott 3; Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Abigail Breslin, Joely Richardson; Running time: 95 mins; Certificate: 15

Video poster

Hasta la vista, zombie! Pitching Arnold Schwarzenegger against the undead would have made for a stunning '80s action flick full of cheesy one-liners and queasy blood-splattered spectacle. Maggie is definitely not in that vein, striving for emotional resonance over visceral thrills and containing an effectively understated turn from the star. But despite noble intentions, an uneven script and confused execution leads to only moderate success.

Schwarzenegger plays Wade, an earnest father whose daughter Maggie (Abigail Breslin) is infected by a virus that slowly turns people into zombies. Not unlike reading EL James prose, but with more flesh eating. Just. The central crux of the plot, which takes a bit too long to arrive, is how Wade deals with this worsening scenario after Maggie is temporarily released from quarantine to spend time with her family. Does he allow the authorities to take her back when she deteriorates and becomes a threat, or does he take matters into his own hands?


It's a fascinating dilemma, but one that's not quite developed enough to culminate in a satisfying emotional payoff. The narrative meanders along without sustained focus at times, failing to harness the varying perspectives of Wade and Maggie into one cohesive whole. Some of the attempts at emotional resonance do feel like contrived button pushing, which is not helped by an intrusive score that tries to influence our reception. It betrays the often documentary, handheld feel of the direction and its commendable naturalistic aesthetic.

As the poor teenager whose life as a functioning human is quickly ebbing away, Breslin succinctly captures that anguish and bewilderment in a fine performance. It's hard to gauge exactly how good Schwarzenegger's performance is, as we're so used to witnessing his star persona.


Pitching Arnold Schwarzenegger against the undead would have made for a stunning '80s action flick full of cheesy one-liners and queasy blood-splattered spectacle. Maggie is definitely not in that vein, striving for emotional resonance over visceral thrills and containing an effectively understated turn from the star.


At one point, he quietly tells Maggie to "get in the truck". It's hard to suppress a desire for him to deliver the line in exactly the same overblown manner as his iconic "choppa" line in Predator. Yet, despite the understandable scrutiny of his attempt at a 'serious' acting role, at no point are there any unintentional laughs. Indeed, he makes you feel for Wade and imbues him with a sense of composed dignity.

What to Read Next

A worthwhile stab at approaching the zombie subgenre in a character-driven, personal manner, Maggie lacks the substance to soar and occasionally plods along like a lethargic zombie. Its virtues do outweigh the faults though, meaning that you should extract more from the film than purely satiating a morbid curiosity over Arnie doing proper acting.

3

Maggie was screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2015 and will be released in the UK on July 25.