After returning to France with the magnificent and macabre Frontieres following his Hollywood fallout over Hitman, Xavier Gens returned Stateside to offer up The Divide.

The Divide tells the story of a group of survivors holed up in a shelter after a nuclear strike raises New York City to the ground. The arc focusses upon the fraying tensions as Astronaut-like hostiles attempt to break in and later weld their escape shut.

Though the cast appears an odd match (and it could have been even odder as Melissa George, Seann William Scott and Robert Patrick were originally in negotiations) – Michael Biehn, Milo Ventamiglia, Roseanna Arquette and horror starlet Lauren German, each perform with a shocking intensity which builds slowly from within. When we first meet our characters it`s easy to mis-stereotype them and jump to conclusions of who will become what as the situation becomes more desperate.

Though the plot could call for some ludicrous overacting the performances really do hit boiling point before they go off. It`s great to see a vet like Michael Biehn back delivering such a nuanced and unreadable performance. Gens really keeps the audience in the same seat as his characters. Roseanna Arquette achieves a brave, layered and sad truth in her character as the end of the world finally simmers down to animalistic existentialism read through violence and sex. Ventamiglia surprises in a turn far from Heroes territory. But it is Michael Eklund who truly steals the film, displaying a terror reminiscent of some sort of sick school-bully hierarchy.

Gens` claustrophobic horror gives plenty to mull over and the performances really draw you in where the action may not. The director shows off his strength of making monsters out of mankind proving we truly are our own worst enemy. Not for the faint of heart!