Elliot Page Brings Home A Rehabilitated Zombie In The Cured Trailer

What if the brain-binging beasts of a zombie outbreak could be reverted to their normal human state? That's the scenario writer-director David Freyne delves into in his Ireland-set horror film The Cured, which released its first official trailer on Wednesday.

Entertainment Weekly unveiled the footage in an exclusive reveal. In the clip, we meet Elliot Page's character Abbie, a journalist, mother, and widower whose husband died after a virus spread and turned its victims into cannibalistic monsters. Abbie makes a life-changing decision when she agrees to take in her husband's brother Senan Browne (played by Sam Keeley), who was affected by the virus for four years but has since been cured. 

If the zombie rehabilitation process sounds too good to be true, that's because it is. The cure only works on 75 percent of those afflicted, leaving many wary of interacting with those who have received treatment, out of fear that they may turn back into limb-chomping zombies and kill everyone around them. While Abbie faces backlash and judgment for offering her home to Senan, the one-time monster struggles to come to terms with his violent past. 

Check it out in the video above.

Actress Page spoke with EW about the film, explaining that "those who were infected remember what they've done." She added, "They're left with that guilt, they're left with the trauma of all of that ... [the film is] also about how they can even start integrating back into society again." 

Keeley also noted that there's more to The Cured than meets the eye, and that it isn't your run-of-the-mill zombie movie. "While writing the script, he [David Freyne] had no idea that years later we'd be dealing with an immigrant situation, [or that] we would be dealing with all the policies that are coming out of the political situation in America right now. It seems the world has become a very hostile place for certain groups of people, whether that be [because of] a religious affiliation, or a sexual orientation or, right now, a gender," he stated. "I think it's very relevant. I just hope people can watch it in terms of that and [get] more out of it than just flesh-eating monsters."

Here's the plot synopsis for The Cured: "What happens when the undead return to life? In a world ravaged for years by a virus that turns the infected into zombie-like cannibals, a cure is at last found and the wrenching process of reintegrating the survivors back into society begins. Among the formerly afflicted is Senan (Sam Keeley), a young man haunted by the horrific acts he committed while infected. Welcomed back into the family of his widowed sister-in-law (Elliot Page), Senan attempts to restart his life — but is society ready to forgive him and those like him? Or will fear and prejudice once again tear the world apart?"

Also starring Tom Vaughan-Lawlor and Stuart Graham, The Cured is set for release in theaters and on demand on February 23.