22. CTHULHU’S COHORT: Wrap your tentacles around a “weird fiction” tale.
Annihilation
Anyone within a 100-mile radius of a bookstore has heard of Jeff VanderMeer's blockbuster Southern Reach series by now, but if you haven't read the first entry, Annihilation, you might not know that it has a Lovecraftian penchant for the cosmic and unexplainable.
Love him or "meh" him, director Alex Garland (Men, Ex Machina, Civil War) picks gutsy projects. The 2018 film adaptation of Annihilation is a solid example of this. It follows a group of women scientists who embark on an implied suicide mission into Area X, aka St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, where "the Shimmer" has created freakish mutations in surrounding flora and fauna. St. Marks is in the panhandle, a stressful little slice of Florida, even without mysterious scientific anomalies.
Natalie Portman stars as biologist Lena, while Jennifer Jason Leigh is the intense, intellectual Dr. Ventress. (Not only does Annihilation pass the Bechdel test with flying colors, it's also one of the only films I've seen that almost passes the reverse Bechdel test: Men have very little screen time and don't frequently speak to each other.)
All of the women on the mission have been previously traumatized. Addiction, cancer, and death are aspects of their stories. These experiences have subtle impacts on how they respond to the Shimmer's eerie, DNA-distorting power. As the group ventures further into the marshland, they encounter murderous mutant creatures and begin to notice unsettling changes in themselves.
The film's crescendo is staged in a lighthouse, where Lena is forced to confront her faceless, shimmering doppelganger. The scene becomes a complex dance of choice: She must either transcend her shadow self, or dissolve into the Shimmer permanently. Lovecraft would likely have her choose the latter. Annihilation's end is far more interesting.
The Stranger is participating in Scarecrow Video’s Psychotronic Challenge all month long! Every October, Scarecrow puts together a list of cinematic themes and invites folks to follow along and watch a horror, sci-fi, or fantasy flick that meets the criteria. This year, Stranger staffers are joining the fun and we’re sharing our daily recommendations here on Slog! Read more about Scarecrow’s 2024 challenge—and get the watch list—here. And you can track our daily recommendations here! 💀
