Review: Is "Proximity" Our Next Cult Classic?

Filmmaker Eric Demeusey writes and directs this B-movie, a lightweight diversion that will fill a couple of hours if you're stuck at home sheltering in place from the pandemic. If the invasion of COVID-19 is over by then, however, you shouldn't stay in just to watch this mash-up of alien abduction and dystopian sci-fi tropes.

The film's premise is intriguing: Isaac (Ryan Masson), a computer scientist working with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California – a lab that's part of NASA – has taken up a new habit of making a video diary. One afternoon, hiking in the hills outside of town and looking for a scenic place to record his latest entry, Isaac witnesses what seems to be a large meteor crashing to Earth... except that its arrival is greeted by military jets and scary-looking troops with assault rifles. Freaked out, Isaac makes his way through the forest toward the crash site, where he spots a gleaming silver UFO... right before he then spots a grey alien. The rest is lost time, as Isaac is snatched into the sky, only to wake up days later – and miles distant – with a mysterious ache in his arm, but with the footage he took of the alien still intact on his camcorder.

There are other strange things going on, as well; Isaac realizes that by concentrating on objects, he can make them disappear. His colleagues at JPL don't quite comprehend it when Isaac tries to explain these developments, so Isaac, looking to warn the world of what he fears might be imminent danger, posts the footage online, opening the floodgates to a barrage of media curiosity, hostile skepticism, and hate-filled trolls... oh, and also a super-secret, high-tech government agency (the mythical Men in Black). Suddenly, a movie that seemed to be trying for "Fire in the Sky" (or, perhaps, "The Last Starfighter") takes a hard left turn into conspiracy theory La-La Land, where motorcycle-riding androids hunt down dissidents and vengeful G-men wield Buck Rogers-style laser pistols.

There's a love interest, of course; her name is Sarah (Highdee Kuan), and she's a fellow abductee. On the run from relentless government forces, Isaac and Sarah manage to bumble into a secretive, and highly skilled, hacker named Zed (Christian Prentice, giving the film some comic relief), before planning their end game: They seek out a legendary abductee named Carl (Don Scribner) who has worked out the exact place and time the aliens, seemingly tired of so many furtive raids on innocent humans, have in mind for some sort of official first contact.

The movie's paper-thin, Saturday serial-style plotting is paired with some decent effects work, but the acting and story mark this out as a potential cult classic. "Proximity" is no "Plan Nine from Outer Space" – for that matter, it's not even a "Liquid Sky" – but the aliens' agenda, when revealed, is stunning in its left-field audacity (not to mention downright hilarious). Bumping up the oddness index is lead actor Ryan Masson, whose pixieish, slightly otherworldy looks would have made him more of an ideal alien than an abductee. If they ever decide to remake "The Man Who Fell to Earth," Masson, with his slightly Bowie-ish affect, can point to this project as his audition tape.

"Proximity" is streaming at AppleTV, Amazon, VUDU, GooglePlay, PlayStation�, XBOX, hoopla, Fandango Now, DirecTV, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum, Cox, Charter, and AT&T U-verse