The Zombies Between Us

As one generation finally concedes defeat in achieving a loving, normal family, a younger generation finds itself embarking on the same endeavour with only the failure as an example to follow and surrounded by zombies. Michael (Michael Fuith) finds himself caught in his ex-girlfriend's apartment with a young plumber's assistant when the zombie apocalypse hits Berlin in 2010's Rammbock. An effective enough zombie film but the subtext on dysfunctional relationships is more interesting, the gloomy film being more about resignation to doom than a fight for survival.

The zombies in this film are closer to the fast moving, 28 Days Later variety, people apparently infected by a disease rather than actually undead. It's slightly less severe than the 28 Days Later variety, allowing those bitten to remain normal so long as their adrenaline levels don't rise, leading to tragic scenes like a man caring for and speaking soothing lies to a bitten wife bedridden by sedatives.

Almost the entire movie takes place within a single apartment complex with a courtyard in the middle across which people barricaded in their apartments can talk to each other while the infected rampage below.

But there are zombies within the building, too, and Michael finds himself trapped with the personal effects of the woman with whom he had a failed relationship, whom he still loves. With him is Harper (Theo Trebs), who doesn't quite comprehend Michael's need to rescue his cell phone from the room where they've locked a zombie in just for the dim hope that Gabi (Anka Graczyk) may have called.

One of the people across the courtyard is a young woman Harper's age, Anita (Emily Cox), who immediately takes a liking to him when they meet after she sees Harper's figured out that the zombies are repelled by camera flashes.

Before this, Michael and Harper break out of Gabi's apartment by bashing through a wall into the next apartment. Michael discovers that Gabi isn't much better off than him and the ending of the film nicely ties the widespread nature of relationship dysfunction with the spread of the zombie disease.