Terrestrial (2025)
"After his breakout hit, 2010's Hot Tub Time Machine, director Steve Pink has turned his attention to more dramatic and substantial projects, including works of both fiction, 2021's The Wheel, and non-fiction, 2024's The Last Republican. Screening as part of the 2025 Fantasia Film Festival, Pink's newest film, Terrestrial, drops audiences off at the front door of Allen (Jermaine Fowler), a science fiction author who is celebrating the newfound major success of his novel by inviting a group of old friends over to enjoy his new Los Angeles mansion. While things begin celebratory, Allen's behavior becomes increasingly erratic, and the situation starts to unravel.
In a manner that is easily comparable to Zach Cregger's Barbarian, Terrestrial is a film that is best viewed with as few details and expectations as possible. The film drops the audience in the middle of a situation with no context, and slowly fills in the gaps as things on screen become more shocking and horrifying. While in content, Terrestrial is far more grounded and emotionally driven than Cregger's feature, the film takes on an extremely similar layout that offers chunks of runtime to both the present day and the near past to fill in the gaps and unravel the situation the audience has been thrown into. This creates a viewing experience that is often shocking as the film knows just when to pull the trigger on a big reveal or up the stakes to the next level. Especially if one has no expectations for what direction the film will take, this is a very fun feature to watch and is undoubtedly engaging in its setups and payoffs.
What elevates the feature is the emotional core within the film. Specifically in the character of Allen, Fowler does a fantastic job of painting a character who is just trying to follow his dreams. His love for writing and the science fiction genre is clear as he scrapes away at his diner job working on screenplays and sending them out into the Hollywood abyss. In his more idiosyncratic moments, Fowler is a crucial tool the film uses to move between genres and tones, delivering a performance that feels complete and connected though every twist and turn. It is also in Fowler's chemistry with James Morosini (Ryan) also gives the film a richer conversation on how individual power is used in friendships and social relationships, both as a tool to build celebration and as a weapon to stab into each other. In supporting roles, Edy Modica is absolutely hilarious as Vic, one of Allen's friends who comes to visit him, and Brendan Hunt sees a strong dramatic turn as Allen's favorite science fiction author who has recently fallen on hard times.
While Terrestrial is far from being a typical science fiction film, audiences who buy into that appearance and go in expecting a large-scale extraterrestrial invasion are sure to be disappointed, the film also uses these elements wisely to paint a film that is loving of the genre and the imagination found within it. Science fiction allows the dreams of what lays beyond our atmosphere to be seen and realized, it can have a great power on its fans who feel seen and understood through its expression, it can give careers to creative voices who can provide for their family doing what they love. These are all elements that are perfectly woven into the fabric of Terrestrial, giving the film more substance and heart than some might expect.
For those looking for a surprising and overall satisfying thriller, Terrestrial is a great choice. While some of the production elements can be a bit shaky and the pacing of the 2nd act could be cleaned up, there is enough here both in terms of twists and emotion to remain engaging and worthwhile.
In a manner that is easily comparable to Zach Cregger's Barbarian, Terrestrial is a film that is best viewed with as few details and expectations as possible. The film drops the audience in the middle of a situation with no context, and slowly fills in the gaps as things on screen become more shocking and horrifying. While in content, Terrestrial is far more grounded and emotionally driven than Cregger's feature, the film takes on an extremely similar layout that offers chunks of runtime to both the present day and the near past to fill in the gaps and unravel the situation the audience has been thrown into. This creates a viewing experience that is often shocking as the film knows just when to pull the trigger on a big reveal or up the stakes to the next level. Especially if one has no expectations for what direction the film will take, this is a very fun feature to watch and is undoubtedly engaging in its setups and payoffs.
What elevates the feature is the emotional core within the film. Specifically in the character of Allen, Fowler does a fantastic job of painting a character who is just trying to follow his dreams. His love for writing and the science fiction genre is clear as he scrapes away at his diner job working on screenplays and sending them out into the Hollywood abyss. In his more idiosyncratic moments, Fowler is a crucial tool the film uses to move between genres and tones, delivering a performance that feels complete and connected though every twist and turn. It is also in Fowler's chemistry with James Morosini (Ryan) also gives the film a richer conversation on how individual power is used in friendships and social relationships, both as a tool to build celebration and as a weapon to stab into each other. In supporting roles, Edy Modica is absolutely hilarious as Vic, one of Allen's friends who comes to visit him, and Brendan Hunt sees a strong dramatic turn as Allen's favorite science fiction author who has recently fallen on hard times.
While Terrestrial is far from being a typical science fiction film, audiences who buy into that appearance and go in expecting a large-scale extraterrestrial invasion are sure to be disappointed, the film also uses these elements wisely to paint a film that is loving of the genre and the imagination found within it. Science fiction allows the dreams of what lays beyond our atmosphere to be seen and realized, it can have a great power on its fans who feel seen and understood through its expression, it can give careers to creative voices who can provide for their family doing what they love. These are all elements that are perfectly woven into the fabric of Terrestrial, giving the film more substance and heart than some might expect.
For those looking for a surprising and overall satisfying thriller, Terrestrial is a great choice. While some of the production elements can be a bit shaky and the pacing of the 2nd act could be cleaned up, there is enough here both in terms of twists and emotion to remain engaging and worthwhile.