- Release year: 2025
- Director: Eliza Hooper.
- Producers: Camille Balsamo, Aaron Bratcher, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Reid Collums, and Jimmy Uddo.
- Screenplay by: Reid Collums.
- Cinematography by: Daniel Kenji Levin.
- Music by: Xander Singh.
Synopsis: during their honeymoon, a newly wedded couple encounters an alien that could potentially save one of them from dying of cancer.
Shotgun Commentary: sci-fi love story perfect for people who like romance in twisted microdoses.
Review
Wellwood is a low-budget version of Death of a Unicorn (2025), without the eat-the-rich message. Instead of a unicorn, the leads of the film encounter an alien, but the idea is pretty much the same. Both creatures have healing powers that could potentially heal all human diseases, so naturally humans begin to harvest this resources without any care for the creature or the potential side effects.
Man Vs death
By erasing the aforementioned film’s commentary on class difference, Wellwood has the opportunity to step further from the horror genre and more into the realm of romance. After all, the whole story is based on the regrettable actions of a desperate man who is trying to save his lover. That is the main message: how far would you go to save the love of your life from certain death?
This might not be the most original topic, with films like Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011) among the latest, most popular titles to explore this theme. If Frankenstein (1818), and pretty much all gothic stories since, have taught us something, it is that humans will do anything to bypass death. Some deal with its inevitability with faith in an afterlife, some do by trying to find a scientific method or magical cure to erase it altogether.
This film presents its own “fountain of everlasting life” in the form of alien blood. A concept that doesn’t feel too foreign, but is still fresh enough to keep you interested. It’s been a while since E.T.’s glowing finger, and the darker tint of this narrative situates in a more adult space, without necessarily being violent or gory enough to alienate younger audiences.
The only infinite thing
The main characters, Laura (Camille Balsamo) and Nick (Reid Collums), have just started their doomed life as a married couple. Despite the great relationship they have, no treatment or amount of true love can save Laura from the brain tumour that is slowly ending her life, and they both know it. As a result, when Nick witnesses the crash landing of an alien aircraft, and the subsequent resurrection of said alien after his body is mangled on the landing, his boozed mind decides that the most logical course of action is to kidnap the alien and test his blood as a potential cure.
Is it really safe to mix your blood with random alien blood? Well, if colonisation taught us anything is that minor diseases for some can be fatal for others within the same species if they live far apart, so the fact that Nick keeps breathing after his first test is a miracle on its own. Still, Nick keeps experimenting for the sake of Laura’s future. This is undeniable proof of his love for her… or of his unfathomable stupidity. Either way, his actions have deadly consequences that spice up the story and deliver a grim, but totally believable, finale.
Amazing visuals
Indie film don’t usually get as much funding as other project with big names behind them. As such, the special effects featured in this film are as unexpected as they are flawless. Both VFX and practical effects such as makeup are absolutely gorgeous. They elevate the sci-fi aspect of the narrative as well as provide an extra punch to the story itself.
The gravity of the characters’ actions and consequences is mostly showcased through physical changes, which puts a lot of weight in these effects. A weight that is effortlessly lifted by an incredible team of talented artists.
All in all, Wellwood is a fantastic sci-fi romance with tints of horror that will consecutively chill your bones and warm your heart alternatively throughout the whole experience. Fans of sci-fi, aliens, tragedies, and horror will find this a pretty great work for movie night.
Advice to take from this movie:
- Animal trials, while cruel, exist for a reason.
- Some people didn’t learn anything from the AIDS pandemic. Don’t be one of those people.
- If you think you need a finite resource, maybe freeze up some samples in case it runs out?
What’s your take? Have you watched Wellwood? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message in my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀
Bottom line: I hated these main characters. The cruelty, sense of entitlement, selfishness and lack of morality, though realistic, were so disgusting, I couldn’t wait for the alien to kill them both. I kept thinking it would be just our luck for an alien to land here, encounter a couple of despicable humans like those two, then send for more of its kind to kill us all.