On January 29, 2024, five-year-old Hind Rajab sits trapped in a car amid her family’s bodies on a Gaza City street, Israeli tanks closing in after an attack. She dials the Palestine Red Crescent Society, her tiny voice begging rescuers for help over three agonizing hours.
Director Kaouther Ben Hania centers the film in the dispatch office, where actors recreate the responders’ panic without showing the carnage. Gunfire crackles through phone lines, Hind’s cries pierce the air, but violence stays off-screen.
Motaz Malhees plays Omar, the operator who bonds with Hind, soothing her fears of darkness while his bosses scramble for safe passage. Saja Kilani embodies Rana, his supervisor, pushing protocols amid chaos, and Amer Hlehel brings Mahdi, the coordinator, tangled in red tape with Israeli officials and the Red Cross.
Clara Khoury rounds out the team, their faces twisting in real-time horror synced to Hind’s actual recordings.
Ben Hania overlays genuine footage at key moments, blurring lines so responders’ reenacted words mesh with archived voices.
Forensic reports cited in production note 335 bullets riddled the family car, underscoring the trap. The 89-minute runtime unfolds like a live call log, executive produced by Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Alfonso Cuarón, and Jonathan Glazer.
Venice Buzz Ignites Firestorm
The world premiere at the Venice Film Festival drew 23 minutes of standing ovation, with audience tears flowing as the credits rolled. The jury handed the Grand Jury Prize to second-place winner Jim Jarmusch’s film, prompting outcry online that politics had sidelined the bolder Gaza tale.
President Alexander Payne defended the split, insisting both films stood equal, dismissing resignation rumors as online hype.
Golden Globe nods followed for non-English film and score, with IMDb at 8.5 and Metacritic at 84. Critics hail it as urgent cinema, blending docu-elements without gore porn.
The UAE rollout hit Cinema Akil on December 17, 2025, expanding regionally amid awards chatter. Red Sea Fest screened it as a hybrid standout, tying fiction’s tension to doc truth.
Cast shared in interviews how scripts deepened Palestinian ties, with Malhees calling it identity-affirming. Ben Hania reacted viscerally to Hind’s tape, feeling a direct plea to act. NPR spotlighted responders’ real desperation mirrored on screen.
Blurred Lines Stoke Raw Debates
Style keeps eyes on human cost, voices raw, while frames stay claustrophobic, avoiding exploitation. Some praise the restraint; others question mixing kids’ real terror with actors for effect.
The Voice of Hind Rajab (Credit: Mime Films)
The Venice fallout fueled claims of jury caution on the Israel-Palestine heat. Ben Hania’s past hybrids, like 4 Days in France, prepare her for this boundary push, making helplessness visceral.
Real events ground it: Hind’s aunt in Germany patched the first call, and responders waited on IDF green lights that never cleared. The ambulance hit later, killing paramedics Youssef Zeino and Ahmed Al-Madhoon.
The film indicts bureaucracy’s paralysis, with Omar raging at colleagues for “talking to killers.” Al Jazeera docs added context on family killings, but Ben Hania prioritizes emotional vice.
Reactions split theaters, some fleeing mid-film from the weight. Roger Ebert notes it demands sitting with violence’s echo, not spectacle. The Guardian deems it provocative brilliance amid an urgent crisis.
As releases expand, it challenges comfy distances, merging news with narrative to etch one voice into memory. Hindustan Times calls it the year’s essential watch.
A fresh exclusive image hit screens showing Olivia Holt’s character, Sloane, with her face streaked in crimson gore, eyes wide in shock amid the apocalypse. Shared by Independent Film Company and Shudder, this shot ramps up buzz for the February 20, 2026, theatrical drop.
Holt, known from Disney roots in Kickin’ It and recent screams in Heart Eyes and Totally Killer, stares directly ahead, blood dripping from her forehead and cheeks as if fresh from a brutal undead clash. The pic captures the raw intensity fans crave in Shudder’s niche horrors like Late Night with the Devil.
This reveal follows a group poster that teased the full cast hunkered in school halls, hinting at lockdown terror straight out of a nightmare field trip. Trailers are already circulating on YouTube, amping the frenzy with quick cuts of sprinting infected and barricaded doors buckling under pressure.
Holt’s transformation from teen star to bloodied fighter positions her as the next scream queen, drawing eyes from YA horror crowds. ScreenRant broke the image first, noting its timely clash with Valentine’s romances and Scream 7.
From Summers’ Pages to Screen Carnage
Courtney Summers’ 2012 YA novel fuels the film’s core, where Sloane Price grapples with suicidal thoughts and sister grief as zombies overrun her town. A revised edition bundles the sequel novella Please Remain Calm, dropping January 13, 2026, to prime readers pre-premiere.
Director Adam MacDonald, fresh off Out Come the Wolves and Pyewacket, scripts and helms this 102-minute thriller set in the late ’90s punk era. Production wrapped under Cybill Lui, with cinematographer Christian Bielz capturing gritty, practical effects.
The story locks Sloane and classmates like those played by Froy Gutierrez (Hocus Pocus 2), Luke Macfarlane (Bros), Corteon Moore (From), Chloe Avakian, and Carson MacCormac inside Cortege High.
Initial outbreak chaos shines brightest, mirroring real panic with crowds fleeing infected hordes before the school siege drags into teen tensions.
MacDonald leans into gore-heavy attacks, though early fest screenings at Toronto After Dark and Brooklyn Horror noted zombie frenzies sometimes overwhelm the drama. IFC and Shudder snagged rights in October 2025 for the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand release.
Holt carries Sloane’s arc from numb despair to fierce will to live, channeling abuse trauma against brain-eaters. Gutierrez and others bring ’90s vibes, echoing Cruel Summer crossovers that nod to slasher specials.
Critics at Brooklyn Horror praised Holt’s killer instinct amid YA archetypes but flagged melodrama clashing with undead action. Goodreads rates the book 3.85, praising its fresh suicidal lens on zombie tropes. MacDonald’s Slasher TV chops add trope savvy, yet the film stays grounded in survival basics.
YA Zombies Face Scream 7 Showdown
Shudder’s track record with Good Boy and Forbidden Fruits sets high bars for This Is Not a Test to bite into 2026’s horror pack. The theatrical week before streaming gives it an edge over Netflix pilots, but Scream 7 lands February 27, sparking sequel fatigue debates.
Holt’s rise mirrors rising demand for ex-Disney talents in gutsy roles, boosting box office pull for genre indies.
Olivia Holt (Credit: BBC),
Fest reactions highlight strengths in outbreak panic over schoolbound Lord of the Flies vibes, where teen backstories risk soap opera pitfalls. Practical blood and bites deliver, but chaotic editing aims to echo frayed minds, landing mixed for some.
As YA zombies revive in the post-Walking Dead era, Summers’ re-release ties book fans to screens, potentially swelling crowds.
Marketing hits with Instagram drops and Rue Morgue posters, positioning the film as an anti-Valentine’s gut punch. Holt’s stunned, bloody face becomes an iconic promo, fueling fan theories on Sloane’s first kill.
With 1.7K IMDb watchlisters already, early traction suggests Shudder could own February frights. Macfarlane’s grizzled presence adds adult weight to the teen core, broadening appeal beyond YA shelves.
