Writer-director Alex Garland made a splash a couple years back with his thoughtful sci-fi film, Ex Machina. Like many sci-fi stories before it, it really brought into question what it means to be human.

For his next film, Garland isn’t venturing outside of the genre of science fiction, but he is going for a different style of film. His latest outing, Annihilation, is based on the novel of the same name by author Jeff VanderMeer (also of note, it’s the first of the Southern Reach Trilogy — though it’s unknown if this film will be telling a standalone story that encapsulates the whole series, or if there are plans to create a trilogy of films — probably the former).

The story follows Natalie Portman’s character, whose husband (played by Oscar Isaac), went into an area called the Shimmer. He came out sick and dying, and he’s the only person or thing ever to do so. Interestingly enough, other things and groups of people have gone into the Shimmer, but none have come back but Isaac. Portman’s character decides to go in, not only to find out what caused Isaac to get sick, but why no one else is coming back.

What we are being offered here looks an awful lot like a sci-fi horror, and while the visuals are spectacular to behold, this is not standard piece of escapism.

What do you think of this trailer for Annihilation? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: Paramount Pictures