''The Domestics'' is a 2018 American
post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...
action
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
horror film directed and written by Mike P. Nelson. The film stars
Kate Bosworth
Catherine Anne Bosworth (born January 2, 1983) is an American actress. Following minor roles in the films '' The Horse Whisperer'' (1998) and ''Remember the Titans'' (2000), she rose to prominence with her role as a young surfer in the box-offi ...
and
Tyler Hoechlin
Tyler Lee Hoechlin (; born September 11, 1987) is an American actor. Initially earning recognition for starring as Michael Sullivan Jr. in the 2002 film ''Road to Perdition'', Hoechlin went on to star as Martin Brewer on '' 7th Heaven'' between ...
.
The film was released on June 28, 2018, by
Orion Classics
Orion Classics started in 1982 as the distribution label for the then independent film production company Orion Pictures, now owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was relaunched in 2018.
The original focus of 1980-era Orion Classics was on acquirin ...
.
Plot
The global ruling class of humanity conducts a catastrophic chemical weapons attack on the American populace to 'reset' society and the overflowing population number. The surviving percentage of America has divided into two groups: the Gangs who control territory and go by their respective themes; The Gamblers, Sheets, Plowboys, Nailers, and Cherries, and the Domestics; those not affiliated with the Gangs who wish to live in peace and have not given in to their violent nature.
Domestic couple Mark and Nina West are traveling to
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...
to see Nina’s parents while dealing with the decision of getting a divorce before everything happened. While scavenging for supplies they are met by another survivor Nathan Wood and his son Steven who together escape from a small group of Nailers. Mark and Nina are invited to Nathan’s home to meet his wife and daughter but it ends in tragedy after discovering they were fed human meat and a surviving Nailer followed them, injuring Nina causing her and Mark to flee leaving the Woods behind where the Nailer kills Nathan’s wife and daughter. Nathan kills the Nailer but swears revenge and calls up some of his Plowboy contacts on his
CB Radio
Citizens band radio (also known as CB radio), used in many countries, is a land mobile radio system, a system allowing short-distance person-to-many persons bidirectional voice communication among individuals, using two way radios operating on ...
about the Wests.
The Wests make it to an abandoned house unaware they’ve been followed by a deserter Cherry named Betsy who escaped Plowboys’ slave captivity and has developed a fascination for Nina. Mark goes looking for supplies but is later held at gunpoint by William Cunningham, a flamboyant madman, and forced to fight against his large slave after he discovers William has beaten and captured Nathan and Steven who caught up to the Wests. Nina awakes, finds a bottle of alcohol, puts on a
Heavy Metal record Mark left for her and begins drunk dancing while Mark fights the slave. He eventually wins the fight and kills a fleeing William. The slave is freed by Mark out of sympathy for William mistreating him earlier and Nathan departs, forgiving Mark and giving up his quest for vengeance wishing Mark and Nina good luck.
Mark reunites with Nina at the house, who finds an old car similar to what Mark once owned when they first began dating. The two rekindle their passion but are unaware the car belongs to Gamblers who arrive and capture them. They're forced into a game of
Russian Roulette with Mark taking the bullet in the shoulder for Nina. Nina makes their escape after grabbing a gun from a distracted Gambler’s boot and stealing a car, finally making it to her parents' house to treat Mark's wounds and reunite with her parents.
Nina learns sadly from the neighbors her parents had died earlier, Mark awakens later and discovers her father’s prized
Wildey Hunter Pistol has been stolen. The Gamblers have caught up to them along with all the other Gangs and Betsy. A showdown begins resulting in a violent and bloody battle with all sides suffering massive casualties. In the end, Nina and Mark win the fight, the Gangs retreat with their remaining members, and Betsy returns Nina’s wedding ring to Mark that Nina had left at the abandoned house remarking "for her" after which she's shot from behind in the head with Nina killing Betsy's killer afterward. Nina finds her father's gun at a neighbor's home who was a Gambler spy, later revealed to be killed by a neighbor's kid who is revealed to be part of a rumored gang of young killers Nathan mentioned earlier.
Mark and Nina take a moment to catch their breath at Nina's parents' house and embrace each other. They later pack up and leave turning on the radio with Crazy Al, a DJ who has been sending broadcast updates about the current state of America warning the Gangs and other survivors not to mess with Mark and Nina.
