One of several children immune to a mutated fungal disease that has eradicated free will and turned the rest of humanity into cannibalistic zombies, a gifted young girl, named Melanie (fem. proper name, literally "darkness, blackness," from Latin Melania, from Greek melania "blackness," from melas "black,dark". Melanie, clearly stands for both melanin, the subconscious mind and the fear of change.) The movie takes off when she escapes the seeming safety of a special school and goes on to help guide mankind's survival.
What's an interesting twist to this Zombie movie is that the infection stems from fungus. This was around a time when psilocybin and ayahuasca use are making a huge comeback. Throughout the movie, Melanie slowly reverses the roll of captive to captor. There's a lot of good dialogue between Melanie and Glen Close's character, the doctor.