The premise of Argentine director Nicolás Goldbart's thriller — the residents of an apartment building are quarantined when an epidemic spreads out of control — draws on about a dozen other movies, Dawn of the Dead, Outbreak, Blindness, and [Rec] just for starts. But Phase 7 distinguishes itself by its suffocating setting, its low-affect tone, and its cast of flaky characters. Among the most seemingly rational is Coco (Daniel Hendler), the easygoing father-to-be who is only mildly annoyed when men in hazmat suits shut down his building, giving those trapped inside some vague instructions and a number to call that no one answers. As the days pass he and his pregnant wife Pipi (Jazmín Stuart) squabble over banalities until the neighbors start losing it, the social order breaks down, and the old coot Zanutto (Federico Luppi) proves to be a lot better prepared for this kind of thing than you might expect. Ending on a gleefully paranoid note, Phase 7 shows the world ending not with a whimper but a shrug.
