NASA astronaut Sam Walker, returns to Earth suspecting a sinister extraterrestrial presence has followed her home.
In her feature directorial debut, Jess Varley excels in the first act, achieving more with less. After an off-screen crash, the film opens in a sleek, modern safe house that feels deliberately claustrophobic. This low-budget restraint becomes a strength, building dread through shadows, silence, and suggestion.
Kate Mara anchors the film,emotionally raw, fragile yet quietly fierce, conveying the mystery and creeping paranoia. Laurence Fishburne lends some weight as General William Harris, despite sporadic appearances. Gabriel Luna is almost unrecognisable as Mark.
Jacques Brautbar's subtle score works effectively, while cinematographer David Garbett frames the safe house in stark angular architecture-interiors inky and cold, every corridor foreboding like the woodland nearby.
Tonally, The Astronaut initially echoes The Night House (2020) and feels like a spiritual successor to underrated sci-fi thrillers such as Last Days on Mars or Life, with an intimate rather than cosmic alien threat. Yet the third act unravels into ET meets The X-Files-in a twisty, muddled finale that aims for shock and emotion but falls short. Perhaps check out Sputnik instead.
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