When an unexplained phenomenon spreads across the planet all of those that see it are driven to suicide. Told from the perspective of Malorie (Sandra Bullock) the story cuts back and forth between the opening days of the crisis to five years later, where Malorie accompanied by two five year old children must make a perilous journey whilst blind folded.

Netflix high profile Christmas film this year is a high concept apocalyptic thriller that is much more accomplished than last years Bright but has the unfortunate predicament of being released the same year as the brilliant A Quiet Place. The film is based on a 2014 novel from debut writer Josh Malerman but the high concept pitch would be that it is a cross between M. Night Shyamalan’s 2008 film The Happening where a plague causes people too kill themselves and the previously mentioned A Quiet Place where a family unit try to survive in a post apocalyptic world attacked by an unknown threat. Bird Box is an entertaining, accomplished thriller but it is sometimes hard to differentiate it from those other films.

The mechanism of cutting back and forth in the timeline works very well to maintain the tension. We know that Malorie ends up alone with two children on a perilous journey but we do not know how. As we gather more information from what led her to this we can understand why she is so hard on the children and why she has not even elected to name them anything other than Boy and Girl. The flashback sequences also treat us to a number of short lived but interesting performances. Sarah Paulson, Jacki Weaver, John Malkovich and Tom Hollander all show up for small roles with Hollander especially making an impact. The dynamic as with a lot of post apocalyptic films is who can be trusted in a world where no rules really apply anymore. But the real linchpin to the films drama are the performances of Bullock and Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight) who strike up a bond in the flashback sequences.

Gripping and tense in the moment, but perhaps too derivative to live long in the memory.