One of the more impressive films I had the pleasure of seeing at this year’s South By Southwest Film Festival was from director Xavier Gens – a post-apocalyptic character study called THE DIVIDE. It stars Lauren German (HOSTEL: PART II), the great Michael Biehn, Milo Ventimiglia (HEROES), Courtney B. Vance, Ivan Gonzalez, Michael Eklund, Ashton Holmes, and Rosanna Arquette. I had actually heard quite a bit about the movie thanks to a few interviews with Michael and his wife Jennifer Blanc-Biehn (one of which you can see HERE, the other to be posted soon), both of them telling me how much it was going to blow me away… and they weren’t kidding. We’ve seen films similar to this before, but never quite as carried out as this one is. It’s incredibly bleak, dark and unrelenting, and I’m certain it will be a strongly polarizing project for moviegoers. Perhaps most importantly, for all its grittiness and shock, it’s a beautiful piece of filmmaking, and easily the most impressive work yet from Gens (FRONTIERS and HITMAN). Check out the first full trailer below, just under the synopsis, and tell us your thoughts in the comments.
When a cataclysmic explosion devastates New York, eight strangers take refuge in the basement of their apartment building, a converted fallout shelter designed by their paranoid superintendent Mickey. With just three connecting rooms it’s barely big enough, but with stockpiles of food and water, the group are at least safe from the horrors outside, and they settle in and attempt to fathom the catastrophe that has ended the lives of so many of their loved ones.
But suddenly men in HAZMAT suits storm their shelter and open fire. The strangers join forces in a desperate bid to take on this enemy, with no one understanding what these HAZMATS are looking for and what drives them to be so merciless. With fatalities on both sides and the remaining HAZMATS temporarily pushed back and locked out, the worst is yet to come for the group. Cabin fever sets in as the perception of the shelter shifts from safe-haven to claustrophobic rat-trap.
THE DIVIDE opens January 13, 2012
Born and raised in Dallas, Mark has been a movie critic since 1994, with reviews featured in print, radio and National TV. In 2001 he started the Entertainment section of the Herorealm website, where he contributed film reviews and celebrity interviews until 2004. After three years of service there, he started Bigfanboy.com, which has become one of the Dallas film community's leading information websites. Bigfanboy hosts several movie screenings in the Texas area, and works closely with film and TV studios and promotional partners to host exciting events and contests. The site also features a variety of rare celebrity and filmmaker interviews, and Bigfanboy.com regularly covers the film festival circuit as well. In addition to Hollywood reporting, Mark has worked for many years as an advertising and sci-fi/comic book artist. Clients have included Lucasfilm Ltd., Topps Trading Cards, The Dallas Mavericks and The Dallas Stars. From 2002 until 2015 he managed the Dallas Comic Con, Sci-Fi Expo and Fan Days events in the DFW area. He currently catalogs rare comic books and movie memorabilia for Heritage Auctions, and runs the Dallas Comic Show conventions, but remains an avid moviegoer and cinema buff. 
