Alien Invasion: S. U. M.1 (2017) Review

 

S. U. M.1 is assigned to a remote bunker to monitor a defense circle housing the human survivors of an alien invasion.

The hokey marketing title change aside, Alien Invasion: S. U. M.1 is a palatable addition to the genre. There’s sterling performance by Iwan Rheon as creepy, rat loving albino Bowie-like S.U.M 1. Rheon shines here, carrying the film on his shoulders and sells the loneliness and isolation perfectly of the post-apocalyptic world. André M. Hennick’s small but pivotal role is memorable. There’s also a voice cameo from Norman Reedus.

With few sets Hagen Bogdansk’s cinematography and on location feel gives weight and compliments Rheon’s psychological driven performance. The camera effects are fitting to the tension driven story, and Dirk Gra editing is notable especially displaying the repetitive days counting down. The minimum use of dialogue adds to the atmosphere and there’s a few memorable eerie forest dreamlike scenes.

It feels at times to require a confidence boost and make it own stamp on the genre. Although the Blade Runner nods including computer lettering are a little too on the nose, Christian Pasquariell’s offering works best when it’s not borrowing from other sci-fi films. The closing SFX fall a little stretched and the left hanging ending may polarise viewers depending if you want a sequel. Nevertheless, it does it’s best with the budget and strives for a filmatic feel, and stands above those straight to cable, DTV or Syfy channel films.

While not as finessed as Moon, Automata or Archive, if you enjoyed likes The Machine, 2067 to name a few, with Pasquariell’s innovative use of budget and Rheon’s excellent performance it’s worth checking out.