Annihilation: The Horror of Change
Annihilation might not be the most obvious horror choice. In fact, it didn’t initially come to mind as an entry in the genre when I was brainstorming possible Spooktacular picks. It’s a sci-fi psychological thriller, but, when you scratch the surface a bit, I think it more-than deserves the horror label.
In the years following a meteor crash on the East Coast, an ever-expanding zone called the Shimmer spreads out from its impact point. Expeditions into the Shimmer report strange phenomena before losing contact. Only one man has gone in and returned, Kane (Oscar Isaac), but he immediately falls critically ill. A team of women of various backgrounds, including Kane’s biologist wife, Lena (Natalie Portman), are assembled to uncover the mysteries of the Shimmer and, hopefully, bring back a cure for Kane.
This is a logical follow-up to yesterdays pick The Descent in that both are dominated by female casts and are, broadly, about groups of women facing off against monsters and a hostile environment. That might be where the similarities stop though. The Descent is a very physical horror, while Annihilation is a much headier film. Though I would typically like to avoid spoilers, I’m afraid this is where I’ll have to get into spoilers about the nature of the Shimmer.
It’s not unheard of for me to miss or mis-read the themes or message of a film. That said, I feel like I have a pretty solid read of what Annihilation is about. After our protagonists cover some ground in this mystery zone and meet some charming abominations — like an alligator with shark teeth, a man whose body has crept up a wall like vines, and a zombified bear who seemingly absorbs the screams of its victims into its own vocal chords — they come to the conclusion that this mysterious alien bubble is a “prism”. However, instead of reflecting light, it is reflecting everything on a molecular level, changing the very DNA of all life within it. This theme of change is particularly important to the characters of Lena and Kane. We see, through brief glimpses into their life, that both had grown apart — perhaps in Lena’s evolution from soldier to academic, while Kane continued soldiering. This gulf results in Lena having an affair with a colleague, which she believes is the reason Kane took his suicide mission.
I see the film as simply translating an existential reality into a physical one. It’s not the easiest thing to think about, but Just as the Shimmer fuses all life with its surroundings, it could be said that everything in our own lives forces change within ourselves. Sure, there are likely some significant life events that have shaped your existence, but seemingly inconsequential moments build up over time. It can be troubling to ponder because people like to feel that that they shouldn’t need to curate every second of their lives to achieve or avoid a particular outcome. I don’t think you do, but all input informs the output. You aren’t simply the sum of your milestone moments, you’re an accumulation of everything you’ve experienced in your life up to the present.
In the world of the film, this is much accelerated. When Lena reaches the lighthouse — the impact point of the meteor — she finds video footage taken by her husband Kane of himself with help from…himself. His body has literally been duplicated. One of them, presumed to be the original Kane, speaks of self-confusion, before ultimately immolating himself with a phosphorus grenade.
“I thought I was a man. I had a life. People called me Kane. And now I’m not so sure. If I wasn’t Kane, what was I?”
He could be speaking of the mutations within the Shimmer, but he could also be speaking of emasculation as a result of his wife’s affair and the loss of a life he thought he had. What emerges from the Shimmer is a new Kane.
In the lighthouse, Lena faces potential duplication herself at the hands of a creepy faceless alien that starts shadowing her every move. She eventually tricks the creature into destroying itself and the Shimmer with it. In the end, she returns to the military base and is reunited with her husband, who recovers miraculously after the disappearance of the Shimmer.
Lena: You aren’t Kane… are you?
Kane: I don’t think so.
Kane: Are you Lena?
Lena doesn’t answer definitively and when the two embrace in the final frames of the film, we can spot a little shimmer in each of their eyes. Both are changed. To what extent, we can’t know. In the case of Kane, I don’t believe we’re supposed think of him as simply some alien doppelgänger unleashed on the world to create havoc. He’s a new man — perhaps one better equipped to move on in his marriage, or perhaps just in life. By fulfilling her mission, Lena has, presumably, resolved some of her guilt over her affair and its fallout. In any case, their shared experience in the Shimmer would have converged their lives in a way that it hadn’t in some time.
Is it scary? The bear is pretty fucking scary, yes. There are some other intense sequences as well, but Portman’s face off with the alien is more unnerving than anything — and I’m not exactly clear why. Sure, she’s our protagonist and she appears to be in some peril, but it’s the creature’s movements and score that I find chilling.
Is it streaming? Yes, currently on Paramount+ and free on YouTube (with ads).
Day 3 of my 2022 Halloween Spooktacular
