One of the leading authors of the New Weird literary genre, Jeff VanderMeer released the first book of his "Southern Reach Trilogy," titled "Annihilation" in 2014, to widespread critical acclaim from both science fiction and horror connoisseurs.
Director and screenwriter Alex Garland ("28 Days Later," "Sunshine," "Ex Machina") was hired to adapt the book into a screenplay in 2014, with Natalie Portman starring in the lead role.
The film follows a team of four women: a biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, and a surveyor, who undertake a top-secret military mission into "The Shimmer", an ever-expanding, alien-like wilderness with mutating plant and animal life. The previous expeditions have all resulted in abject failure, with disappearances, suicides and inexplicable diseases plaguing the soldiers.
Aside from Portman, the main cast includes Gina Rodriguez, Oscar Isaac, Tessa Thompson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and David Gyasi.
While the film failed to perform well in the box office, it debuted on Netflix in 2018 and went on to become a cult classic.
Alex Garland admitted that he penned his script based on "a memory of the book", in a bid to capture the "dreamlike nature" of VanderMeer's celebrated novel. The film adaptation makes the lead character's deteriorating marriage one of the central points of the plot. As the title suggests, "The Shimmer" attracts characters who are emotionally devastated, looking for a quick and final escape from their self-destructive tendencies and tragic lives.
"Annihilation" draws inspiration from the 1972 novel "Roadside Picnic" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, who also wrote the screenplay for Andrei Tarkovsky's seminal science fiction film "Stalker." The concept of a sentient life organism in the form of an ocean, as depicted in the 1972 film "Solaris," and a sentient meteor of strange colours descending upon Earth in HP Lovecraft's weird fiction short story "Color Out of Space" also bear resemblance to "The Shimmer."
"Annihilation" has been praised for its cerebral as well as emotional exploration of depression, infidelity, grief, self-destruction and environmental degradation. It is currently available for streaming on Netflix.