Ejecta

17 August 2017. This review offers possibly the only real positive review of this movie. After watching hundreds of science fiction movies and plenty of horror ones too, this movie stands out for being a strikingly different and admirable addition to the science fiction genre. Thank you for a limited film budget. Makes for some daring and experimentally brilliant filmmaking.

What perhaps most vital to even appreciate this movie is to summon up and keep in mind the possible historical dark secret about a Roswell conspiracy cover up and a sinister government discovery of aliens years ago which would lay a reasonable foundation upon which the movie plays out to make sense of what follows.

This science fiction-horror fusion is one of the few successful transformational films. Unlike Event Horizon (1997) that started with a strong sense of science fiction fascination to only descend into a crazily skewed horror motif, Ejecta manages to intermingle and blend The Thing (1979) with creepy intelligence using the riveting found footage technique pioneered with The Blair Witch Project (1999) to offer a dirty version of the clean intensity of The Signal (2014) which Was released the same year as Ejecta. The low budget special effects fit well with the movie's overall cinematic photography, using electricity as well as different rougher textures and darker colors to provoke a strong unique visceral alien intensity. The difficult use of flashbacks captured the sense of chaotic, off-balanced twisting, emotive weirdness all the while maintaining a coherent, intelligent progression of the main storyline.

The only significant weaknesses of this movie occur with the difficulty of managing the overuse of revealing alien presences without losing the scary shocking fear intensity and the almost two-dimensional reaction of one of the characters when faced with the alien unknown.

The performances are outstanding with the odd and strikingly strange William Cassidy character who apparently is experiencing an otherworldly phenomenon who is being interviewed by Joe Sullivan who was mysteriously invited to meet with Cassidy. Julian Richings as William Cassidy offers an award- winning performance with his schizophrenic presentation, striking physical features, and a fascinating personality. Another story is also concurrently presented with a sinister female interrogator, one of the most potent, strong solid female antagonist who is seeking to discover and confirm alien life by any means possible. What occurs then is a back and forth reveal of the entire story while massive ejecta from the sun closes in on earth. While not as fascinating or tight in its scale or glamour as The Arrival (2016), it has a comparable emotional cinematic bite as Phantoms (1998). By the end of the movie there is a puzzling sense of haunting dark balanced satisfaction as the story nears its completion.

I wasn't completely disappointed with this film. There were a couple of things that really were clever. I wished they would have capitalized on those nuances that were unique and steered clear of the "found footage" filming style. Haven't we had enough found footage films to last a life time? What worked well is the use of real complaints that some of the abductees report; missing memory, showing up in strange places with no way of knowing how they got there, and the sleepless dull pain shrouded in unadulterated fear. That was creepy storytelling. It was a twist to consider the idea something is also controlling some of the visitors just like humans are controlled. Assuming all alien contact is only part of a bigger conspiracy of highly intelligent entities controlling the rest was a bright spot. Dire film with simple special effects made for a solid picture to catalog along with others that make the grade! Quick moving fun!

The story of one night on earth that changed everything we know about the universe.

Right off the bat, you have to admire the great casting of Julian Richings ("Wrong Turn") as the sleepless, wiry man with a deep connection to extraterrestrials. His very presence is unnerving, and that is before he opens his mouth. Dee Wallace, a woman who needs no introduction, also appears uncredited and might draw in a few viewers.

There is a loose connection between "Ejecta" and "Pontypool", one of Canada's finest horror films, through the casting of Tony Burgess and Lisa Houle, who both appeared in that film. In fact, Burgess had written the original novel "Pontypool Changes Everything". Even Ari Millen has a strong genre background, appearing in the cheesy (but fun) "Monster Brawl" and the widely popular sci-fi series "Orphan Black".

No surprise, Burgess also wrote this script. Dread Central points out that "Burgess, never one to spoon feed you answers, slides in the subtext in an almost inconspicuous manner, compelling the viewer to truly think about what they just watched." This is true of both this film and "Pontypool", which makes Burgess among the better horror writers working today. He prefers the intelligent scare over the cheap jump, something that will keep his films remembered for years to come.

And also like "Pontypool", the scares are largely auditory and less visual. We know the story involves aliens, but we are left in the dark about how they appear. In "Pontypool", we had zombies, but they were always outside of the radio station and never in front of the camera. Does this trick work twice? Yes, it does.

The downside to this movie, however, is the low budget. Sometimes that can be helped, or worked around. The lack of aliens was a wise decision not just for storytelling but also to keep the budget down. But a few too many scenes look barren, or just lacking something, and this is where it does not quite hit the mark. Faulting a film for its budget may be unfair, but sadly that was the loose link.

This is still worth checking out if you enjoyed "Pontypool". And, by the way, if you have not seen "Pontypool", go out of your way to track down a copy now. One of the best horror films of the last decade in any country, hands down.

A unique and interestingly different approach to the crashed alien space craft/alien contact genre. A take I've never seen before (and I've watched a LOT of these films) which makes it a must-see for any fan. However as it is, it would have been better as an hour long short. That really is it's main problem--not enough story to fill out a feature length film; otherwise it was a very worthwhile effort.

The story was stretched too thin for a feature, but it has its strengths as well; the acting was very good and it did manage to maintain tension despite the relatively slow pace. While it did use a bit of the "found footage" technique, it didn't over do it and how they used it made sense. Plus for those who hate FF, there is only a little (a reasonable amount of) camera shake (I hate that too). The story overall held together, but I was puzzled by why the interrogation was instantly hostile. It would have helped if there had been some kind of indication given--more background shown regarding the person in charge and her over-board hostility, and the explanation would have helped fill out the story. A missed opportunity for real story telling, it comes off as the bones of an idea rather than a full-fleshed film.

Still much better than many of the films of the genre and much better than the 3 rating on the IMDb page. I don't get it; there are far worse films with much higher ratings. Go figure. I was almost tempted to give it a higher rating than I did just to make up for it.

Do NOT believe it's under-rated.

It's just plain annoyingly bad.

Clearly a middle school project with supremely ludicrous dialogue. Too many late nights and obvious sleep deprivation leads to ridiculous "plots" like in this film. No common sense, no intelligent or coherent story at all. It's like something written by a teenager overdosed on Red Bull, who has never watched anything but extremely short glimpses of ET, Alien and X-Files. Go spend some time watching seagulls squawking instead, which is much more entertaining and not so annoying as this silly "movie".