Usually, when someone says a movie is “all vibes,” they mean it as an insult. But vibes can accomplish some wonderful things: Just ask Alejandro Jodorowsky, Dario Argento, Amy Seimetz, Panos Cosmatos, and now Flying Lotus. Born Steven D. Bingley-Ellison, the musician and record producer claims his place in the pantheon of vibes-based filmmakers with “Ash,” a pummeling psychedelic sci-fi freakout that one doesn’t watch so much as experience. 

Don’t let the green mist tinged with white lightning and rotating cosmic orifices fool you, however: Ingesting psychedelic drugs is not recommended before watching this film. Like Brandon Cronenberg’s “Possessor,” “Ash” makes extensive use of cut-ins that violently tear through the frame, jarring the audience with nightmarish imagery that’s disarming under normal circumstances and probably soul-searingly terrifying if one’s third eye happens to be open at the time. Think rage monsters — coated in blood that’s as thick as crude oil — who scream under red lights as the score spikes in the background. It’s very much a horror movie, and a freaky one at times. 

I saw this film stone-cold sober and sufficiently caffeinated at its world premiere at SXSW, and still had trouble figuring out what was going on throughout a lot of it. This was true even when one of the characters explicitly explained what was going on, which happens quite a bit — this is writer Jonni Remmler’s first produced screenplay, and it shows. But there aren’t too many dialogue scenes, thankfully, as heroine Riya (Eiza González) spends a good deal of the movie alone, walking through the husk of a wrecked spaceship after waking up bruised and bloody, trying to figure out who she is and who all these dead bodies around her used to be.

Then Aaron Paul shows up as a previously unseen member of the ship’s crew, and if you’ve ever seen an “Alien” movie you’ll know immediately that this guy should not be trusted. The “Alien” series is a prominent influence on “Ash,” showing up everywhere from a scene of working-class astronauts cracking jokes over dinner to the tank tops and tight white T-shirts that make up González’s wardrobe. Riya is a Ripley type, and although her head injury and subsequent amnesia keep her from being as clever as Sigourney Weaver’s iconic sci-fi heroine, she shows an equal amount of grit in a climactic sequence involving a flamethrower and the cosmic anemone Riya just excised from her brain. 

That creature combines invertebrate goo with magnetic liquid metal, an example of the many  visual textures Flying Lotus plays with in “Ash.” The attention to detail is impressive: An insectoid mobile surgery unit projects vaporwave grids onto its patients, and although the display screen is in English — flashing text that says “Sorry for Your Loss” when the device scans a dead body provides one of the film’s few laughs — the audio prompts are in Japanese, presumably because it sounds cool. Attention is paid to sound as well as to visuals, and Flying Lotus’ score is excellent, a head-nodding blend of pulsating rhythms, abrasive noise, and atmospheric synths. 

The last twenty minutes or so of “Ash” are violent and intense, with little time to stop and appreciate the retro-futuristic set design, gel lighting, and bloody gore effects. This is where the montage sequences get really aggressive, assaulting the viewer with imagery of barren alien landscapes and skulls with the flesh melting off of their faces. (Again, psychonauts should proceed with caution.) Combined with first-person action sequences that play like they were filmed through a VR headset, it’s all quite dizzying — one audience member at my screening spent much of the film with his head between his knees. 

No worries, though, because the circular flashback structure ensures that we get to see most of the coolest images twice, first out of context and again in slightly more coherent fashion later on. The emphasis there is on “slightly.” Core themes of space colonization and human survival instincts translate clearly. But keeping track of the characters can be difficult, given that we spend barely any time with them pre-alien attack and that many of them are wearing matching space suits in pivotal scenes. 

The type of moviegoer who leans over to ask their seat mate what’s happening will be lost almost immediately. And trying to fight this film’s sensations, as unpleasant as they may be at times, will bring nothing but misery. So just give in, vibe out, and take solace in the fact that “Ash” is way more accessible than Flying Lotus’ first film. 

Grade: B-

“Ash” premiered at SXSW 2025. RLJE Films will release it in theaters on Friday, March 21.

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