Movie Review: Significant Other

credit: Significant Other

If you really want to know how your significant other feels about you, take them camping out in the woods and see what happens. Right? Okay, so maybe some folks aren’t too keen on that idea, but this movie does appear to indicate that such a bonding experience might be a great test of a relationship. Of course, add in the idea of an alien presence that can somehow take things over using a strange, bluish tentacle that bears a resemblance to the creatures from Deep Rising, and voila, you have a science fiction thriller that is actually not too bad even if it feels that it’s lacking in substance just a little bit. But giving credit where it’s due, Harry and Ruth, the couple who the story focuses upon, do play their roles well enough to make the movie work. It needs to be stated that the red object falling from the sky at the beginning of the movie is bound to be mostly forgotten by the audience until the matter comes up again in the form of a young busboy asking the couple if they saw the object falling from the heavens. But then it might be forgotten again as the dynamic between Harry and Ruth snatches that focus back as they attempt to get through a single day without sniping at each other or without Ruth feeling that something is off in the woods. The fact that Harry doesn’t appear to be bothered by anything indicates that he’s either clueless or that something else is going on. 

credit: Significant Other

There is a warning sign pretty early in the movie. 

For those that haven’t been out in the woods that often or have an aversion to nature that comes from not knowing that much, the idea of an animal standing and looking at you might sound like a creepy and unnerving thing. It’s true, deer don’t tend to stand and watch people unless it’s to determine if a person is going to become violent at any moment. But as a prey animal, those who know something about these creatures understand that deer are prey animals and will typically only stare to ascertain whether a person is a threat or not. The deer staring, or rather watching, Ruth in this movie is a great example of when to be freaked out since these animals don’t normally behave like this unless there’s a good reason. 

It’s true; camping out in the woods can be a bit creepy for some folks. 

Those who are used to the city and the very different sounds that an urban area can offer might find the woods a little too open, a little too creepy, and definitely a lot darker than most cities allow themselves to be. Those of us who have slept under the stars, in the woods, on the beach, etc., know the sounds of nature quite well, but the feeling of this movie is that the woods are a foreboding place that should keep a person on high alert at all times. For a thriller, it definitely works since such locations can be insanely creepy, especially when it comes to the audience knowing that something deadly is lurking in the forest. Plus, when one comes upon the desiccated corpse of deer, their anxiety can get a bit worse. 

credit: Significant Other

Aliens taking over the world is usually hard to make into a fun story anymore, but this movie did a fair job of it. 

There’s one thought that should be made quite clear, and that’s if our world is ever targeted by aliens, then the human race is kind of screwed, at least until the threat is sorted out and there’s a solution brought forth to combat the problem. Aliens in the movies tend to be faster, deadlier, stronger, and in a lot of cases, more intelligent. The alien in this movie is a shapeshifter, so it’s even harder to figure out how to defeat it, but Ruth’s anxieties and issues appear to give the alien a bit of trouble when it tries to become her, allowing Ruth to get the drop on the alien and bash its head in with a rock. But then, of course, as Ruth is walking away, it can be seen that the alien’s skull is slowly healing. 

The impending doom that comes at the end was expected. 

It’s predictable, but humans rarely get away from aliens simply by beating them over the head with something hard, especially since one has to remember that the alien actually told Ruth that it was a scout and was arrogant enough to show her its ship. But then again, it did somehow absorb the feelings that Harry had for Ruth, so it was trying to save her in a misguided sort of way. That didn’t really matter, though, since as Ruth was driving away, the sky lit up with more red streaks as the creature’s race had already started to invade. The lack of a happy ending is actually kind of satisfying.