Because I made it the title I'm gonna start with this: i bumped my rating a full star just for the robo-doc and in particular the robo-autopsy. Make sure you ready the screen for the autopsy report.
Okay, the preview is stunningly vague on purpose so I will try to give nothing away. What we have is a tiny cast in a claustrophobic whodunit and/or what happened. Our lead has amnesia, so all options are on the table. The story begins when she wakes and the major violence has passed.
The story progresses fairly well. The memory gaps start to fill in which become an overused opportunity for jump scares. There's a difficulty in this size of cast needing dialogue to explain some of the weird occurrences. This is done well here including some cases of talking to one's self and something that needs subtitles, which I will say no more about.
Eventually the characters have learned enough that the precursor action can be shown. And that action is intense and intricate, to explain all the weird conditions seen in the aftermath. At this point you'll compare Ash to some legendary movies. Ash will compare badly to those legends, but most would.
I know nothing about the director, Flying Lotus, except that he was also the composer and acted the smallest role. This put me in mind of John Carpenter.
The writer is new and made this interesting.
Eiza Gonzalez, as the lead, carried the movie well. And her supporting cast, primarily Aaron Paul helped her carry it off.
The movie falls short in the manner of movies made for the syfy channel: low budget, bad set design, questionable science. I'd need, for example, to see it with subtitles to know if there was any logic in the terraforming scene, for example.
Two places the budget was well spent: the autodoc; and the hair/tendril effects (saying more would be a spoiler).
The audio for the autodoc was amusing. The music during the reenactment of the big fight was, as my son would say, a choice.
As I was leaving the theater I heard people raving about the director/composer, so maybe that choice is a signature thing with him.
