Zygote

Once again, we have the arctic, cold and claustrophobic, and two people who are miners, the last left of a huge work crew, trying to survive while an amorphous creature tries to kill them. The one guy, the boss, is blind, and the other is a woman who doesn't fit the usual protocols on this encampment. It's one bloody scene of dismemberment and slaughter after another. Never cared for this, but I am granting it a good rating on technical grounds and intensity. I wish I knew a little more about what they were up to.

Recently been on a spree of revisiting Tales from the crypt on Youtube. Was searching for a short horror film n when i saw the name of Neill Blomkamp, i was totally interested in checking this out. The 22 minutes was worth it. Comparison to Carpenters The Thing is inevitable but this movie really succeeded where the remake failed. It is claustrophobic, tensed, fast paced, superbly acted n directed. The film is set in the mining colony in the Arctic circle. We r told that outta 98 crew only two r remaining. One of em is wounded n blinded n the other a frightened junior female crew member. The monster/thing is made up of body parts of the dead members. There is no safe chamber or place to hide as the monster has the fingerprint ids of all the doors. The creature was terrific though.

It is obvious just from watching Neill Blomkamp's short video stories that he is a much more visionary and skillful director than Ridley Scott now (Scott was as visionary back in the 1980s but time has moved on and Ridley has not adjusted well). This short film in particular is a wonderful work of art, sci-f and thrilling action. There is basically only one downside - it's too short. Judging solely from the art he did for his supposed Alien 5 project, it would have been or could be the best Alien sequel since Aliens. I hope some big shot in the production companies will give Neill a few hundred million to make the best Alien sequel and use all of his imagination displayed in this and several other short films to do a sci fi masterpiece, in the vein of this mind-blowing work of art.

Director Neill Blomkamp's experimental venture Oats Studios has produced shorts from a wide range of genres, including comedy, fantasy, and war, but primarily sci-fi, which often crosses over into the former three. "Zygote" is the first horror outing from the Oats team, and it is a strong case for a full-length horror feature from Blomkamp.

Zygote has definitely been my favorite narrative Oats short so far. With the previous shorts "Rakka" and "Firebase", a lot of the story was told through expository narration and flashbacks, which still worked because of how it built the world, but made them seem less like a traditional short. With Zygote however, the story felt much more natural, with much of the backstory and worldbuilding coming through dialogue and mise en scene.

In Zygote, Jose Pablo Cantillo and Dakota Fanning play the two remaining survivors of a mineral mining facility somewhere in the north. Genetic experimentation by one of the occupants has created an abomination made from parts of other living things. Cantillo and Fanning must make a last stand against the monstrosity to ensure the crew's sacrifice was not in vain.

The terror of this short is palpable, and showcases Neill's range as a director. Scenes of the wailing, undulating Zygote stalking down dark corridors are sure to stick with you. Jose Pablo Cantillo and Dakota Fanning were brilliant in their roles, clearly conveying the fear of being trapped inside with the monster, as well as the simultaneous courage to stand off with it.

If I had any criticisms, I would say that some of Jose's dialogue sounded a little fast or whispered, making it hard to hear, but it didn't detract from his overall performance. As for the Zygote itself, while the creature was terrifying, (maybe giving the Thing a run for its money!) I think it could have benefited from a wider range of vocal sounds, and was more scary when obscured by dark lighting, thus giving it a sense of mystery.

All in all, wonderful work from the Oats team! I'll be looking forward to Volume 2!

The plot here is somewhat of a sci-fi/horror staple: an isolated location (base) and monsters at (or inside) the door. Many shows and films have done it, but in particular Zygote brings The Thing and Alien to mind. The delivery is simple too; after some dialogue in a contained room to set the scene, two survivors must try to make it across the base to the point they can escape. At first the dialogue was a little uninteresting, but as the film goes on I realized that this opening scene did add a lot to the film. Okay it is direct exposition, but the short running time doesn't give you the freedom to let it play out another way, unless you use a narrator in the same way as Rakka did, or a similar device such as the opening footage of Firebase.

This opening scene does ask a lot though, because in addition to the exposition, the male actor is not particularly strong – feeling a bit forced and trying too hard to do what he is doing. Once the beast comes though, the film takes on a great pace and sense of horror. The beast itself is a horrific and chilling piece of body horror; the CGI feels real in the way it moves (and moves not just as one creature, but as a horrid composition of people). Through the escape, there are scenes reminding us of what we already heard – and there is a real horror here which the film does well to link to even if it doesn't have the time itself. Fanning is good in the lead, convincing in her fear and limits.

As with the other shorts in this Volume 1 of release, it doesn't feel like a whole (because it is not) but at the same time there is more than enough here to make it effective.