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Whereas 28 Years Later competes on the field workplace, Steven Spielberg’s filmmaker daughter Destry Allen Spielberg has her personal virus-centered movie coming to streaming this week. Please Do not Feed the Kids reveals promise from the get-go, that includes a singular premise based mostly round a plague that begins out infecting adults earlier than shifting on to kids. Starring a duo of common TV stars — Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery and Breaking Dangerous standout Giancarlo Esposito — Spielberg’s directorial debut function largely works.

Possibly Spielberg, an iconic filmmaker and Oscar winner who shot to stardom 50 years in the past with Jaws, has certainly handed alongside his filmmaking expertise to his offspring. It is not probably the most impactful post-apocalyptic thriller thus far, however some stunning reveals within the third act are sufficient to suggest Please Do not Feed the Kids to edgy movie buffs.

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“The Adults Blamed Us…”

Grownup actors apart, it is one of many eponymous “kids” who serves because the movie’s protagonist. Mary (Zoe Colletti) lays out her dystopian society by way of coldly delivered narration within the opening sequence: On this not-so-distant future, a mysterious and pervasive virus has devastated practically your entire grownup inhabitants — and after a child is noticed experiencing signs in Albuquerque, older of us who remained standing began rounding up kids and inserting them in “camps.” “The adults blamed us for [the virus] and took away our freedom,” Mary says in her eerie voiceover, including that 1% of youngsters can really get contaminated by the illness. Viewers first see Mary within the flesh whereas she’s making an attempt to sneak onto a bus to skip city. All the pieces’s a battle for youths on this future America, the place everybody older than them hates them — or worse.

When Mary’s plan does not work out, she as a substitute crosses paths with fellow child Jeffy (a strong Dean Scott Vazquez), who introduces her to his ragtag crew of adolescents hiding away and watching one another’s backs. A few of Steven Spielberg’s coolest films and concepts — E.T., The Goonies, Hook — have centered across the youthful generations. And the pattern appears to have rubbed off on daughter Destry, who not too long ago informed MovieWeb that it was the rapport among the many rebellious children that appealed to her when studying the script for Please Do not Feed the Kids. The actors are strong sufficient, and their no-nonsense characters’ schemes to top off on provides for survival inevitably result in mishaps, as Mary rapidly discovers upon becoming a member of them. After partaking in a shootout, the group seeks refuge on the lonesome rural home the place a seemingly good-natured girl named Clara (Dockery) resides.

After exhibiting some reluctance, Clara permits the gang inside on condition that one in all them was gravely injured within the shootout. Should not these sharp-witted adolescents have some hesitation of their very own when this sole occupant welcomes them inside with out a lot of a battle? Desperation trumps all the things typically, particularly when the children affirm Clara is the true deal relating to treating extreme bodily wounds. However as soon as the gang will get a bit too cozy in Clara’s front room, they understand they have been drugged and discover themselves waking up hours later, locked away and feeling totally helpless. They cannot summon assist from outdoors, even when a neighborhood law-enforcement agent named Fritz (Esposito) swings by Clara’s property to ask some questions concerning the shootout. Fritz and Clara clearly have a years-long rapport, however Clara lies to the officer’s face when she says no children have paid her a go to of late. Why maintain them held secretly captive in torturous circumstances, quite than simply killing them, if Clara actually hates them? She clearly has a sinister plan, however what’s it?

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Dockery Doing Terror With Ease

Above all else, the creepiest a part of this entire saga is how Clara retains poor Mary by her aspect downstairs in additional livable circumstances, as if Mary is the daughter Clara by no means had. The ice-queen demeanor Dockery nailed in Downton Abbey pays off right here. So does the vulnerability she revealed within the PBS present’s later seasons, which Dockery additionally channels into Clara all through Please Do not Feed the Kids. Her unusual obsession with younger Mary is a kind of changeling ordeal from hell, as Clara ultimately reveals her tragic backstory and the kid she misplaced as soon as upon a time. Possibly, by holding Mary at gunpoint each day for eternity and forcing her to behave like her loving offspring, Clara may stay fortunately ever after. Or not.

In the meantime, Esposito is sadly decreased to a cameo position, however seeing Fritz resurface within the tense last act is properly well worth the wait. Another ugly however eye-popping surprises are additionally in retailer because the saga winds down, with the ultimate picture suggesting there’s extra story to inform.

Please Do not Feed the Kids will start streaming on Tubi Friday, June 27, 2025.