ASH (2025)

New streaming on Shudder from RLJE Films and XYZ Films!
Directed by Flying Lotus.
Written by Jonni Remmler.
Check out the trailer here!!

An amnesiac Riya (played by Eiza González) wanders around a spaceship beaten and bloody, attempting to find answers about who she is and why she is there. Soon she meets fellow crewman Brion (played by Aaron Paul “Betch!”), who is equally out of sorts, yet has his memory intact. Turns out Riya was on a space mission to find a new habitable planet since, of course, we destroyed Earth with all of those Styrofoam plates, hairspray, and cheeseburgers. The mission was aborted when they encountered some kind of strange life form. While Riya and Brion attempt to get to their orbiting shuttle, the life form makes its move to defend the planet from these human invaders.

ASH is basically every sci fi movie made since 2001 and maybe even earlier. Films like LIFE, EVENT HORIZON, the ALIEN movies, and PANDORUM specifically came to mind while I was watching this patchwork sci fi unfold. It’s not that ASH does any of the things it does badly. It’s just that most of the story beats, twists, characters, and settings have been done many times before in better movies. One can literally go through a checklist matching scenes from ASH with some of these classic and not so classic films, making it feel like something one has seen before, even though you’ve never seen this one before.

It’s not that the cast is bad. Eliza Gonzalez is stunning, even stumbling around and bleeding. Her little pixie haircut and skin tight spacesuit makes it all the more appealing to see her wander around this damaged space vessel. Even beyond the looks, Gonzalez is able to carry the movie on her own though it is hard to imagine this little gal being able to take on men twice her size and winning. Granted she does get her ass whupped, but still, some of the power moves she makes just don’t feel realistic. Aaron Paul (Betch!) is basically Jesse Pinkman in space. I’ve seen Paul (Betch!) act before in films, but this one isn’t the one where he stretched those acting muscles too much. He’s there for Riya to rely on and then distrust and then rely on again. While there are other cast members, members with which it is very unclear as to who Riya has a relationship with, these are just brief roles seen in flashback. Mostly it’s the Gonzalez and Paul show, Betch! And they play the parts just fine.

Much has been said about the trippy visuals of ASH. I get it. Some people just haven’t seen 2001 before and the kaleidoscope visuals might be fun to take some mushrooms and trip out with. But really, they are just flashing lights and pretty colors used to take up time in the film. About one hour in, I feel the movie reached a logical conclusion, but the film goes on, using these trippy visuals as a spacer to make ASH feature length.
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Director Flying Lotus made an appearance as one of the crew members in ASH. They also directed one of the less interesting and rather confusing segments in the last V/H/S/BEYOND. As with that segment, everything looks pretty and dream-like, but the story is either secondary or never broached at all. Apparently, Flying Lotus is a musician, but I have never heard his stuff before. Too hip for me, I guess. Like other musicians turned filmmakers Rob Zombie and to a point, his brother Spider One (but I actually feel he has some real potential), Flying Lotus seems like a skilled master of the visual aspects of filmmaking, but communicating and making a story is something I feel should have been done by someone that is a bit more grounded. Just because you can make a pretty video doesn’t always mean one can make a good movie. Like its star Gonzalez, ASH is pretty to look at, but unfortunately, I look for something a bit more than just that in my sci-fi, especially the sci-fi/body horror type that this one tries to be.