Unfortunately Destined to be a Cult Classic

Rating: 8/10 (11 March 2018)

Two year after Sony and Paul Feig's controversial and disastrous marketing campaign, Paramount releases another movie with an all female cast, and it does as well as one would expect in a poisoned well. And that is a shame. Annihilation is a very well acted and intelligent scifi horror movie that deserved far more attention that it received.
The writing in this movie for the most part is very good. Though they aren't given too much time to themselves, Lena's squad has enough depth to make them each feel they belong in the story and Lena is a fascinating character. Everything in the Shimmer, the dome of light that swallowed up a small town after an interstellar object fell on the outskirts of it, plays out naturally through her interactions with them. Everyone has a reason for the way they are, whether it be Dr Ventress listless speaking tone or Thorenson's tendency for self harm, and why they are on their path of self destruction. They are aware they are likely to die, or worse, end up like Lena's husband, Cain, but are adamant o undergo their mission, at least until they see what may become of them. There are some questionable moments of dialogue, at one point Shepard asks where Lena learned to shoot after they manage to kill a mutant alligator, which one would think they would have been aware of when they gave her an M16 when they sent her in, but they are rare and far between. Where the writing did fail completely was the framing scenes. A horror movie works by withholding information, the most important being what happened to them. This movie tells who the red shirts are immediately, telling the audience who lives and who dies. It hurts the suspense of a mutant bear attacking hem in the dark when you know who it takes. Furthermore, it serves more as exposition, taking you out of the story to tell you what you probably could have figured out if you paid an ounce of attention.
The body horror is excellent, what the Shimmer does to the flora, fauna, and the squad is sometimes beautiful, more often horrifying, but always engaging. Plants that grow in the shape of humans and bears that can mimic their victims, there is so much to see that its hard to get bored, but its the changes they start feeling that steals the show. Scenes like a soldiers guts writhing in his stomach like a snake and his corpse becoming a giant fungal splatter on the wall drives home that even if they make it out, they aren't going to be the same again. The fear of becoming something other than human is ever present, especially when you see the horrors it can create.
Was the movie hurt by its cast? No, an all female cast isn't the cause. It appears Paramount's lack of faith in the project doomed it. Its poor performance with test audiences ensured it would never get a limited foreign market release and put little effort in getting its name out there like they did Arrival.