Ash Review
review
✦
review ✦
Flying Lotus’s latest foray into genre filmmaking, Ash, is a neon-drenched fever dream of isolation, fear, and self-destruction—rooted in sci-fi horror but delivered with an arthouse pulse. Drawing on influences from classics like Alien and The Thing, this film takes its time, immersing viewers in a surreal psychological journey laced with bold visuals, unexpected moments of tenderness, and a lead performance that demands attention.
Ash (2025) | RLJE Films
A Gripping Sensory Experience
Visually, Ash is nothing short of stunning. Set on a remote planet where an exploratory mission has gone wrong, the film quickly establishes itself as a psychedelic nightmare. Flying Lotus crafts a world dripping in rich neon hues—mostly reds, purples, and blues—that warp perceptions of reality and intensify the underlying dread. The planet’s surface is an eerie blend of biological decay and alien danger laced with beauty, which, paired with the production’s effective use of practical effects and models, evokes a tactile eeriness that stands out in the digital-heavy landscape of modern sci-fi.
The auditory experience is just as powerful. The electronic, synth-heavy score—also composed by Flying Lotus—hums and pulses like a heartbeat, occasionally spiking into moments of sharp anxiety. This soundtrack doesn’t just support the visuals; it actively shapes the mood, often telling the story in ways that masterfully enhance this immersive cinematic adventure.
Eiza Gonzalez Shines as The Film's Emotional Core
The true revelation in Ash is Eiza González. As Riya, the lone survivor of a tragic incident aboard a deep-space research station, González carries the emotional weight of the film. Awakening to a scene of apparent mass death and no memory of what happened, she must piece together the mystery while grappling with flashes of trauma and escalating paranoia.
Her performance is nuanced and restrained, elevating what could have easily been a one-note sci-fi heroine into a multifaceted survivor with real agency and complexity. Fortifying the character’s potential for impact, Riya embodies both quiet resilience and growing instability in equal measure—causing audiences to feel invested in her story. She’s easily the emotional and narrative backbone of the film, and her presence keeps it grounded even as the story dips into the abstract.
Ash (2025) | RLJE Films
Potent Themes of Memory, Trauma, and Isolation
Ash explores the intersection of memory and trauma in a way that feels both disorienting and timely. Flashbacks, hallucinations, and visual metaphors blur the lines between real and imagined, inviting viewers to question the reliability of what they’re seeing with masterful attention to detail.
These thematic threads that bubble up throughout the film—centered on guilt, abuse, and the urge to escape oneself—are powerful, even when the film’s script (rarely) struggles to fully articulate them with clarity. Still, the horror here is psychological as much as it is physical. We’re watching someone slowly unravel while being haunted by forces both internal and external. While some films might struggle to convey one of these two crucial elements, Ash navigates both with precision.
An Intentional Slow Burn
Ash is not a fast movie—and it doesn’t want to be. Its pacing is deliberate, even meditative at times, designed to build discomfort slowly rather than bombard audiences with action. This approach may alienate viewers looking for a more traditional sci-fi horror structure, as it trades jump scares and set-piece battles for long, moody sequences of dread and visual abstraction. However, as answers are provided to its audience, these feel like instances that only complement the film’s strong rewatch factor.
Furthermore, those willing to lean into the slower rhythm, the payoff is atmospheric and rich. The film feels like a dream—or more accurately, a nightmare—where time stretches and logic slips just out of reach.
Score: 8/10
Ash is a mesmerizing sci-fi horror event that trades clarity for immersion. Bold visuals and a powerhouse lead performance make this a trip worth taking, especially for fans of atmospheric, boundary-pushing genre films.
