Prospect (2019)

"Like Tarkovsky Directing 1970s Dr Who"

New low budget science fiction picture PROSPECT gets a DVD, Blu-ray and digital release from Signature. 

A teenaged girl (Sophie Thatcher) and her father (Jay DuPlass) journey to a remote moon with the intention of harvesting the gems rumoured to exist there. The gems themselves are curious things - they exist inside Cronenbergian-type eggs which are buried in the ground and have to be dissolved with acid to get at the precious substance within.

Their get rich plans are scuppered, however, with the arrival of Ezra (Pedro Pascal) and his friend, who plan to steal all the gems for themselves. Events lead to Ezra and the girl having to make their way across the alien landscape to a legendary cache of the eggs, but even when they get there their troubles are not over.

PROSPECT isn't half bad and like I've said above, it feels like the first episode of an especially gloomy 1970s Dr Who episode - one where perhaps the doctor never turned up to save the day, and directed by Andrei Tarkovsky (there's certainly a bit of a STALKER vibe to this one). 

The film could have benefitted from some more character development at the beginning, but overall PROSPECT is worth a look if you're in the mood for some low-key, slightly off-kilter science fiction and you've already seen ANNIHILATION. The locations are weird, the design of the space suits is appropriately low-tech and grungy, and the alien biology of the eggs is all the more fascinating because it's only hinted at. Signature's disc release contains no extras. 

PROSPECT is out on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital on Monday 22nd April 2019