Aliens

June 15, 2017 1:25 AM

Oats Studios is Neill Blomkamp's latest project. They have just released their first short film, the violent horror sf: Volume 1 - Rakka (possibly NSFW)

Oats Studios Teaser 1
"Volume 1" - Teaser
"Volume 1" - Official Trailer #2
What is Oats?

Rakka: a guide to Neill Blomkamp’s brand new sci-fi short
Interview: Neill Blomkamp Reveals 'Rakka' + Goal Behind Oats Studios

posted by fearfulsymmetry (17 comments total)

Blomkamp knows how to create a crunchy mise en scène that leaves the viewer with lots to chew on. No question about it. District 9 and the first half of Elysium were amazing.
posted by pharm at 2:25 AM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

Saw this earlier today. Gripping stuff, and really well shot. Leaves one hungry for a full movie version.
posted by greenhornet at 4:37 AM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

Now I guess they're going to have to change their amusement park to Seven Flags Over Texas.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:13 AM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

So the society of Texas hasn't changed much but the appearance of the various strata has changed.
posted by Bee'sWing at 7:19 AM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

Deeply depressing. Probably will result in a lot of bullets.
posted by blue_beetle at 7:20 AM on June 15, 2017

Rakka demonstrates the potential of the studio, especially in the effects department, but lordy did it lean on the crutches of voiceover narration and worn-out tropes. I only made it about halfway through before I strained my cringe muscle and had to stop. But I hope for good things from the studio in the future.
posted by Hot Pastrami! at 7:25 AM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

I didn't have time to finish watching it last night...does Blomkamp ever explain how the aliens are going to transform the atmosphere into a more usable form for the aliens without having to supply the humans they're using for breeding with expensive gas masks?
posted by xyzzy at 8:32 AM on June 15, 2017

Best XCOM fanfilm I've seen.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 8:58 AM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

Blomkamp's always been brilliant at the sfx, filming action and big sf concepts... plot details, especially endings, and directing actors, not so much.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:15 AM on June 15, 2017

Lede buried - Sigourney Weaver shows up eight minutes in.
posted by Happy Dave at 10:51 AM on June 15, 2017 [3 favorites]

However, I'm super-leery of the whole 'we unite against alien invaders/killer robots' subgenre. It always seems to provide lots of opportunities for us to do a species-wide recreation of WWII European resistance movements, but with an extra-dose of 'they hate us for our freedoms' and 'having guns and fighting fer our liberties in our tacticool bug-out rigs is what makes us worthwhile humans' layered on top. Plus conveniently Othered bad guys who we can shoot without compunction.

And meanwhile we can ignore the actual things that might kill us, like methane off gassing.

I blame Independence Day and Battlefield Earth.
posted by Happy Dave at 10:56 AM on June 15, 2017 [3 favorites]

Also this thing was 20 minutes long and they still managed to have a Disposable Black Grunt killed. Ugh.
posted by Happy Dave at 11:03 AM on June 15, 2017

So it's a bit like "V" if the reptilians had decided to stop fucking around and get right down to conquering the planet with a maximum of Grand Guignol and body horror. As usual, alien motivational structures don't make a lot of sense. Nailing thousands of screaming humans to the Eiffel Tower is so over the top even the id Software folks might tell Blomkamp to cool it a bit.

I gather from the interview that they're here because We're Special: we have the ability, which they lack, to see those vaporous angelic beings that make a brief appearance. This bit feels recycled from "Dark City", where it was the human capacity to dream that made the aliens want to poke around in our brains. Always seems like it would have been cheaper to stick with the tried and true approach of kidnapping a few hundred marginal people who wouldn't be missed for these sorts of experiments, but I guess if you can travel the starways just to terraform worlds into your own personal torture garden, you might as well do it.
posted by informavore at 11:39 AM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

Great visuals. The "plot" is a jumble of explosions and cliches. Still, I hope SyFy or someone will pick this up.
posted by LarryC at 10:21 AM on June 16, 2017

Neill Blomkamp & Sigourney Weaver. This might be good but I hope Blomkamp hasn't drawn too much from Falling Skies.
posted by rdr at 11:03 PM on June 16, 2017

Cooking With Bill - Damasu 950

yeah, think I've seen this joke before
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:33 AM on June 21, 2017

And here's another one, more an intro that an whole film but I'd like to see a feature based on this idea

Firebase
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:00 PM on June 28, 2017