‘Our Effed Up World’ Reminds Us Why This World is Worth Saving [Fantasia Review]

Our world is effed up, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth saving. That’s what Sheri (Sara Thompson), an aimless twenty-something grappling with the loss of her grandmother (Kerry Armstrong), realizes after aliens crash-land on Earth in radioactive green meteors in Alice Maio Mackay’s sci-fi romp Our Effed Up World. Alongside her astronomer father, Hank (Scott Major), and friends Poppy (Annapurna Sriram) and Finn (Jess McLeod), Sheri must stop the extraterrestrial visitors from consuming everything and everyone she loves most, including the local video rental shop.

Produced by writer-director Jane Schoenbrun (whose latest film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, had its Canadian premiere at Fantasia on the 17th), Mackay described Our Effed Up World as an “homage to MTV pilots that didn’t get picked up” and “CW late night shows.” Fans of The X-Files, Doctor Who, and the short-lived Disney Channel series So Weird will appreciate Mackay’s ability to capture what made these kinds of shows so special without ever losing her distinctive visual style and sense of humor.

Our Effed Up World is about an alien invasion, and while Mackay’s striking color palette and charming (but creepy) creature design will delight anyone who grew up watching ’90s/00s paranormal shows, it’s the performances that make the film memorable. During her introduction, Mackay mentioned turning to Kevin Smith’s slacker comedies after losing two of her grandparents “in the same year,” and that influence is evident in the chemistry between the cast. Sriram and McLeod (who you might also recognize in a scene-stealing moment from Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma) are especially entertaining as Poppy and Finn, whose flirtatious back-and-forth/will-they-won’t-they adds a welcome dose of levity to a story otherwise preoccupied with grief.