Allegory of motherhood embedded in well-acted sci-fi/fantasy thriller with an excellent ensemble cast

Rating: Null/10 (30 January 2019)

Released a year right after "A quiet place" (for which Emily Blunt just won Best Supporting Actress from Screen Actors Guild), "Bird box" inevitably attracted ample comparisons with that movie. But there are plenty of other movies that warrant comparison.
While I am not sure if Bird Box fits into a more specific genre than Sci-fi in general, it has several characteristics in common with other movies:
An after-apocalypse world
Quest in search of a safe haven
A mysterious threat, supernatural or otherwise
Mass suicide
A group of strangers caught in a "situation" together, getting killed one after another
Survivors in an essentially dead town going from house to house to savage food and provision
I am not going to match these characteristics to the movies listed below, but will rather leave the fun to the readers:
"28 days later" (2002)
"I am legend" (2007)
"The happening" (2008)
"Resident evil" (2002) and it's umpteen sequels
"Ten little Indians" (1965, 1974, 1989)
"I think we're alone now" (2018)
"Bird Box" runs in two parallel, cross-cutting sequences: the "present" and 5 years ago. Without understanding what has been going on in the last 5 years, there is not much to talk about the "present" sequence, which shows a woman and two small children, all blindfolded, journeying in a row boat along a river through forests of towering trees. After each flashback (which follow a simple linear trajectory), the present journey becomes a bit more meaningful. Therefore, let's concentrate on the flashback.
The narrative starts with a visibly pregnant Malorie (Sandra Bullock) visiting her obstetrician, accompanied by her sister Jessica (Sarah Paulson). TV newscasts report apocalypse-scale disasters such as mass suicides in far-away places like Russia. Some comments point to biological warfare, just conjectures.
Then abruptly all hell break loose, as the world around them is plunged into similar chaos in which Jessica dies (throwing Paulson fans like myself into absolute dismay, as this award-winning character-actor simply goes into oblivion in this movie).
Barely surviving a mad stampede of human beings turned mad, Malorie escapes into a house and finds herself among a group of strangers, fellow survivors finding temporary protection from whatever that is killing people en masse outside. Someone calls these killers "demons" and "spiritual creatures", instrumental to the "end game". At this point, what the audience can observe is people (such as Jessica) looking suddenly blank, as if their souls are snatched from them instantaneously. They stare at something which is only visible to themselves. Then, the commit suicide, in whatever horrendous way.
Later in the movie, more about these mysterious, lethal threats are revealed. They are equally deadly when "seen" (but never shown to the audience) on a computer monitor via survey cameras mounted in front of the house. An even more terrifying revelation is that they do not make lunatics suicidal but instead turn them into murderers. These converted lunatics, with religious zeal proclaiming that they have seen something "beautiful", will force others to come out and see this divine sight, and kill them if they refuse.
Disclosing too many details would take much away from the enjoyment of the movie. From one angle, it shows a group of people stuck together in a desperate situation, how they interact, how they trust, and distrust, each other. As the story is told in flashback, we already know right from the start that the woman and two kids are most likely the only survivors from the group. Very shortly into the story, when another pregnant woman arrives to seek refuge, we also know where the two children come from.
One more thing that requires mentioning is the destination of the river journey: a safe haven advertised over a walkie-talkie type broadcasting. Initially, another survivor is to take part in this quest but he is killed, leaving the trio to face the hazardous journey by themselves.
One of the key attractions of this movie is an excellent ensemble cast, led by Bullock, that includes John Malkovich, Trevante Rhodes, Jackie Weaver, Danielle Macdonald, Lil Rey Howery, Tom Holland, BD Wong and the aforementioned, lamentably brief appearance of Sarah Paulson.