The Occupant

Abby (Ella Balinska) is a British Geologist who has been working around the world for months in a row. She desperately needs the money to pay for her dying sister's (Vanessa Ifediora) medical treatment. But now, when she's finally on her way home, her helicopter crashes, killing the pilot. Abby finds herself stranded and alone in an icy wilderness, where a mysterious helper may or may not be her salvation.

This starts off a little like "Long Distance" where 2 astronauts crash land on an alien planet are trying to meet each other using just radio chatter.

It's also reminiscent of "Keep Breathing" where a woman has to survive after a plane crash in a mountain region.

However it is nowhere near as good as either film. Balinska puts in a fine performance in terms of acting. But the film has no point and no flow and the story is mired in obscure dreams and flashbacks. I did try hard to follow it but I stopped short of googling to make sense of it. If a film can't tell you a story in the screenplay, it's not a very good film anyway.

I rated it a 4 and that was solely for Balinskas acting.

I went into The Occupant (2025) completely blind - no trailer, no synopsis, no expectations. Unfortunately, it didn't matter. What followed was a dull, lifeless experience. The film clearly wants to be clever and cerebral, but instead it's painfully slow, uneventful, and lacking in any real tension or payoff.

The Good The performance of the actors and the chosen locations were very acceptable

The Bad Dialogue moved from bland to dull

The Ugly The script and story held a lot of potential which was either abandoned or ignored. Then the major plot holes that were never addressed so you never were sure if a plot hole was an abandoned plot point or not. A major point was the distance that the MC travels was both inconsistent and impossible to cover in the time given.

Starts bleak and this theme continues all the way through. Depressing with a weak storyline. At times events seem random and irrelevant. Theres a random character thrown in half way through for some reason. Such a slow film. Very whimsical with a very anticlimactic ending. Save yourself the bother and don't bother.

This film had a decent foundation as well as its concept, but The Occupant falls for the oldest trick in the book when it comes to a science fiction film and that's when they relegate it for filler near the end. Instead its a survival story with a character facing a predicament both physically and figuratively.

Survival stories are usually exciting because you watch a character struggle and dig down deep to survive precarious oppositions and get back to civilization in one piece.

Our lead actress Ella Balinska does try her hardest but her character isn't very interesting on the page, other than the usual guilt riding characteristic. It is also quite slow paced and for a film clocking in at about 100 minutes, it means it could easily have been trimmed in the editing department.

It is however a beautifully shot film from Dutch director Hugo Keijzer, The musical score from Renger Koning is pretty solid as it adds to the film's overall vibe. When you finally get to the pinch of sci-fi this movie holds in the third act, it is enjoyable but too little too late.

Was really hoping for a much better and stronger film, but sometimes you get shortcomings.