Going into the movie I knew I liked Flying Lotus’ music, but I hadn’t seen any of his other directorial work. I knew I liked the style of his videos that were directed by others though, so I expected that influence to come through, and I was not disappointed in the first act.

The movie opened with some great vibrant visuals and music that immediately brought to mind Blood Machines, and I was getting ready for a real visual and music-heavy vibe-fest like that. Gaspar Noé is a creator that Flying Lotus has mentioned as an influence, so I was getting real dialed in for something I can get lost in with just some nods to tradtional story telling to tie it together. Through most of a first act full of amazing sights and sounds, including some top-notch practical work, I was fully onboard. The space suit design especially really stood out.

However, not long after our main character Riya (Eiza González) wakes up and starts getting her bearings, that vibe starts to fade into the background. Once Brion (Aaron Paul) arrives the vibe is fully in the back seat of the film, which becomes a more standard “figure out what’s going on here and stay alive” semi-procedural that felt disappointingly standard after such an interesting start.

In fact, most of the second and third acts felt like someone from the studio reminded Flying Lotus that he was supposed to be making a “regular movie”, and he grudgingly agreed, spending most of the screen time awkwardly navigating his way out of narrative corners he’d painted himself into, only occasionally letting the vibe-monster out of the trunk. Unfortunately, those short trips into vibes-ville just make the mess worse, and the attempts to hold the story together feel even more awkward.

To get back on the rails, the movie falls victim to some ungainly story telling techniques, the worst of which being “lets retell the first act but show what really happened” followed by “omniscient villain exposition to fill in the gaps”, and finally the “incongruous dream sequence to justify a logical leap”. If they couldn’t figure out a way to weave these bits in along the way more smoothly I honestly would have preferred to leave many of these questions unanswered as that would have ultimately been a more satisfying experience. There is one treat in the third act in the form of some great practical effects work in the final confrontation though, which was truly a remarkable sequence.

Despite the clunky third act though, I found a lot to enjoy in ASH, I just wish that it would have more firmly decided what it wanted to be from the jump and committed to it. If it was going to be mostly a mixed-media art piece, eschewing traditional story telling for beautiful music and visuals to tell the sketch of a story with vibes, I wish it would have really embraced that. If it was going to be a more standard movie, I wish it would have spent less time and effort on the art vibes, and instead spending those resources tightening up the film-making fundamentals so that it wouldn’t have gotten so lost in the third act.

I struggle to recommend seeing it in the theatre, even though I’m glad I did. The sights and sounds when they are at their best really deserve to be experienced there. However, I just don’t think it really delivers enough to justify the price of admission unless you are Flying Lotus superfan. If not, probably wait for the Shudder release. On streaming though, it’s well worth your time if you’re a fan of horror sci-fi. It’s a mess, but it’s a beautiful mess. I have dreams of doing a triple-header of Color out of Space, ASH, and Blood Machines. I think that would be some real fun, and the three of them all fit together for me somehow.