The Unkown: 'ASH' and a mystery of existence.

Humans love mysteries. They tap into our natural desire to grow in knowledge and plumb the depths of God’s wondrous creation, and they point to our eternal destiny. In heaven, we’ll be able to contemplate the infinite divine mystery forever, but since we’re not there yet, we have to settle for more earthly mysteries in the meantime (outside of prayer, of course!). Sometimes they take the form of real-life riddles, like science or true crime cases, and other times they come in fictional stories like the Sherlock Holmes books. Either way, we just can’t get enough of these brain-busting conundrums, so when I first heard about the new sci-fi horror mystery Ash, I knew I had to check it out. I bought a ticket for opening weekend as soon as I got the chance, and I couldn’t wait to see what mind-melting secrets this movie had in store.

Ash was directed by Flying Lotus, and he also stars in the film alongside Eiza González, Aaron Paul, Iko Uwais, Kate Elliott, and Beulah Koale. The story follows Riya, an astronaut who wakes up on a distant planet with no memory of who she is or why she’s there. To make matters worse, as she explores the space station, she finds that all her fellow crew members are dead, so she has no idea what kind of danger she might be in.

Eventually, she runs into Brion, another astronaut who says he received a distress signal from her location, but in typical horror movie fashion, it’s not entirely clear if Riya can trust the guy. Is he really who he says he is, or does he have sinister ulterior motives connected to the death of Riya’s crewmates?

As you might be able to guess from that plot synopsis, Ash drops us right in the middle of this head-scratching mystery. Sure, the film eventually fills in all the gaps for us, but that information only comes in flashbacks. When the story begins, we know nothing about these characters or Riya’s dire situation, and in a lot of movies, that lack of connection to the protagonist would be fatal.

But not here. Director Flying Lotus uses every trick in his arsenal to make up for that deficiency, and the man succeeds brilliantly. He employs trippy visuals, unconventional lighting, and ethereal background music to craft an almost dreamlike atmosphere that pulls you in right away, and lead actress Eiza González completely sells the mystery.

From the moment Riya first wakes up, you totally believe that she’s just as lost as you are. She’s a perfect proxy for the audience as she explores her surroundings and slowly discovers the aftermath of whatever horrific event happened there, so despite not having a preexisting connection to the woman, you identify with her almost immediately.

You feel like you’re right there with her as she struggles to wrap her head around everything she’s seeing, so you can’t help but get caught up in the puzzle yourself. You desperately want to know what evil befell these poor people, and that question fuels the entire film.

See, soon after Ash begins, Riya starts experiencing flashbacks to the time before she fell asleep, and these flashbacks give you an inkling of what really happened to her and the rest of the crew. But it’s only an inkling, as the movie takes a number of unexpected twists and turns that will keep you guessing the whole way through.

Every time you think you have it figured out, the film will pull the rug out from under you, so you’ll have to start your theorizing all over again. It’s like a cinematic onion that just raises new questions every time you pull back another layer, so as a mystery, this movie is top-notch.

And as a fun sci-fi horror flick, Ash knocks it out of the park as well. For starters, the aftermath of the horrific incident and Riya’s flashbacks to it can get pretty bloody, but these images are never gratuitous. The victims’ gruesome fate makes the mystery that much more puzzling, so the gore has genuine narrative purpose.

On top of that, there are also a number of times when Ash ratchets the action up to eleven, and Flying Lotus infuses these scenes with a frenetic energy that will instantly put you on the edge of your seat. He finds the perfect combination of score, editing, and camera movements to make the intensity of these moments palpable, so you’ll almost be able to taste the characters’ anxiety as they fight for their lives.

Last but not least, I have to mention the ending. I obviously can’t get into any specifics, but I can say that the last five minutes or so of the film are great. They add another kind of super fun horror into the mix, so if you’re a fan of the genre, you’re almost guaranteed to enjoy this “final boss.”

All that being said, I don’t want to give the impression that Ash is a perfect movie. It’s not. It has a lot going for it, but thematically, the film is rather thin. I can’t fully explain why without spoiling some of the surprises, but this story just doesn’t say much. There’s a line towards the end that hints at a possible message about colonialism or the flaws inherent in our broken human nature, but those ideas aren’t prominent enough to constitute genuine themes.

The best we can say is probably that this is a basic good vs. evil story, but even that message comes through as little more than a faint whisper. The mystery is just so prominent it drowns out any deeper meaning the story might contain, so as much as I enjoyed that mystery, I wish the filmmakers had added in a bit more thematic substance to balance it out.

Thankfully though, that one flaw doesn’t even come close to ruining the entire experience. Ash is still an excellent sci-fi horror mystery brought to life by a unique, creative voice in the genre, so if this sounds like something you’d enjoy, I highly recommend that you give the film a watch.