'The Osiris Child' Channels Old-School, Low-Budget Scifi Movies

The Osiris Child is far from being an excellent hidden gem, and I have no doubt that many will find it boring.  It’s not for everyone.  But for those who immediately realize that it’s trying to channel the low-budget science fiction films of old, they will find the old-school familiarity it’s emitting to be somewhat endearing despite its flaws.  And, apparently, it’s kicking off a series – either an anthology or a shared universe – of throwback scifi B movies; its full title is Science Fiction Volume One: The Osiris Child (alternately, The Osiris Child: Science Fiction Volume One).

The story follows Lt. Kane (Daniel MacPherson), a military pilot working for a company that terraforms and colonizes planets.  In the current planet he’s working on, he brings along his daughter (Teagan Croft) with him.  But this proves to be a mistake.  He soon learns that the company is also secretly developing monsters that are meant to be used in purging the native inhabitants of planets they intend to terraform, and these murderous creatures have been accidentally let loose on the planet.  Worse, the company’s solution to this is to nuke the surface, annihilating monsters and humans alike, under the pretense that a major jailbreak has led prisoners to get their hands on a deadly bioweapon and are holding the planet hostage.  Desperate to get to his daughter and bring her to safety before the time is up, Kane treks the vast wasteland and asks the help of an escaped convict named Sy (Kellan Lutz).

An interesting aspect of this movie is how it does a non-linear, Tarantino-style narrative structure, where it’s divided into chapters, switching between the present and past to flesh out the characters and the plot.  However, the storytelling isn’t as seamless, smooth, and purposeful as when Quentin Tarantino does it.

Visually and conceptually, there’s a lot to be impressed about this movie, considering it’s a small-scale production and all.  There’s a really cool dogfight sequence.  The look of the monsters is like something taken out of the 80’s or 90’s, in a good way.  And it features technology and tropes that sell its futuristic setting well.

But considering what it’s going for, clichés can’t be helped.  And it feels a bit pretentious and sluggish at times.

Nonetheless, as a whole, it offers enough to please genre fans.