Ash

There is something special about films that combine the genres known as horror and science fiction. We have seen some great examples of that in cinema when certain director´s combined these genres such as Ridley Scott´s 1979 sci fi horror film Alien, John Carpernter´s The Thing, Predator, Fire In The Sky ( a film not that many talk about unfortunately ), John Carpenter´s They Live and several more titles. I could easily talk about all of the titles that i mentioned for a number of reasons. Some of these films have some really good character development, they also have great looking practical make up effects as well as simple and effective story telling. Then we have the sci fi horror films that were huge box office bombs at the time they were running in cinemas worldwide but turned out to be worth a watch on physical media or VOD. A perfect example of this is the 2009 sci fi horror film Pandorum from director Christian Alvart. If you have seen James Cameron´s classic 1986 sci fi horror film Aliens then you will most likely see that this film have influences similar to Aliens. Since humans have overpopulated Earth and used most of the planet´s resources, humanity builds an interstellar ark, the Elysium. It carries 60.000 people on a 123-year trip to colonize Tanis, an Earth-like planet. The passengers are placed in hypersleep, and some of the crew are awake at certain moments to maintain the ship. Several years later, two members of the flight crew, Corporal Bower ( Ben Foster ) and Lieutenant Payton ( Dennis Quaid ), awaken. They are about to find out that they have a different lifeform on board the Elysium. What makes the film Pandorum enjoyable is the combination of a sci fi action film and the humanoid creatures attacking the crew. In a way it feels like a B movie but the budget is clearly bigger than most B movies. I personally believe Pandorum might be a cult film in the future and you should check it out, especially on physical media. Earlier this year i saw a sci fi horror film going around film festivals called Ash from director Flying Lotus, this seemed to have some kind of alien theme and this is definetely my kind of genre within the horror community. I decided to check this film out on Amazon Prime hoping it would surprise me. Is this the sci fi horror film you need this summer or should you choose the 2009 film Pandorum instead?

Riya ( Eiza González ) wakes up in a space research station on the planet known as Ash. There seems to have been a battle across the space station, where she finds dead bodies lying in different rooms as she seems to get flashback memories, not entirely sure if she is involved somehow. As she look around for clues to get a bigger picture what caused all of this, the truth will change the full image completely.

One thing you should know before watching Ash is that this is not a film where you have a lot of things happening. The film takes it´s time to try and explain a certain timeline that includes the main character Ryia ( played by actress Eiza González who i recognized from the TV series From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series ) because she have trouble remembering everything. In a way you could probably call this a slow burn film since it doesn´t rush into anything and tries to actually tell a story instead of just using CGI effects. What i appreciate about this is that you get a different depth in a sci fi horror film, it´s not all about facing a dangerous lifeform, this film also tries to go on a deeper level and focus on the story instead. If you would rather have a more violent driven sci fi film then this might not be for you. But hang on for a moment, there are some violent scenes in this film so you just got to be patient. Let´s get into some of the details i appreciate about Ash and i have to say i love the colorful look of the planet. It almost looks like a painting that moves the colors around the amtmosphere. I also appreciate the story part of the main character Ryia trying to remember what happened, who killed all the people she woke up discovering? Actress Eiza González does a good performance as Ryia and almost feels like a younger version of Ripley from Alien in certain scenes, where you feel the empowerment of strong women. Aaron Paul ( who is brilliant as the character Jesse Pinkman in classic TV series Breaking Bad ) gives a solid performance in this film as the character Brion. The Medbot robot who can fix your body from injuries and wounds is clearly the future of health care we need. The alien parasite looks pretty cool from a design perspective. Of course there is something i need to mention that is negative, there are a couple of scenes where we get a bit too much dialogue that didn´t feel necessary. Director Flying Lotus ( who directed the odd but wonderful 2017 film Kuso ) is from a technical standpoint a good film maker. Ash is clearly a love letter to those who grew up watching 80´s sci fi horror and in general this film manage to capture that magical VHS feeling of the past. Definetely worth a watch on Amazon Prime this summer.

Rating: DDD