59 Minutes

South England plunges into nuclear panic in this unnerving doomsday thriller from Seddon (The Short Straw). When news breaks on a Friday afternoon that a nuclear missile will strike London within the hour, chaos erupts, and armed troops struggle to maintain order. Young advertising exec Carrie Spencer has already hit Waterloo Station, eager to unwind at home with her partner, Emma, and three-year-old daughter, when emergency alerts ping on her fellow passengers’ phones. Meanwhile, artist Frankie and her boyfriend Otis receive the same alerts at the Dartmoor cottage they’ve booked for a romantic getaway—only seconds after Frankie shares the news she’s pregnant. Finally, there’s the widowed Mrs. Dabb, who grows frantic in her isolated cottage as her teenage daughter fails to arrive home from school. While the minutes tick down, the story lines overlap, and a panicked public succumbs to its worst instincts, unleashing predators like the Devon Militia, who drive around Dartmoor snatching girls and young women at gunpoint. Seddon’s gift for cliffhangers takes the tension to unbearable heights, and the strong women characters who lead the action help paper over a plot convenience or two. It’s easy to wolf this down in a single sitting. Agent: Ariele Fredman, UTA. (Nov.)