Sirens

Teenage Joel Walker wakes from a nap to learn that his mother and younger sister are stranded at a local movie theater following a city-wide power outage due to an incoming storm. But numerous missed calls, including several frantic voicemails from Mom and an emergency weather alert recommending that residents take shelter, sow worry in Joel. After striking out to find his missing family, Joel is intercepted by a teen named Emily, who fills him in: while he slept, ominous sirens started blaring across the city, and anyone exposed to the noise for an extended period was rendered despondent before inexplicably disappearing. The duo become fast friends as they attempt to make sense of the chaos. They soon stumble upon a group hunkered down in an abandoned building, but Joel is immediately wary of the group’s leader, whose outward magnanimity seems to cover a sinister truth. Thin characterization and uneven pacing leads to lowered stakes in this cinematic read. Nevertheless, there’s adrenaline-pumping action aplenty in Cawthon’s apocalyptic debut, which uses appropriately apprehensive ambiance and well-trod tropes to ferry an inventive premise to its harrowing resolution. Ages 12–up. (Sept.)