Now Showing: Patient Zero

 

Patient Zero

Genre: Horror/Thriller

Director: S. Craig Zahler

Writer: Matt Parker

Cast: Cristin Milioti, Brandon Sklenar, Andrew Koji, Nicola Coughlan, Isaiah Washington, Gabriella Sengos

Plot: Inside a top secret U.S. government lab in an undisclosed  location, Dr. Kaito Tanaka (Andrew Koji), conducts classified work. When Kaito discovers that his experimental virus is being fast-tracked for weaponization, he takes drastic action: he injects himself with the only sample to prevent its use. Kaito plans to escape and destroy his research, but the virus begins mutating in his bloodstream.

Over the next 48 hours, Kaito unknowingly spreads the infection, creating an outbreak. The infected are not traditional zombies - they're very much alive but suffer from a highly contagious rabies-like virus. The infected are slow-moving due to muscle degradation, but act with relentless aggression and primal urges to spread the virus. 

Dr. Evelyn Grant (Cristin Milioti) and Dr. Claire Saunders (Nicola Coughlan) are close friends who work together at a CDC-affiliated lab in Pittsburgh. As the outbreak reaches the city, Evelyn and Claire try to find ways to contain or even cure the virus, with little to no luck. Evelyn thinks that the virus samples they have been given are not pure enough to really test on, so Claire suggests they bring in one of the infected to actually use in their tests.

During a hectic day in the lab, Claire is bitten by an infected patient. As her symptoms worsens, Claire begins to lose control, shifting between aggression and moments of clarity. Claire begs Evelyn to end her suffering before the infection fully consumes Evelyn tries to convince Claire that she can find a cure. Claire believes she is too far gone already, but encourages Evelyn to keep trying - maybe she'll wind up saving humanity. As Claire starts explaining how she wants Evelyn to kill her, the virus mutates in her and Claire tries to attack Evelyn. Evelyn secures a medical bag around Claire's head and begins suffocating her until her body goes limp. Evelyn sits next to Claire's body, crying.

Still devastated by Claire's death, Evelyn realizes that the attempts to develop a vaccine will all fail due to the virus's rapid mutation. She concludes that the only way to create a universal cure is by finding "Patient Zero" - Dr. Kaito Tanaka - and synthesizing a solution from his blood. Evelyn hires Ben Travis (Brandon Sklenar), an ex-soldier, to guide her through the quarantined zones surrounding Pittsburgh and beyond.

Meanwhile, General Harrison (Isaiah Washington), the military official tasked with dealing with the outbreak has announced plans to firebomb major cities to halt the virus's spread and that evacuation procedures for the uninfected will begin shortly.

Evelyn and Ben quickly clash as she sees him as detached and selfish, while he views her compassion as naive. As they journey through the destruction in Pittsburgh, they find a young girl, Lila (Gabriella Sengos), in an abandoned building. Lila tells them that her parents became monsters, so she ran away. Ben urges Evelyn to leave Lila behind, but Evelyn refuses. They are suddenly attacked by the next mutation of the infected - Stage 2 Infected. The infected have become shambling, twisted figures with spider-webbed veins, cracked skin. They move in jerky motions, clawing and biting at anything in their path. Ben opens fire on the infected, killing them, and clearing a path for Evelyn, Lila and himself to escape the area. 

Evelyn receives a message from an anonymous sender, urging her to head in the direction of an abandoned quarantine facility on the city's outskirts before General Harrison's soldiers arrive and destroy any chance of a cure. 

When they arrive at the facility, Evelyn, Ben and Lila find it overrun with the infected, but see one figure that seems somehow less infected - Kaito Tanaka. His body has become more like the infected, but has retained most of his mind. In fragmented speech, Kaito reveals that he caused everything. He meant to save lives, but instead destroyed countless of them. Ben shoots Kaito in the head, killing him. Evelyn is in shock. Ben points out that Kaito just admitted to being "patient zero". Evelyn snaps out of her shock and takes a large sample of Kaito's blood.

As they leave the facility, General Harrison's soldiers arrive, sent to wipe out Kaito and erase any trace of the government's involvement in the outbreak. Ben finds a working pickup truck and urges Evelyn to take Lila and drive as far away as they can get, to find a lab that she can synthesize a cure in.

Evelyn begins driving away, while Ben fends off Harrison's soldiers, but she slams on the brakes and turns around. She drives the truck through the group of soldiers, who leap out of the way, only to be attacked by a group of infected. Evelyn calls out for Ben. He gets into the back of the truck and Evelyn speeds he truck away as they hear the screams of the soldiers being ripped apart by the infected.

They drive back into the city through crowds of infected until they arrive at the campus of Duquesne University - Evelyn's alma matter. She tells Ben and Lila that she knows where the labs on campus are and there should be the necessary equipment to begin work on the cure.

Ben clears the area of infected as Evelyn leads them toward the labs. They finally make it to the right lab. Evelyn and Lila go inside while Ben blocks the door, but Evelyn is scratched by an infected hiding in the lab. Ben kills the infected and tells Evelyn that she needs to work on the cure immediately if there is going to be any time. Evelyn can feel her body starting to change, but she continues working through the night, finally concocting a prototype. Evelyn tells Ben to take the prototype and Lila and leave without her. Ben refuses though and injects Evelyn with the prototype instead. She is angry, suggesting he may have doomed everyone. Ben views the situation differently though. He says that she'll be able to make plenty of the cure once it has worked on her. Evelyn passes out as the virus and cure battle within her bloodstream.

Hours later Evelyn awakens with Ben and Lila watching over her. She makes up several more samples of the formula while Ben uses his military contacts to reach General Harrison and get the bombing called off. 

Evelyn, Ben, and Lila go to the rooftop of the building to watch the sun rise. Evelyn rests her head on Ben's shoulder and watch as military trucks begin clearing out the area so that they can begin distributing the cure.