The new science fiction/horror/monster film ASH (2025) is
a piece of throwback cinema that I truly enjoyed. It made me think repeatedly of not
just the films that it's obviously referencing, but the rip-off films produced
by Roger Corman in the decade after the earlier films that it is copying. It helps that
the films being re-worked are some of my favorites of all time, notably ALIEN
(1979) and John Carpenter's THE THING (1982). As a matter of fact, there are
shots within ASH that are clever recreations of specific shots from those two movies. But,
as stated, it was not those films that I was constantly thinking of while
watching this new one. I was primarily thinking of those Corman produced B-movie rip-offs. The low
budget efforts that kept being churned out for a solid 15 years (or even longer)
after the box office success of ALIEN were a staple of video shelves throughout my teenage years. It feels like the people behind this movie was right there beside me, hunting for the next gooey sci-fi monster epic. Indeed, ALIEN is such a touchstone film
for ASH that it almost feels as if it could exist in a slightly different
variation of the same future just perhaps further down the timeline, when
things had deteriorated in a different, non-corporate way.
Like the 1979 classic, our main character Riya is a strong
female with the surprise here being that she doesn’t know her own identity when
we're introduced to her. She has temporary amnesia brought on by an attack that
has damaged her planetary station and killed her crewmates. As the film
unfolds she discovers what has happened and I was relieved that the obvious,
telegraphed revelation of her involvement was not held until the third act but
folded into the narrative much sooner. What happened to the rest of her crew
and exactly what she's going to have to do for her mission to succeed and simply
survive is the tale we are being told.
Riya, played by Eiza Gonzalez and the surviving crewmen
played by Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul try to piece together what happened and
what they can do to complete their rather important mission of determining if
this planet is a candidate for colonization. It seems that in this future Earth
is desperate for new settlement planets because the ecological system of our
home world has deteriorated to the point that if we don't get off world, the
human race might not survive. This scenario sets up a very good motivation for
the characters actions and it puts us on their side. But
success is going to be difficult as the aforementioned monster alien things
seem to have other ideas.
There are many things to praise about ASH. This film is
beautifully, at times artfully shot with images bathed in reds and purples. There's a dynamic visual style that belies
the probably very low budget. The movie always looks good and it chooses when
to use practical effects and when to use CGI effectively. Luckily, the two main
actors are very good together and they often carry this story forward as a team
effort. The script is not much more impressive than my beloved Corman produced
rip-offs from decades gone by, but the direction is solid. The cinematography
is also very good and the believability and staging of the action sequences is
on point as well. I guess part of that is that down to the actor doing the most
martial arts activity was also the star of amazing Indonesian films THE RAID (2012)
and its sequel.
The movie also has a dose of cosmic horror introduced within
the narrative that I appreciated. I'll not spoil anything, but I was impressed
with the way in which the amnesia problems and the discoveries on this alien
world dovetail together in a way to bring some good chills along with the
wonder of the special effects on display. ASH isn't a great film, but it is a
very good b-movie. And it's one that I'll probably return to in years to come for
the same reason that I sometimes go back to some of those some of those Corman
produced rip-offs like THE TERROR WITHIN (1989) or GALAXY OF TERROR (1981) - because
they're fun! Those movies know what they're doing and there are no pretensions
involved. The beauty of a film like this is that it's assuming its audience is
aware of its references, and it's just wanting us to enjoy this variation on a much-treasured
theme.
