Wow where to start....I thought it was throwaway rental from Rebox.Well that was wrong! It was very well paced and it really dragged me in. I didn't even realize it was Costas Mandylor he was so good at the role. So many movies that deal with the subject of when the "Sh*t hits the fan" go way over the top with the subject you can't believe it. This didn't it dealt with it as it would really happen or look. No monsters just ourselves. I was really blown away by the cast they did such a great job in showing how bad things could get.I also like the keeping of the violence to a minimum not so over the top like most b-movies or major blockbusters. It relied on plot not the visual so you were more dragged into the Blackout. Kudos to the screenwriter and director for doing a kick ass job with it all. The cast really did their jobs also, by not being so over the top. Just a great movie all around that really needs to be seen by anyone that's into a great movie not just us Sci-Fi/Action which I thought it was when you read the description at the Redbox machine. It was just a awesome movie period. Could have been a bit longer but was very well paced not to many slow moments or sub plots that didn't need to be there. No plot holes also. I won't say much about the ending but I was very satisfied. Also not having a ending that sets up a sequel was nice. All in all one the best rentals I've had in years that really made me want to waste 1000 words on here without saying to much.

I enjoy this genre, so I decided to watch this film when it popped up on Amazon Prime, despite the mediocre reviews.

Definitely has B-movie overtones: Script is a bit ham-fisted at times. Background sound effects are overdone, particularly the transitional "thunder." At volumes just loud enough to hear the dialogue, the sound effects were rattling my home theater. Definitely out of balance. Acting performances were acceptable, but it's clearly B-level talent.

On the positive side, the cinematography is excellent. Not sure where it was filmed, but the backdrops are beautiful.

Perhaps best of the film is that the screen writers depict what many preppers consider to be the expected reality for such a situation: The thin veneer of society will peel away quickly if the power goes out and stays off for more than a few days. The plot deals with this very effectively, and that alone will interest viewers who think about these situations.

I get that these types of movies call for people in distress. There's has to be people to lose their ever loving minds otherwise it would make for a bland movie. But why do they always have to be whiny little girls who cry when their boyfriend's are out of their line of sight? Christine absolutely ruined the movie for me. She was moody, threw tantrums, ran off all the time...these are supposed to be college kids right? She may as well have been 5. I went the entire movie hoping she'd die off and that's when you know your character sucks. The best acting in the movie was from the escaped convicts and the mother/daughter early on. We saw 2 seconds of their story yet I cared more about them than ANY of the other characters. You could have replaced literally everyone else and it probably would have improved the movie.