Ash - An Uninteresting Space Sci-Fi Horror Movie

This movie was released on Prime Video last week but as I was busy with work and finishing other series, I only got the chance to watch it last night. I was interested as its trailer and premise looked good. All right then, I'll get straight to it.

Brief Story Line

Riya (Eiza González - 3 Body Problem TV series, I Care A Lot etc) was an astronaut who woke up in a distant planet with no memory of herself and what happened to her. As she moved around the place she was stranded, Riya had glimpses of horrific images in her head and started to remember other crew members like Kevin (Beulah Koale - Next Goal Wins, Hawaii Five-O TV series etc), Clarke (Kate Elliott -  The Cult TV series etc), Adhi (Iko Uwais - Expend4bles, Stuber etc) and Davis (rapper/DJ Flying Lotus).

When another astronaut Brion (Aaron Paul - Central Intelligence, Breaking Bad TV series etc) suddenly appeared and offerred help to Riya, she was adamant to find out the truth despite his insistence to leave the planet immediately.

So what actually happened and how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Well that was pretty disappointing. I was looking forward to a movie similar to Alien, but it was focusing on investigating of what happened which was sadly boring and too much relying on jump scare scenes. Yes it gave a bit of thrill at first but after a while it felt repetitive and did not exactly raise my curiosity and interest. Only in the last half hour or so the movie finally get to the interesting part with some pretty well executed intense moments and nicely done special effects. But since the movie only had duration of 95 minutes, I personally think it was a bit too late and too brief. 

The cast in general were so so and no one truly stood out. Probably because they were written that way. I got to admit that one of the factor that made me want to watch this was Iko Uwais, the well known Indonesian actor who seemed to be playing in Western movies more nowadays. But his role here was pretty limited just like other crews cause the lead characters were Riya and Brion. Btw, I did not realize that Brion was portrayed by Aaron Paul whom I did not recognize here. One surprise for me was the appearance of Flying Lotus as he was also the director of the movie. 

The film itself had its world premiere in the SXSW festival in March 2025 where it garnered positive reviews by critics particularly on the directing. However it did not seem to resonate with audience as could be seen from its low box office performance. I am not sure yet if it would be better received after it was released by Prime Video, but maybe in Indonesia it would create more buzz with Iko's name alone. Another thing that I was not too satisfied was the CGI of the planet which looked too obvious, although it should be understood for film with less budget than the blockbuster movies. At least the inside of the space ship and living quarters looked realistic enough, including that Japanese speaking medbot.

Overall this is definitely not one sci-fi horror movie that I would highly recommend. Its uninteresting first hour (aside from few flashes of repetitive jump scare scenes) and the poor CGI effects on certain areas did not make it more entertaining. Other than the quite suspenseful last half hour which did not make up for the less satisfying beginning, there was nothing to positively highlight. So if you are looking for sci-fi horror film, then there are plenty more enjoyable ones out there. However if you just want to see something that critics praised, then you are welcome to give it a try.

Mike's movie moments rating:  2.5 out of 5 stars