Directed and written by Hal Masonberg, The Plague is a horror film that was released back on September 5th, 2006. Starring James Van Der Beek and Ivana Milicevic, the movie is a classic zombie chase-type film with a unique storyline and plot twist.
The Plague takes place in 1983 when all of the children who are below 9 years of age suddenly fall unconscious and into a coma-like state. During this time, the kids experience seizures, which is what helps them retain their muscle mass. After 10 years, the children, who are now older, wake up and start attacking adults in a zombie-like state.
Tom and Jean are the protagonists, and it’s up to them to save the remaining survivors and somehow find out a way to stop these grown children from killing everyone. The film’s plot is intriguing and absorbing, but its ending is subpar.
Asides from James as Tom Russel and Ivana in the role of Jean, other cast members of The Plague 2006 include Joshua Close in the role of Kip, Brittany Scobie plays Claire, Bradley Sawatzky stars as Nathan, and John P. Connolly plays Sheriff Cal Stewart.
The Plague 2006: Plot of The Film
The movie begins with David waking his 8-year-old kid up for school, only to find him fizzing up at the mouth and in an unconscious state. When he rushes Eric to the hospital, he sees that Eric is not the only child who is in this state. The whole world experiences this strange phenomenon where every child below the age of 9 ends up in a coma-like state.
To protect these children, the government urges people to stop procreating and focuses on taking care of the children until they wake up one day. The schools are shut down, and the institutions are changed into hospitals to take care of these children. Jean, the head doctor, notices that every child goes through a seizure twice a day at the same time.
Tom, Jean’s ex-husband, is released on parole after years of being in jail. Having nowhere to go, he lives with David until he can get a proper home for himself. This is where he sees David taking care of Eric. Tom later meets with his mentor, a Sheriff at the police department. He comes across two teenagers who managed to turn 10 right before the strange phenomenon happened.
Back at the hospital, all of the children, who are now almost adults, wake up as zombies. They start killing any other adult they come across, but the way they do it is strange, as they crush their heads first. Tom finds David’s crushed body in his bed and is soon attacked by Eric. Sam, his childhood friend, arrives just in time and saves him from being killed.
Tom and the others find out that all of the awake children are killing others at an alarming rate. He rushes to the school to save Jean and finds a few survivors who later fall victim to the zombie children.
Kip and Claire, the teenagers that were in the police department, also joined Tom and Jean’s group. All of them run to the church to stay safe, and that’s where Kip finds a Pastor’s notes talking about his dreams and the children.
The notes give Tom and Jean a clue about how the children behave. After a series of terrible deaths, Tom and Jean are the only survivors but are surrounded by all of the zombie kids. In a desperate attempt to fight back, Tom reads the pastor’s notes once again and realizes that the children reciprocate the feelings we give them.
An idea pops up in his mind, and he asks Jean to think about a good memory she had. Both of them lose all feelings of fear, and the children surprisingly start backing off and become non-aggressive.
The Plague 2006: Ending Explained
As the ending of the film draws near, we see that Jean and Tom have to now deal with smart zombie children that know how to use guns and cut off car batteries. The note that the pastor left behind is the one thing that’s able to save both of them, as they convince themselves not to fear the children and instead radiate positivity and love.
This trick works, and fast forward to a few weeks or months later, we see that Jean and Tom are living comfortably in the town, with the children still around but not as dangerous as before. To show them that she trusts them, Jean leaves the door to their house open.
Although the movie had an interesting plot and good acting, the ending somehow seems uneventful and underwhelming. It does not explain why the children were suddenly unconscious or why they woke up exactly ten years later as zombies. In the trailer, we see a Bible verse where Biblealks about sending famine and wild beasts, with humans being left childless.
From this, we can assume that The Plague 2006 revolves around some kind of apocalypse; the end of the world, where humans are going to be desperately fighting for their lives. The only information we get in the movie is from the pastor’s notes, where he talks about verses from the Bible and reBible that they return the feelings we give them.
That’s why Tom had to convince himself and Jean not to fear these children, even when they were held at gunpoint. This showed that they trusted the kids and didn’t want to harm them.
The kids understand this and leave them alone. The movie also symbolizes the way an adult can have a huge impact on children and how they can destroy humanity in the long run if things are not changed for the better.
As for Jean and Tom, we can assume that the couple started to co-exist with these zombies. However, there’s no clue as to what might happen after that. The Plague 2006 is available to watch on Tubi TV and Apple TV.
Also Read: Top 50 Zombie Movies Of All Time
