Available on VOD platforms 28th May
After the death of her best friend Grace, Aubrey (Virginia Gardner) breaks into her apartment and falls asleep. When she wakes up, she discovers that she is the only human in her small town, which is overrun with predatory alien creatures. However, mysterious radio messages from her walkie-talkie lead to Aubrey realising that she can use a series of mix tapes Grace made in order to send the creatures back to their dimension. However, can Aubrey retrieve the tapes in time?
Making his directorial debut, White’s direction provides an effective contrast between the more conventional first act, where the cinematography, editing and performances resemble a typical independent drama, and the more genre-inspired second and third acts, which rely on stylistic tropes from the sci-fi and horror genres to great effect.
A notable example is the alien creatures, which are shot in a way that maximises their eventual physical appearance, and are all the more frightening for the viewer. White’s decision to only introduce them through impressive sound design consisting of animalistic growls and thumps particularly makes use of the tried and tested theory that ‘nothing is scarier’, with the focus on Aubrey’s facial reactions proving enough to convey the threat the creatures pose. In addition, the use of anime visuals during a chase sequence provides an innovative medium switch that sets the film apart from other examples of its genres.
However, despite these high points, the film’s genre switch does result in a number of drawbacks. Whilst Gardner effectively portrays Aubrey’s initial bereavement, particularly during an early sequence where she wanders around Grace’s now-empty flat, she is less adept at pulling off the exposition-laden info dumps regarding the signal and dialogue concerning running low on supplies. The sudden shift in genre also results in the emotional themes such as the relationship between Aubrey and Grace that were clearly established in the first act being somewhat overshadowed by the sci-fi and horror trappings of later scenes.
Despite these flaws, Starfish mostly works in its effective hybridisation of multiple genres (independent drama, sci-fi, horror) to convey this story of grief and the importance of a relationship. White’s direction is visually impressive and confident for a first timer, marking him out as a name to look out for in the future.