Anyway you look at it, we’re living in a golden age of filmmaking. Sure, it might look bleak at times with all the CGI superhero fights and de-aging algorithms, but technology has been as advanced (and accessible) as it is now. And yet, for all the CGI spectacle and quantum-leap visuals, something’s missing. Where are the sci-fi classics? The kind that claw into your brain like a facehugger and refuse to let go? The ones that leave you muttering, “Was Deckard a Replicant!?” while immediately hitting rewatch? Sure, we’ve had valiant efforts: Interstellar made us cry over black holes and gravity, Dune gave us the sandworms we’ve always wanted, and Arrival turned grammar into a superpower. But let’s not kid ourselves: the last time sci-fi truly rewired pop culture, people were still arguing about whether Han shot first. Enter Ash.
Directed by Flying Lotus – yes, that Flying Lotus you might have heard in Grand Theft Auto V – just dropped a cinematic grenade into the genre. A movie that’s as bizarre and unexpected as, well, a sci-fi horror thriller directed by Flying Lotus can be, Ash is the successor to The Thing that sci-fi fans always wanted, and that 2011’s The Thing failed to be.
Creeping Death
Much like any horror thriller worth their salt, Ash thrives not in what we see, but in what stays hidden. Hey, if it worked for Jaws, it works for everyone. In Ash’s case, the fact that we don’t even know what is going on adds fuel to the fire, making us feel as disoriented in the film’s opening minutes as Eiza González’s Riya.
Flying Lotus sets the stage impressively well. The story of a surviving crew of astronauts piecing together the circumstances that led them to their predicament echoes the best parts of Event Horizon and Aliens, which is fitting, seeing as the suitably dark cinematography elevates the tension to unthinkable levels. Seriously, the only reason this movie isn’t the scariest feature film of 2025 is that it was released on the same weekend as Snow White. There’s no way of beating that one, I’m afraid.
A Brilliantly (Dark) Future
For a directorial debut, Ash is just plain unbelievable. Sure, it takes bits and pieces of classic sci-fi flicks and mashes them into a single, undeniably disturbing film – but you can’t argue with the results. What we have here is proof that you don’t need ingredients: all you need is a great cook. And FlyLo sure did cook with this one.
As for calling Ash a modern sci-fi classic, it’s easy to see why anyone would appreciate a movie like this one. In a year that’s seen both this and Mickey 17 hitting cinemas, it’s evident that there’s an audience (even if it’s a confessedly small one) that’s hungry for original sci-fi stories. With cinematic juggernauts like the MCU and the (still absent) DCEU faltering at the box office, we could be in the early stages of a real sci-fi revival – one where every movie promises experiences well beyond the confines of our galaxy.
Read our full review of Ash.
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