Ash ★★★

Released: TBC (UK)/21 March 2025 (US)

Director: Flying Lotus

Starring: Aaron Paul, Eiza Gonzalez

A well renowned musician and producer, not only known for his six studio albums but for collaborations with Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Thundercat and more, Flying Lotus is back in the director’s chair with Ash, a sci-fi horror starring Eiza Gonzalez (Baby Driver) and Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad). His first foray into filmmaking was within a segment of V/H/S/99, a horror anthology franchise that took the cosmic route in its 2022 edition. Ash closely follows suit, offering a visually mind-bending, trippy Lovecraftian horror flick with alien undertones. The plot follows a woman named Riya (Gonzalez), who wakes up on a distant planet to find the crew of her space station viciously killed. Her investigation into what happened sets in motion a terrifying chain of events. Superbly acted with a distinct visual style, Ash is an absolute treat on the eye, but its derivative story and meandering plot stop it from reaching greatness.

Just from viewing the poster, it’s plain to see that Ash boasts astounding visuals that will be a shame not to catch on the big screen due to its straight-to-streaming release. Fully leaning into its space setting with delicious production design within the space station, vibrant pink galaxies and thorough use of neon lights, it’s an immersive watch from the first frame with many beautiful shots filtered throughout the entire runtime. Drenched in neon and frequently using the technique of distortion to aid its eerie atmosphere, Ash fits nicely alongside its cosmic horror counterparts. As to be expected, Flying Lotus scores his movie, and the audio is as much of a treat as the visual. Coming together hand-in-hand to match the movie’s tone and aesthetic style perfectly, its music is synthy yet uncomfortable, futuristic yet freaky. Increasing the fear factor tenfold and often feeling reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey in its looming presence, the score is one of Ash’s best assets. The movie truly does boast tremendous style.

A small cast makes up Ash, and is lead terrifically by both Eiza Gonzalez and Aaron Paul who share much of the runtime. Waking up to find her crew mates dead and her memory faded, Riya must not only aim to survive but find out what happened on the space station. Her determination, paired with her being an unreliable narrator due to her memory loss, makes for an intriguing character, and Gonzalez crushes it. After starring in ‘Beyond the Sea’, a highly-acclaimed episode of Black Mirror, many were excited to see Paul return to the genre and he’s expectedly great. Brion is a character that may not be all he seems, and his presence on the ship never fully feels justified. Despite this, Paul is good at getting us on his side, due to the urgency of his performance paired with his natural likability. The pair work excellently both together and separately, with their performances ensuring this single-location, tightly cast film is as interesting as they can make it.

Unfortunately, Ash falls into the style over substance trap, and as breathtaking as those visuals are, they can only take this narrative so far. The storyline moves at an incredibly slow pace, taking its time to solve the mystery of the dead crew mates and certainly not rushing towards any action.  It hints at grizzly things to come through use of snappy returning memories for Riya, but does take a while to show us what it has up its sleeve. This slow pace would be warranted if it didn’t feel so derivative of other movies that have come before it, namely Alien and Life, but there is little aside from the style that feels truly unique and fresh. Taking the best elements of familiar sci-fi horrors and blending them with basic dialogue and a sub-par story-line, Ash shows promise but fumbles with its pacing and plot. The third act does have a lot to marvel at, offering up excellent practical effects and a chilling conclusion, but for some viewers, it may be too little too late. Ash refrains from being a complete slog due to the mystery at play, and though it takes time to solve it, the outcome is worth a viewing.

Overall, Ash is an interesting concept that once again proves Flying Lotus has the capacity to bring mesmerising visuals, engrossing flair and style to the big screen. Despite this one not sticking the landing due to an occasionally bland storyline and unforgivably slow plot, he’s certainly an interesting filmmaker worth keeping an eye on. The strong lead performances, expert use of style, fear-inducing score and killer ending ensure Ash is a decent viewing experience.