Based on the 2006 book by Cormac McCarthy, The Road is directed by John Hillcoat, and stars Viggo Mortensen as “Man” and Kodi Smit-McPhee as “Boy.” This bleak and depressing film is a bare-bones, hopeless trudge through what used to be America after an unknown catastrophe has left the land barren and the people as savage as the first humans. We witness the two main characters, a father and his son, make their way across the wasteland that once was the United States, barely surviving the elements and what is left of humanity.
This isn’t a typical horror film. However, it does not shy away from the macabre and the instincts hidden inside the human psyche. Upon watching it, the viewer is bound to be left with a sense of dread, wondering whether society would become that horrible in the event of an apocalypse. Without Mortensen’s exceptional performance, the film wouldn’t be as effective.
