The story follows Elsa Gray (Sonya Walger), a fixer battling an ALS diagnosis, as she pursues Jessica Murdock (Hayley Erin), a young woman on the run, across the Pacific Northwest.

Initially presented as a cat-and-mouse chase, the narrative evolves into a more significant existential threat as it is revealed that Jessica is carrying a mutated strain of the Ebola virus.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 94% based on 63 critic reviews, with the consensus stating "Breathing New Life to the genre, this excellently acted brooding horror thriller marks a propitious debut for John Rosman.

"[2] Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com wrote, "As the film's initial scope of Jessica and Elsa continues to zoom out, we suddenly all know the traumatic horror of 'New Life' all too well.

"[4] Matt Donato of SlashFilm called it a "blistering multidimensional thriller that hits from all directions — the kind of debut filmmakers dream about.