Osiris

There is extreme violence right from the outset in William Kaufman’s Osiris. That might sound par for the course these days, but Kaufman really goes for it. After a brief prologue in which we witness archive footage of an old rocket launch, he plunges us into the middle of a gunfight which goes on for a good 15 minutes before an unexpected event which sees things get quieter but, all told, probably worse. The action choreography is strong. The assailants come in waves. The sound is loud and the experience immersive, but it does begin to feel like a computer game. There might be a reason for that.

Some time after the battle, the soldiers wake up, five of them, lined up in an industrial-looking space in a familiar arrangement, then abruptly collapse as the hypersleep gel in which they have been stored melts away. At first they theorise that they’re in some military prison deep underground, or under the sea, but the audience will already know better. They’ve come here for the aliens – big bulky guys with lava-like black skin and no discernable eyes. It’s not long after they start exploring that the meet some.

“Looks like someone tried really hard to get into here,” says one of the soldiers, examining a scratched-up door – when on the contrary, it looks like something where he hand his team are standing tried really hard to get out.

The soldiers are not particularly well develop as characters, with the exception of their facially scarred commander, Kelly (Max Martini), and Reyes (Michael Irby), who gets pushed around by the rest of the squad and is understandably nervous, but personable. Fortunately we pick up another couple of characters along the way. First there’s Ravi (Brianna Hildebrand), a young woman whom they find shackled in a large room (this is never explained, and is one of several details that might make one wonder if a subplot was excised). There’s Anya (Linda Hamilton). That harried waitress look of Hamilton’s is long gone. From the moment she appears – about halfway through the film – it’s clear who’s in charge. The soldierly bond that Anya forms with Kelly is perhaps the most convincing of all the character relationships.

This is a film made out of pieces of other films. Kelly has a faded photograph of his daughter, who looks about 11. In places, mist drifts across the floor for no reason. One of the soldiers gets a Gorman-style ending, albeit slightly subverted. Alongside Alien, there’s a Star Wars moment with a garbage chute. There are suspended corpses and hologram-projecting armwear, Predator-style. And there’s a big round chamber full of sleeping humans being transported as food, like in V. Another death is taken from Terminator 2. There’s a pleasing shamelessness about this, and all of these moments fit organically into the story, rather than being pasted on afterwards just for points value, but all the same, a shred or two of originality might have been nice.

There are a great many films out there with very similar plots and a similar tendency to be referential, so why bother with Osiris? Hamilton aside, two things make it worth watching. One is Kaufman’s direction, which gives it energy, makes it exciting and scary in places, and is generally much classier than is usual in these things. The other is the score, which is suitably atmospheric and helps viewers to get swept up in what’s happening. There’s also some decent stunt work neatly woven into the action. Thanks to this, an otherwise unremarkable film comes to life, and although you might not remember it for very long afterwards, it’s a fun ride.

Reviewed on: 02 Aug 2025