Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever) is a young woman still living in her childhood hometown, in an isolated country house. She is something of a recluse and mourns the loss of her best friend Maud, writing letters to her as if she were still alive. She builds a model of the city to cope with the isolation that the city’s inhabitants seem to have imposed on her due to some event that happened when she was twelve years old involving Maude. No one recognizes her, and she dreams of personal contact with people. One night, she is awakened by a noise and, thinking that it is an animal in her trash cans, gets out of bed and quickly realizes that it is not some earthly creature, but an alien invasion. The rest of the film is about her trying to escape various aliens. There are smaller ones, but very aggressive, huge ones, with very long limbs, fast, strong and cunning, and leaders, the size of a person, with telekinetic abilities that also produce (literally cough like a hairball). a small parasite that takes over the host’s body. As the story progresses, we learn Brynn’s dark secret and what has made her life so lonely. Will she be able to avoid the fate of the rest of the townspeople or will she succumb and become someone else’s pawn? Watch and find out!
I have to say that I’m conflicted about this movie and not sure if I liked it or not. The first thing to note is that there is no dialogue in this film (sort of a reverse parallel to Twilight Zone episode Invaders). A couple of words are spoken and we hear some song lyrics, but for the most part no one talks in this movie, which I found very interesting. Without dialogue, the way we are given expositional information is cleverly done and feels quite natural, but if you’re not paying close attention, it’s easy to miss something that could add to the film’s emotional impact. Additionally, without dialogue, it was harder for me to connect with Brynn, and it diminished the empathy I might have felt for her once we found out what her secret was. You like Brynn, she has a kind and bubbly attitude and without even saying a word you can feel how much she misses the company of people, but it made me wonder why she stays in this small town where everyone seems to be hers hate. . Caitlin does a wonderful job creating this vulnerable character who also has inner strength and so much remorse in her heart. I also found the technical aspects of the film to be poor. Most of the special effects are really good, but there’s nothing we haven’t already seen in thousands of different sci-fi films. At times I thought the aliens’ movements seemed a little strange and not entirely realistic, but this was a minor issue. The story is well conceived and well executed throughout the film. I found the ending the most fascinating, and even without understanding what the aliens are saying, you understand what their judgment of Brynn is and their decision regarding her fate.
The film created a lot of buzz and immediately became the most streamed film on all platforms upon its release. Reviews have also been mostly positive. Did I like the movie? Yes, so why am I conflicted? I’m not sure myself; it’s a well conceived and executed film with smart storytelling techniques and a strong female lead, but perhaps without the dialogue, I just couldn’t connect with Brynn as much as I wanted. There was just something that kept me from really caring about whether she would survive or not. This may have been the mood I was in when I watched it, I may have to watch it again.