If I see one more review comparing this movie to The Thing I'm going to swallow a squid and peel my face off.
Director Nyla Innuksuk film debut Slash/Back tells a loose story of an alien invasion in a small Inuit village. A group of girls must band together to defend themselves from an alien attack. They steal one their parents' boats and go off to an island, where they are attacked by a rabid "polar bear". The situation escalates quickly and people start behaving as strangely as the polar bear.
Long story short, chaos ensues and the young girls are on the defense (and the offense at times) of a small alien invasion.
The movie is posed as a horror comedy, but many of the punchlines fall short. It may have had better success if it leaned further into horror than comedy and capitalized on it's practical effects.
Does it have it's moments? Yes. If you go into this expecting spectacular acting, special effects, and a well-rounded ending...you're going to be disappointed. These aren't the Stranger Things kids as much as you want them to be. Just enjoy the way the aliens make their victims look like skin suits and move like braindead zombies.
The importance of this movie lies in the representation of the Inuit culture. This is a widely unrepresented indigenous culture. I felt myself researching the mythological Ijiraq shape-shifter that was mentioned. Innuksuk should be proud of this...and then make a better movie.
Rating:
Story and ending: 5/10
Special effects: 4/10
Practical effects: 6/10
Laughs: 1/10
Chemistry of the cast 6/10
Alien skin suits: 8/10
Polar bear alien: 8/10
Bonus points for culture: 10/10
Overall: 4.5/10
Where can you watch it?
Shudder, AMC+, Amazon Prime with Shudder Channel
As of this post:
IMDB Rating: 5.7
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92%
