New Life
Directed and written by John Rosman 
Starring Sonya Walger, Hayley Erin, and Tony Amendola
Running time 85 minutes
Unrated
Available on VOD

by Melissa Strong, Staff Writer

With two female leads and a tight 85-minute runtime, New Life (2023) caught my eye. I’m glad it did, because the feature debut from writer-director John Rosman is worth a watch. Described as a horror thriller, this movie incorporates mystery, suspense, chase, apocalyptic themes, and social commentary to enrich the results.

Hayley Erin and Sonya Walger star as adversaries in a high-stakes pursuit. The plot is mostly linear and chronological, but it is cunning with scope and scale. This approach rewards curious and attentive viewers, who soon realize things are not what they seem. New Life opens with Jess (Erin) bloody and running from an undisclosed threat. Vulnerable and scared, Jess appears to be a victim-hero and the movie’s protagonist. Yet, only some of these things are true.

It turns out that New Life’s main character is Elsa (Walger), an experienced fixer. Both women are in the dark about who or what Jess is running from and why Elsa was hired to catch her. Walger, in her late 40s at the time of filming and styled to look middle aged, is the kind of lead I have longed for from an industry that allows only men to be action heroes after age 39.

Elsa resembles the classic noir detective, a flawed workaholic. In a modern update, she contends with having ALS, a fatal nervous system disease. Elsa keeps her diagnosis a secret and avoids facing it until she must. Seeing an action hero fall from a stumble rather than a blow is refreshing and relatable. It’s an interesting take on the hardboiled trope that develops Elsa’s character. Meanwhile, New Life treats ALS with the respect it deserves. 

Elsa’s disease progresses visibly, and second-act twists reveal that Jess also carries a disease. In a flashback, we learn that Jess’s problems began when her partner Ian fell seriously ill after a camping trip. When they call an ambulance, Jess and Ian realize someone is after them. However, once Jess escapes, people keep helping her on her journey to the border.

In this way, Jess’s story parallels Elsa’s. And even though the women are enemies, they relate to each other on a human level. Their final scene together emphasizes this with an unusual moment of connection and compassion. But a lack of chemistry between Jess and Ian makes them less than believable as a committed couple. It also renders their pet names for each other – the pedestrian “babe” and “baby” – cringeworthy. Their tone and delivery contain a whiff of Nick Kroll as the obnoxious Lola Skumpy from the animated series Big Mouth. Because of this, a crucial scene between Jess and Ian lands with unintentional absurdity.

New Life veers back to its opening at this point, an example of the plot twists that increase its complexity. It doesn’t answer every question it raises, which is not a defect but may frustrate some viewers. For instance, whose life is new? Jess’s? Elsa’s? The people who help Jess, suffer fatal hemorrhages, and then revive disturbingly? The infection responsible for this suffering? It is all ambiguous. 

Nevertheless, New Life provides a satisfying look at how real people might handle cataclysmic events. Interestingly, ALS gives Elsa an edge as a field agent. Her career is her life: she has nothing to lose once her health compromises it. Elsa’s eventual acceptance of her disease–and the kindness she extends to Jess after both women accept their fates–will stay with viewers.