User reviews

Zygote is a short scifi horror film with outstanding production values and led by Dakota Fanning.

The first thing you notice is how good it all looks and sounds, this is a film with money and talent behind it and it shows.

Telling the story of two survivors of some horrific event in a base while being stalked by a gigantic creature seemingly made up of the body parts of its victims.

Though it does only stand at around 20 minutes and therefore isn't an entire story it does entertain regardless.

I would love to see a full length version of this, a sequel perhaps?!

The Good:

Monster looks incredible

Dakota Fanning is actually on decent form

Fantastic production values

The Bad:

Messy plot

Running at just over 20 minutes, then "Zygote" was initially a movie that I would have passed on, as I am not keen on short films. But I read the synopsis for it and found it to be sounding like it might actually be worth the time and effort.

And let me be the first to say wow! "Zygote" turned out to be a rather entertaining and thrilling short film. I must admit that writers Thomas Sweterlitsch, Terri Tatchell and writer/director Neill Blomkamp had put together something quite good.

Sure, this was blatantly an imitation of "The Thing", but that hardly mattered, because "Zygote" in your face from the very beginning. There wasn't any tallying about.

And with a cast that included just two people, Jose Pablo Cantillo and Dakota Fanning, then there was a certain amount of pressure riding on the two performers. It should be said that they did perform quite well and carried the movie phenomenally. It was a rather nice surprise to see Dakota Fanning in a movie such as this.

The creature was rather interesting and it definitely came off as being realistic given the impressive CGI used. So thumbs up for the CGI and special effects department on their accomplishment here.

It would be great to see "Zygote" as a full length feature film, although I can't really see what it would bring to the genre that hasn't already been done and seen in movies such as "The Thing". But still, with the entertainment level that they managed to pull off with just 20 minutes, then it would be fun to watch a full length movie with this stuff.

"Zygote" is definitely well worth the time and effort if you enjoyed "The Thing". I am rating "Zygote" 7 out of 10 stars.

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.

ZYGOTE is another Neill Blomkamp short film. This time, we join survivors Barklay and Quinn (Dakota Fanning and Jose Pablo Cantillo), after something has gone horribly wrong in a subterranean facility.

It seems that a creature is after them. A monster so hideous and so mind-bending that my jaw dropped and stayed there! This is Blomkamp's unspeakable tribute to movies like John Carpenter's THE THING, James Cameron's ALIENS, etc., and does it ever deliver the flesh-crawling goods! Impeccable CGI makes this one unforgettable...

If you choose between seeing this and Life (2017)... choose this instead.

Let me explain why.

George Miller, master storyteller and director of the Mad Max films, has said that audiences have learned how to "speed read" films, citing the number of cuts between the earlier Mad Max movies and the latest, Fury Road: Wikipedia claims that Fury Road contains 2,700 cuts while The Road Warrior had only 1,200.

I bring this up because Zygote offers us the very same setup as films like Alien, Aliens, John Carpenter's The Thing, Event Horizon, and even Life, of this year: Zygote is set in a derelict and remote station featuring workers being stalked by a horrible creature. Zygote is superior to Life only because it is much more condensed. I'm judging Zygote by Life because they came out the same year and Life has failed to evolve.

No, I'm not giving preference to Zygote over Life just because Zygote is shorter-- Zygote is condensed. As the Mad Max movies have evolved to suit the abilities of "speed reading" audiences, Zygote offers us everything Alien, Life, and The Thing offers without dragging out the entire show.

The "trapped in space with a horrible monster" genre has been done to death. Zygote wisely gives us all of the feelings of isolation, fear, claustrophobia, and wonder that the genre offers us in just over 20 minutes. "Life" was overlong rehash of a film we've seen more than a dozen times now. Perhaps Zygote-- or rather, its format-- is the evolution of the genre.

A criticism: the opening exposition is weak, just the male lead talking and explaining the setup. And he speaks in such a gravelly-growly "please take me seriously, I'm a hardened veteran, no really" kind of way I wished there was an option for subtitles.

In any case, props to the FX department of Zygote-- they did a wonder creating their monster. Now THERE is a scary creature I'd rate in the same category of creepy-cool as Alien's xenomorph. Not Life's "Calvin..." that thing looked like a lizard with a four feelers.

Short runtime brings about some plot contrivances, but, overall, this short is pretty good: the story is interesting and compelling, worth expanding, and I would love to see the two main characters more developed. The monster is just awesome: really well done and disgusting, as a monster should be. Hope Oats Studio makes features films some day.

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.

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.

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.

Quick and without much context, this OATS production shows its influences from H.P. Lovecraft (Shoggoth chase, and Quinn's reference to insane light and vision a la Azathoth from "At the Mountains of Madness"), the "Thing" with its similar fleshy amalgams and frozen isolation, and really, any "old, dark house" movie ever made, as well as video games like "Doom". It was well-made, but seemed clumsy and undeveloped. Some of Quinn's dialog was incomprehensible to me. Fanning did more gaping than speaking - was she supposed to be this dumb? All in all, cool cgi, crappy story.

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!

As above,

What can I say, brilliant. Be good if they could 'Flesh it Out' excuse the pun.

If you enjoy horror movies, especially sci-fi horrors, this short is great. It's honestly one of the best I've seen. Like another reviewer said, I'd like to see it made into a full-length film - I understand that it probably wouldn't add a whole lot that's new to the genre, but I think I'd still be able to enjoy it. It has a unique approach to how the creature comes about, and the creature is definitely unique looking, some aspects maybe being loosely pulled from "The Thing", and definitely creepy, and the graphics for it are well done. After watching it, I did find myself wanting to learn more, and see the end results, and I think that with a short film, that's what you want your audience to feel. I didn't even recognize Dakota Fanning until I looked at IMDb to read reviews and saw she was in it (though that was a definite 'duh' moment). She does a great job alongside Jose Pablo Cantillo, so it's good to see she didn't fall down the same rabbit hole so many child stars do - either falling apart and getting into drugs, or disappearing from film altogether.

Giving it a 10/10, as I've watched it twice, and it's still enjoyable (although watching it a second time, you're prone to notice different things.. like a hand that won't let go of a boob.)

Definitely worth 20 minutes of your time, and I hope they do more with it.

The creature design and sound in this were impressive.

Don't get me wrong it starts out a little boring, I honestly couldn't understand most of the dialogue, once things picked up though... goodness me. Terrifying.

Firstly, this film is nothing like The Thing in anything but superficial terms.

It has a monster, it's set in a snowy environment.. and that's it. This is far more akin to the video game series Dead Space, but even then it's not that similar.

The monster itself is one of the most inventive I've seen in a long time. An impressive achievement given how saturated monster design in films and other media is now.

The story is barebones, but there's a very good amount of world building packed into the run time. It handles the exposition quite naturally, with only a few lines feeling a little forced. You get the entire plot through characters speaking and environmental story telling, it's very well handled.

I think k this is the strongest short from Oat Studios, and I really hope the team work on a dull blown sci-fi horror film in future. Unfortunately, the creator tried his hand recently with Demonic which wasn't great despite having an interesting concept, but they absolutely have potential for something good.

Looking forward to more from them.