The Cured

The Cured is a 2017 Irish horror drama film written and directed by David Freyne in his feature debut film. It stars Elliot Page, Sam Keeley, and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, and was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. Plot A plague called the Maze Virus has previously swept through Europe, transforming its victims into a homicidal, zombie-like state. Ireland was particularly badly affected. A cure was later discovered, and 75% of those infected who could be captured have been treated and cured of the virus. The remaining 25% have proven resistant to the cure. The two groups are known as the Cured and the Resistant. The Resistant are held in captivity, despite public fears that keeping them alive could lead to another outbreak. Senan and Conor are Cured patients who have been interned together. Their 'Rehabilitation Officer', Sergeant Cantor, has little faith that the Cured can integrate back into society without further violence, and treats them with hostility. Senan reunites with his sister-in-law, Abbie, who has a young son, Cillian. Abbie asks Senan what became of her husband, Luke, Senan's brother, who is still missing. Senan claims ignorance of his fate, though it is revealed in one of Senan's many flashbacks that Conor infected Senan, who then killed Luke, in the house that Abbie still lives in. The Cured have a detailed memory of what they have done while infected; many of them suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder. Conor, formerly a lawyer with political aspirations, cannot find work and is shunned by his family for his acts while infected. He forms an underground movement called the Cured Alliance, with the aim of regaining the civil liberties that the Cured have lost. The government is planning to euthanise the 25% (5,000 patients) who are resistant to the vaccine, despite the assertions of a prominent virologist that a better vaccine for the Resistant is nearly developed. Senan takes a job at the hospital where the Resistant are housed, and observes that they show no interest in attacking the Cured. This is a source of political tension in the community, as the never-infected suspect aloud that the Cured would love to see another outbreak of the Maze Virus, as they would be largely immune to its effects.