Life-or-death stakes in ‘Rain’-soaked horror series

Cast of Netflix’s “The Rain”

Who will you be when the rain comes? That’s one of the audience-hooking taglines that the horror/sci-fi series “The Rain” asks viewers to mull over.

Yes, we see a lot of end-of-the-world tales that are being trotted out on the big and small screens these days, but the eight-part Netflix series that debuts tomorrow ups the zombie-apocalypse ante by introducing a crucial element no human can survive without—water.

In “The Rain,” a contagious virus carried by falling rain results in acute allergic reaction and severe respiratory complications before it turns the infected into aggressive, agitated zombies.

But, before the outbreak could spread and wipe out most of humanity in Scandinavia, high school student Simone (Alba August) and her 10-year-old brother Rasmus (Lucas Lynggaard Tonnesen) manage to survive the “massacre” when their scientist-dad Frederik (Lars Simonsen) and mom haul them off to a food-and-supplies-equipped underground bunker just before heavy rain falls on Vordingborg, the old ferry town they call home in Denmark.

Lucas Lynggaard Tonnesen (left) and Alba August

Claiming that he’s the only one who can find a cure for the virus, Frederik then leaves his family to accomplish his do-or-die mission—but not without warning his terrified family never to let anybody else enter the bunker. He leaves with a cryptic warning for his wife and daughter: Protect Rasmus at all cost!

Soon, Simone and Rasmus’ stubbornness gets the better of them when a wild tapping on the door drives them to open it and forces their mother to sacrifice herself to keep her children alive.

The series follows what happens six years later when Simone and Rasmus run out of food, power and oxygen, and grudgingly emerge from the “compromised’ safety of their bunker, only to find out that all remnants of civilization are gone.

But, as they venture out into the strange and cruel unknown, Simone and Rasmus run into hungry, gun-toting youngsters, led by Martin (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard) and his on-again, off-again “muse” Beatrice (Angela Bundalovic), each with his or her own agenda.

Martin and his group keep Simone and Rasmus company as the siblings look for their father—who is said to have headed to Sweden.

In no time, the group discovers that they’re trapped in a walled-off quarantine zone, where every surviving human will kill for food. But, when the rain starts to fall, it’s the ravenous creatures’ turn to do the eating!

August leads cast of sci-fi thriller

We won’t spoil the fun by revealing what happens next. The series benefits from its urgent pacing. It is inhabited by attractive actors who imbue their characters with palpable energy and easy “relatability,” and proficiently vivify the life-or-death stakes they’re constantly faced with.

But when push comes to shove, will Simone’s new pals still protect each other if betraying their friends would mean rising from the bottom of the food chain?

As they say, difficult situations always bring out the best and worst in people.