Cast
*
Tyler Hoechlin
Tyler Lee Hoechlin (; born September 11, 1987) is an American actor. Initially earning recognition for starring as Michael Sullivan Jr. in the 2002 film ''Road to Perdition'', Hoechlin went on to star as Martin Brewer on '' 7th Heaven'' between ...
as Mark West
*
Kate Bosworth
Catherine Anne Bosworth (born January 2, 1983) is an American actress. Following minor roles in the films '' The Horse Whisperer'' (1998) and ''Remember the Titans'' (2000), she rose to prominence with her role as a young surfer in the box-offi ...
as Nina Monroe West
*
Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick (born December 31, 1962) is an American actor and musician. He is best known for playing Cedric Daniels in ''The Wire'' (2002–2008), Phillip Broyles in ''Fringe'' (2008–2013), and Chief Irvin Irving in '' Bosch'' (2014–2020) ...
as Nathan Wood
*
Sonoya Mizuno
Sonoya Mizuno (born 1 July 1986) is a Japanese-British actress, model, and ballet dancer.
She notably starred in the miniseries '' Maniac'' and the '' Game of Thrones'' prequel series ''House of the Dragon'', and appeared in all the works direc ...
as Betsy
*
Dana Gourrier
Dana Michelle Gourrier is an American actress, known for her roles as Cora in the film ''Django Unchained'' (2012), and as Minnie Mink in ''The Hateful Eight'' (2015), both directed by Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born Ma ...
as Wanda
* Jacinte Blankenship as Theresa Wood
*
* Thomas Francis Murphy as Plowboy Jim
*
David Dastmalchian
David Dastmalchian (; born July 21, 1975) is an American film and stage actor. He has had supporting roles in a number of superhero franchises; he portrayed Thomas Schiff in ''The Dark Knight'', Kurt in the first two Marvel Cinematic Universe ...
as Willy Cunningham
* Lee Perkins as Dean the Nailer
* Kaden Washington Lewis as Steven Wood
* Mikaela Kimani Armstrong as Bella Wood
Production
On March 24, 2016, it was announced that Mike P. Nelson would direct the post-apocalyptic thriller film ''The Domestics'' from his own script, for
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
and Hollywood Gang Productions.
Gianni Nunnari
Gianni Nunnari (born 10 August 1959) is an Italian film and television producer and executive.
Early life
After completing his studies, he followed the footsteps of his father, Alexander Nunnari, and began his career in the film business.
Ca ...
and Shannon Gaulding would produce the film. On September 8, 2016,
Kate Bosworth
Catherine Anne Bosworth (born January 2, 1983) is an American actress. Following minor roles in the films '' The Horse Whisperer'' (1998) and ''Remember the Titans'' (2000), she rose to prominence with her role as a young surfer in the box-offi ...
and
Tyler Hoechlin
Tyler Lee Hoechlin (; born September 11, 1987) is an American actor. Initially earning recognition for starring as Michael Sullivan Jr. in the 2002 film ''Road to Perdition'', Hoechlin went on to star as Martin Brewer on '' 7th Heaven'' between ...
were cast to star in the film.
The movie was filmed in
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
.
Stunt performer
Deven MacNair filed an
EEOC
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination ...
anti-discrimination lawsuit against producers of the film over an incident of "wigging", the practice of using a stunt performer that does not match either the sex or race of the actor, which is against
SAG-AFTRA
The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA, stylized as SAG·AFTRA ) is an American labor union representing approximately 160,000 film and television actors, journalists, radio personalities, recordi ...
rules.
Release
In May 2018,
Orion Classics
Orion Classics started in 1982 as the distribution label for the then independent film production company Orion Pictures, now owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was relaunched in 2018.
The original focus of 1980-era Orion Classics was on acquirin ...
acquired distribution rights to the film and set it for a June 28, 2018, release.
Reception
The film has received favorable reviews from critics. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has approval rating based on reviews, with an average rating of .
Robbie Collin
Robbie Collin is a British film critic.
Collin studied aesthetics and the philosophy of film at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He edited the university's student newspaper, '' The Saint''.
Collin has been the chief film critic at ''The D ...
of
The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
gave it a positive review and wrote: "It's all good grim fun, with a visceral kick."
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Domestics, The
2018 films
2018 horror films
American horror thriller films
Orion Pictures films
Vertigo Films films
American post-apocalyptic films
American science fiction horror films
Films scored by Nathan Barr
Films set in Milwaukee
2010s English-language films
2010s American films