The Battery (2012 film)
| The Battery | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jeremy Gardner |
| Produced by | Jeremy Gardner Adam Cronheim Douglas A. Plomitallo Christian Stella |
| Written by | Jeremy Gardner |
| Starring | Jeremy Gardner Adam Cronheim Niels Bolle Alana O'Brien |
| Cinematography | Christian Stella |
|
Production
company |
O. hannah Films
|
| Distributed by | FilmBuff |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6,000 |
The Battery is a 2012 American independent drama horror film and the directorial debut of Jeremy Gardner. The film stars Gardner and co-producer Adam Cronheim as two former baseball players trying to survive a zombie apocalypse. The film premiered at the Telluride Horror Show in October 2012 and received a video-on-demand release June 4, 2013. It has won audience awards at several international film festivals.
After a zombie apocalypse has overtaken the entire New England area, two former baseball players, Ben (Jeremy Gardner) and Mickey (Adam Cronheim), travel the back-roads of Connecticut with no destination in mind. Their backstory reveals that they were trapped in a house in Massachusetts, along with Mickey's family, for three months. Mickey's father, mother and brother were killed before they figured out how to escape. Since then, Ben opposes sleeping indoors and the two have had many arguments regarding the matter. Ben has long adapted to their new lifestyle, which includes scavenging for supplies and constantly being on the move. Mickey, on the other hand, longs for a "normal" life. He refuses to learn basic survival skills, and constantly isolates himself by listening to his CD player with headphones on, burning through batteries.
At Mickey's girlfriend's now-abandoned house, Ben finds two walkie-talkies. As they test the walkie-talkies' range, they overhear a conversation between two survivors, Annie and "The Orchard", implying they belong to an organized group of survivors. Mickey eagerly contacts them and asks to join, only to be flatly refused. Despite Ben's advice, Mickey tries contacting them again several times, but no one replies.
The duo travel further and explore a house inside a forest, where Mickey proposes sleeping inside. Ben relents, presumably to ease his friend's frustration, but keeps Mickey's CD player for the night. That evening, Ben drinks, listens to music and dances, while Mickey speaks on the walkie talkie. Annie replies, this time firmly tells him to stay off the channel and stop contacting her group.
The following morning, Ben discovers a zombie tied up near the house and releases it in Mickey's room. He keeps the door shut while urging Mickey to kill it with the baseball bat he left in the room earlier. After the sound of the struggle stops, Ben opens the door, discovering his friend has successfully scored his first zombie kill. Mickey angrily attacks Ben and storms outside. As Ben tries to cheer him up, Mickey breaks down in tears, telling Ben of his conversation with Annie.
Killing his first zombie and getting turned down by a community seem to have changed Mickey. He starts heeding Ben's advice, learns to fish and spends much less time with his headphones on. As the two stop by the road to inspect a car, a man takes Mickey hostage with a knife, and orders Ben to give him their car keys. Ben tricks the man into letting Mickey go, then shoots and kills him. Immediately after, two other survivors arrive. The woman explains that the man stole the car from them, and says Ben did the right thing. Her companion Egghead refuels the abandoned car and they prepare to leave. Mickey, recognizing Annie's voice from the walkie talkie, calls her by name. Annie, not wanting them to follow her to her group, shoots Ben in the leg and throws their car keys into a large grassy area, then leaves with Egghead. As it is too dark to find the keys, Ben and Mickey decide to sleep in the car.
...
Wikipedia