WATCH NOW
Space-themed horror films have been out for quite a while. The golden age of science fiction produced blockbuster movies like It! The Terror Beyond Space and The Angry Red Planet. Both movies received a favorable response from critics as well as fans. While the former inspired the first Alien film, its plot about an alien hunting a spaceship crew served as the foundation of the franchise. I can confidently say that the franchise is the most well-known sci-fi horror fiction in the entirety of popular culture.
Screamers, Event Horizon, and Pitch Black are sure to give you a scare in attending modern scary movies. Oddly enough, there is one thing that is missing from this subgenre of horror, a staple of terrors themed on earth children. Usually, children play a significant role in enjoyable cult classics or Oscar-winning horror movies and usually do play an important role in these children. While there have always been attempts to mix space horror and earth-based horror, Newt from Aliens does not even feature in those attempts, and I would further point out, that the movie is primarily an action film. What is more important, she is not the protagonist.
Has a child’s experience around the world been documented in movies as a child, I remember watching The Watching the Woods, The Hole, or Monster In The Closet.
A rich new imager of the future collides with the well-known and established presently in ‘Assassinaut’ from Dread and Epic Pictures, Sarah (Shannon Hutchinson) is confident and excited as one of the few children tourists to the Presidential Space Station. Along with her, there are several other fortunate students. There is Tom, the bratty wealthy kid, Brooke, the nerd, and Charlie, if I am not wrong, a silent-looking girl. When the group arrives at the Space Station, Santiago the President of Earth, greets each of them with a warm smile. Everyone shares a light, but formal chat.
Brief conversations are cut short when one of Sonia’s assailants attempts to shoot her. While she survives with non-fatal injuries, the attacker dies which later sets off a bomb. As a result, everyone on board has to evacuate the space shuttle and return back to the nearest planet. Once out of the pod, the kids receive an emergency call from the president herself. While the kids are reluctant initially, she goes on to tell them about a mission, curious and motivated, they set off to save her.
Assassinaut is a movie with a living world, completely embroidered in the storyline. It is written and directed by Drew Bolduc.
The alien setting together with its antagonistic inhabitants is vividly captured. Creature designs are on par with the fantastic and cool, as well as the cinematography, which is quite polished in comparison to the low budget. This brings me to my complaint with the movie.
The characters are largely stereotypes. Naturally, the rich boy is an enormous a**hole who bought himself onto the team simply because it would enhance his transcripts. An engineer magic-loving kid gets called a nerd all the time. This film’s writing does not escape from these cliches so there is really not much to these characters. After the baseline traits are set, the audience can fill in the blanks on what values the characters will pick up. Is it shocking that Tom grows less of a bully throughout the movie?
Fortunately for the film, the most immense strength of the film is the pace of the action especially the bold viscera. The action is entertaining, the ambiance is almost overwhelming. The ending is especially engaging and poses interesting questions. There is also a fun twist.
As for the acting, it was also very good. Shannon Hutchinson as the strong-willed Sarah definitely carries all of Assassinaut.
She’s in the majority of scenes if not every single one. From having a chat with her father about how she desperately wants to go to space, to inspiring her teammates when they have lost hope, every single one of her scenes is believable.
To such an extent that you find yourself wanting to slap a child, Newport is perfect as Tom. Hating him is evidence of Yael Haskal’s greatness as a nerd character; she is intelligent and has a bubbly personality, all of which ignores the lack of character development. Jasmine Parent has a few good cliches as well and does a great job in the out-of-this-world production. As President, she is played remarkably well by Santiago. The moment after she gets shot, begs her staff metaphors of why children are more precious, and it’s incredibly genuine.
Although Assassinaut doesn’t quite reach the same level as the other Dread titles like The Golem, it is much more interesting than Black Site. The characters tend to be younger stereotypes and cliches, but the portrayal of those characters is really good. I have to admit, however, there were a lot of thrilling moments and the special effects were astonishing.
To watch more movies like Assassinaut (2019) visit 123movies
Also Watch for more movies like:
