Arnold Schwarzenegger’s name brings to mind giant action movies and excitement-filled science fiction blockbusters, but definitely not low-budget indie zombie movies. Yet, above is one of the first stills released for Henry Hobson’s directorial debut, Maggie, in which Schwarzenegger plays Wade, the father of a slowly changing Abigail Breslin. As you can tell from the actors’ faces, this doesn’t look like a film that will be stockpiled with goofy jokes and laughter.
The first screenplay written by John Scott 3 (yup, that's how he's credited), Maggie centers on a Midwestern family threatened to be torn apart by the titular character’s gradual transformation into a cannibalistic zombie. Breslin plays the dying Maggie, while Joely Richardson is also on board (though absent from The Playlist's images) as Wade’s wife Caroline. The official synopsis calls this a genre-bender, but I’m not sure what genres are being bent here. Zombie horror and melodrama? I swear, if a tearful Schwarzenegger doesn’t regretfully brandish a shotgun at some point in this movie, I will feel weirdly disappointed.
While the picture above is of Wade tending to Maggie’s woes, the one below is just of Maggie by herself in bed, looking lonely. Notice that her arm is halfway bandaged up, making me wonder how zombies work in the world of Maggie. Or maybe it’s just a snot rag... for her black snot.
Next we have Schwarzenegger standing in the middle of a field where things are burning down all around him. He don’t need no water, let the zombie mothers burn! Burn zombie mothers, burn. Still, I wonder if this is the work of the zombies or the way that the townsfolk are trying to combat the undead threat.
Breslin has a bit of history with the zombie world, having blown a bunch of them away in Ruben Fleischer’s Zombieland a few years ago. But the tables have obviously turned this go-around, and she’ll have to do the battling from within. Patch up that eye, Maggie!
I have to wonder why it appears Maggie can’t wash her hair in all of this. Oh well. I wouldn’t want a cannibal using my shower anyway, even if it was my daughter.
Maggie, which will make its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival later this year, still hasn’t found any domestic distribution, so it obviously doesn’t have a U.S. release set up yet. But don’t expect that to go on much longer, as Schwarzenegger’s reclaimed Hollywood status almost demands that this movie make a Halloween debut in 3,000 theaters.
