This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Neill Blomkamp ? Hey I remember him . He shocked the cinematic world with his exciting sci-fi thriller DISTRICT 9 that combined action with biting satire. He then directed a couple of flops which means Blomkamp is now known as "Hey I remember him .He directed DISTRICT 9 all these years ago" With ZYGOTE one wonders if Blomkamp is trying to put himself in the shop window as in "Look I can make an effective hard hitting sci-fi horror movie" and indeed he can. The monster itself is derivative visually owing elements to John W Campbell's WHO GOES THERE and the works of Clive Barker but as far as imagery goes it's a superbly designed monster that is guaranteed to make your flesh creep!!!!! SUGGESTIVE SPOILER !!!! The fundamental problem with ZYGOTE is that it is not self contained in anyway . Imagine you're watching the most compelling DOCTOR WHO story ever made with the scariest monster in the Universe when all of a sudden there's a power cut. That's how the story is structured. It starts off sudden and ends even more suddenly. You'll be frustrated and you're left with the cynical feeling the director is asking for funds to film another 70 minutes of screen time . If Blomkamp gets his wish does this mean everyone who has commentated on this site get cheap tickets for the feature length ZYGOTE ?

The plot here is somewhat of a sci-fi/horror staple: an isolated location (base) and monsters at (or inside) the door. Many shows and films have done it, but in particular Zygote brings The Thing and Alien to mind. The delivery is simple too; after some dialogue in a contained room to set the scene, two survivors must try to make it across the base to the point they can escape. At first the dialogue was a little uninteresting, but as the film goes on I realized that this opening scene did add a lot to the film. Okay it is direct exposition, but the short running time doesn't give you the freedom to let it play out another way, unless you use a narrator in the same way as Rakka did, or a similar device such as the opening footage of Firebase.This opening scene does ask a lot though, because in addition to the exposition, the male actor is not particularly strong – feeling a bit forced and trying too hard to do what he is doing. Once the beast comes though, the film takes on a great pace and sense of horror. The beast itself is a horrific and chilling piece of body horror; the CGI feels real in the way it moves (and moves not just as one creature, but as a horrid composition of people). Through the escape, there are scenes reminding us of what we already heard – and there is a real horror here which the film does well to link to even if it doesn't have the time itself. Fanning is good in the lead, convincing in her fear and limits.As with the other shorts in this Volume 1 of release, it doesn't feel like a whole (because it is not) but at the same time there is more than enough here to make it effective.

Director Neill Blomkamp's experimental venture Oats Studios has produced shorts from a wide range of genres, including comedy, fantasy, and war, but primarily sci-fi, which often crosses over into the former three. "Zygote" is the first horror outing from the Oats team, and it is a strong case for a full-length horror feature from Blomkamp.Zygote has definitely been my favorite narrative Oats short so far. With the previous shorts "Rakka" and "Firebase", a lot of the story was told through expository narration and flashbacks, which still worked because of how it built the world, but made them seem less like a traditional short. With Zygote however, the story felt much more natural, with much of the backstory and worldbuilding coming through dialogue and mise en scene. In Zygote, Jose Pablo Cantillo and Dakota Fanning play the two remaining survivors of a mineral mining facility somewhere in the north. Genetic experimentation by one of the occupants has created an abomination made from parts of other living things. Cantillo and Fanning must make a last stand against the monstrosity to ensure the crew's sacrifice was not in vain.The terror of this short is palpable, and showcases Neill's range as a director. Scenes of the wailing, undulating Zygote stalking down dark corridors are sure to stick with you. Jose Pablo Cantillo and Dakota Fanning were brilliant in their roles, clearly conveying the fear of being trapped inside with the monster, as well as the simultaneous courage to stand off with it.If I had any criticisms, I would say that some of Jose's dialogue sounded a little fast or whispered, making it hard to hear, but it didn't detract from his overall performance. As for the Zygote itself, while the creature was terrifying, (maybe giving the Thing a run for its money!) I think it could have benefited from a wider range of vocal sounds, and was more scary when obscured by dark lighting, thus giving it a sense of mystery.All in all, wonderful work from the Oats team! I'll be looking forward to Volume 2!

"Zygote" is a Canadian English-language short film just released the other day, so this 2017 film is really new and fresh. The writer and director is South African Oscar nominee Neill Blomkamp, which explains its instant popularity I guess. I must say I really really loved his breakthrough movie "District 9", but this one we got here does not do that much for me and sadly overall I am not too much in favor of his Oats Studios works recently. The first was maybe still the best. Anyway, this one runs for 22 minutes and 22 seconds and stars Jose Pablo Cantillo and (the probably more known) Dakota Fanning. As always with Blomkamp, you could describe it as creature horror, but here the one component that makes his films usually so strong is missing: I am of course talking about the national component. For example District 9 would not have worked outside of South Africa because of the high quantity of references about race, racism and more. Maybe that's the reason why I did not end up liking these slightly over 20 minutes. Or maybe it is that I am in general not a great SciFi fan. I see this is receiving pretty good ratings, so maybe if you like the genres SciFi and horror, then you can check this one out. Not even the claustrophobic component that I usually appreciate in films did a whole lot for me. Same goes for the ending, which felt abrupt and not really good in a way where you could discuss it after the movie. The acting is okay, it's not an actors' film at all I guess, more about the effects and maybe the story, so you can't blame Cantillo or Fanning for the mediocre outcome, even if this film does not change my opinion that the younger Fanning is the more talented. All in all, I am disappointed. I hope Blomkamp can return to his best with his full feature works in the future again. His more recent stuff (also outside of Oats Studios) left me underwhelmed.