This is a very different movie for director Neil Marshall (THE DESCENT, DOG SOLDIERS). The premise is that in present day Scotland a virus called the Reaper Virus starts killing people by the hundreds and then thousands and no cure can be found. So what England does is construct a huge wall separating Scotland from the rest of the UK, letting those infected die off and hopefully keep the virus on that side of the massive wall. Then, we skip ahead over twenty years later, when the Reaper virus reappears in England and a team is sent into the zone to find a cure for the virus. The reason they think there is a cure is that there are people alive in the cities after all these years.
Among the team is Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra of SKINWALKERS), who would give Lara Croft a run for her money. She was rescued as a child just before that part of the country was cut off from the rest of the world, so in a sense she is returning home. She and her team soon find out that the survivors are feral and uncompromising and half of the soldiers are killed on the first night. Then, it's a matter of finding a doctor named Kane (Malcolm McDowell), who may still be alive and who may be the one who created a cure. However, Kane's son Saul is leader of the cannibal group and Kane himself, who lives like a king in an old castle, isn't all that much better for them to deal with.
Although primarily action-oriented there is plenty enough gore, such as when the cannibal group captures one of the doctors and has a barbecue. When leader Saul makes his appearance, dancing around on this stage the music he has blaring from speakers is from the band THE FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS.
DOOMSDAY is an intense movie, a part of that sub-genre of apocalyptic movies that was at its prime in the 80's. It's exactly like a MAD MAX movie!