Clocking in at over two hours, The Divide is a vicious horror film. It's premise is simple enough. Nine tenants of a New York apartment complex narrowly escape a deadly nuclear blast by finding their way into a bomb shelter built by their paranoid, ex-Marine superintendant. Whatever caused the total decimation of New York City is never explained, but the focus of the film isn't on the outside; it's on how the nine characters deal with living in an enclosed space with food quickly running out and madness slowly seeping in. As is typical with films like this, The Divide runs with the cliche idea that without rules and civilized order, people will eventually start killing each other for personal gain, the strong or most fearful will prevail and the weak will perish. Every character is as diverse as the next one, so there are plenty of different types of characters to identify with, most notably the heroine Eve (yes the Biblical reference is obvious), played by Lauren German. Not once does this girl make an immoral or selfish decision. And everyone else has a mix of good and evil attributes that will soon enough spark an all out war between them, leaving Eve with the realization that at least outside, she has a chance at surviving. Yes, you've seen this movie before. Lord of the Flies covered this ground quite well, as did The Beach and almost every zombie movie you've seen. But The Divide isn't as bad as you might think. I for one was never bored. I didn't predict where the story would go in terms of who would turn on who, or just how atrocious some of these people become. It's true that in times of crisis, you never know how people will react over time, and I was able to buy most of the plot twists and character developments. I also really liked Michael Biehn in this movie. His portrayal of Mickey is pretty much Cpl Hicks if he returned to Earth, couldn't adjust to ordinary mundane life, and became a paranoid, creepy old man. So The Divide is pretty familiar territory, but at least it gets the formula right. There's enough here to scare, disturb, and entertain.