The causeway offers the islanders protection from the Infected who have roamed the mainland the 28 years since the release of the rage virus and they live a tough if relatively safe pastoral life. European navies maintain strict quarantine: nobody is coming to help them so they must make do with what they have.
The island is small though and regular trips are made to the mainland for firewood and other supplies. Now Jamie has decided it's time for Spike's first trip down the causeway and his first kill.
No good will come of this.
CW: bloody violence
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland are back and British as fuck. I mean it starts with the Teletubbies and ends with, well least said soonest mended.
For a franchise that reinvented zombie movies it's low on zombie movie tropes, even the ones it popularised. Sure the Infected are in it but this is much more a coming of age story for Spike and weird dreamlike look at a collapsed society. The islanders have regressed to a kind of 1950s level for eminently practical reasons but also seem to be adopting the imagery and religiosity of that time along with a big dose of xenophobia.
Meanwhile the Infected couldn't be said to have developed culture but do seem to have differentiated and have group bonds and rituals. The only mainlander we really see, Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) has his own rituals but maintains perhaps more of his civilised nature than the islanders.
Tense, sad and moving 8/10, makes me really look forward to the next imminent instalment. Don't expect everything to make perfect sense: this is a dreamtime.