Netflix’s newly released movie, “Bird Box” came out Dec 13. The movie starring Sandra Bullock set a record for Netflix at 45 million views in the first week, and the movie has only gained in popularity.

The movie is based on a deadly force that infects people and makes them kill themselves. Nobody is certain what the force is, they only know that if you see an infected person die, you then contract the disease. All over the world there are mass suicides and panic has overtaken everyone. A group of survivors are formed are forced to  figure out how live their lives without ever seeing the unknown force.

“I’ve never seen anything like the movie before, but I think the reason why is because the movie is so unique. There are hidden messages that become relevant throughout the movie and it shows you that there is a bigger picture to the movie than what you just see,” junior Nathan Smith-Wessel said.

Director Susanne Bier is the first woman to win a Golden Globe, an Academy Award, an Emmy award, and a European Film Award. Bier has never been afraid to step outside of the box and create inspiring movies.  Bier kept the movie intriguing and moody the entire movie, never revealing too much.

The main character, Mallory, played by Sandra Bullock, was pregnant when the apocalyptic tragedy first struck. Mallory managed to survive for five years with the massacre still occurring. Mallory and her two children make a plan to flee their safe house and find a new beginning.

“If you look, you will die,” Mallory said to her children throughout the movie.

“It was a little boring towards the beginning, but as it went on it got better and became more interesting. I didn’t think it was scary at all, I think people played into it too much,” junior Maleka Hussein said.

Bier never answers the audience’s questions of, “What?”, “How?”, “Why?” but the most important question was, “When?” viewers never knew when each character would get killed off.

“I thought that ‘Bird Box’ was a very suspenseful and thrill seeking movie because you never know what the characters next move was going to be or how they were going to survive,” senior Brock Winter said.

Mallory and her children are on the run and because of the evil that chases them, are forced to wear blindfolds during the long journey. They travel down a dangerous river in a small boat unable to use their sight. Although viewers never see the creatures directly, viewers hear them and see glimpses of the figures as they follow Mallory and the other survivors.

“I think overall it sent a good message but there are still some scenes that confuse me. I believe the message about social media also applies to people who struggle with mental health issues and I really liked that It brought light to the real issues we have going on today. People rather hide their problems than fix them and it only leads to even more issues,” Smith-Wessel said

“Bird Box” is a suspenseful and thrilling movie that played into an apocalyptic theme. Many outside sources believe that the two hour and four minute movie was dragged on too long, left them with too many questions and was a slower paced version of the comparable movie,” The Happening”.

“Bird Box” is a movie based off of the novel, it is in it’s own category. As far as seeing it as a horror movie, it is more of a dramatic Science-Fiction movie, but there certainly are some moments that you’ll want to close your eyes. “Bird Box” is the basis of horror but focused mainly on the Sci-Fi genre.