New Life Review: A Blistering Horror Mystery Packed With Tension [Fantasia Fest 2023]

John Rosman's "New Life" is a blistering multidimensional thriller that hits from all directions — the kind of debut filmmakers dream about. It messes with you psychologically, stokes existential dread, and drips with bodily liquids worth repulsive physical effects. Where some first features hinge on a sole signature that pulls audiences through less accomplished elements, "New Life" exposes few weaknesses. Rossman creates a small-scale apocalypse movie that becomes achingly intimate despite the threat of worldwide eradication, weighing the disease of one against the infection of many in ways unexplored by notable comparison points like Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later" or the Pastor brothers' "Carriers."

Sonya Walger stars as all-star fixer Elsa Gray, whose sunset years have been tainted by an ALS diagnosis. Hayley Erin plays Jessica Murdock, a mysterious woman running from Elsa toward the Canadian border. It's all we know at the film's onset — Jessica is fleeing from an ailing special agent, and Elsa's objective is to prevent said escape. A straightforward premise hides a far more dire reality that links Elsa and Jessica beyond their cat-and-mouse hunt, exquisitely paced by Rosman as scenes throttle from bad to hellscape with no turning back.

The microcosmic nature of "New Life" highlights those suspensefully interpersonal and grippingly savage flourishes of Rosman's vision. A character study about facing incalculable depression by accepting grim news from doctors and the universe alike — when Rosman's not unleashing vicious pandemic horror via zombie-like, rage virus patients. Rosman dodges an imbalanced union of subgenres by developing a script so confident in storytelling that hybridizes human experiences versus feral infection terror, funneled through a small-market lens of a one-on-one chase. Elsa's workaholic cleaner and Jessica's small-town girl on the run seem so different at the onset, which Rosman wants us to believe. That way, he can beautifully weave their stories of predator and prey together as clues demystify global stakes.

Walger and Erin are phenomenal in their warring roles, grasping the perilous unknown that looms over characters hurtling toward one another like atoms ready to destroy the world upon collision. Walger callously stuffs resentment and sorrow where coworkers can't see, which makes her private struggles with hand tremors and impaired mobility break our hearts. Erin's performance is far more dreadfully unaware, as the actress tearfully weeps about just wanting to see the world's wonders, with the events of "New Life" being her punishment. For how grotesquely monstrous Rosman's narrative can become, the beating, bleeding heart that pumps vitality onto the screen is toxically mortal. It's far easier to fear what we can't see versus the borderline demons covered in boils, puss, and gunk.

The signature of "New Life" is smaller moments that make a thunderous impact. It's like Jason Bourne on a shoestring budget — minus the action scenes — meets "The Crazies" or "Cabin Fever." What could be a tonally confused slop of influences is instead a scorching pursuit that evolves under constant heat, broiling and bubbling tension without losing momentum. Whether Elsa painfully hides her fate from partner-in-her-ear Vince (Jeb Berrier), Haley tepidly accepts help from generous strangers with possibly ulterior motives, or frightening body-horror s*** hits the proverbial fan, it's powerful on the same level. Rosman channels the pacing of a runaway train into an immensely clever reinvention of commonplace paranoias that's leaner than a Michelin-star restaurant's tenderloin and plenty juicy for horror lovers with a craving for drippy-icky gore.

"New Life" is a boundlessly accomplished feature debut that sets all eyes on John Rosman. Pacific Northwestern mountain ranges set the stage for a noose-taught race against a ticking doomsday clock that never feels impossibly gargantuan in physical presentation, yet balloons in our minds into something overwhelmingly bigger. There's empathetic relevance as characters encounter twists with the same flabbergasted peril that we do as viewers, generating investment like we're looking into a mirror. From emotion-filled performances to secluded wilderness cinematography, "New Life" is a wonderfully polished independent barnburner that punches well above its weight class.

/Film Rating: 8 out of 10