COSMIC DAWN (2022)

Studio:     Cranked Up Films
Director:    Jefferson Moneo
Writer:     Jefferson Moneo
Producer:  Joseph Raso, Mark Raso, Brian Robertson, Jefferson Moneo
Stars:     Camille Rowe, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Joshua Burge, Phil Granger, Antonia Zegers, Amy Matysio, Miho Suzuki, John Boylan, Vickie Papavs

Review Score:

---

Summary:

Four years after escaping an unusual UFO cult, a troubled woman returns in search of answers regarding her missing mother and the mysterious cult leader’s supposed resurrection.

---

Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

June 8th, 1997 – As a young girl camping in the woods during a blood moon eclipse, Aurora witnesses her stargazing mother Iris’s apparent abduction by an entrancing UFO.

As an adult, Aurora struggles with drug addiction and haunting visions stemming from her traumatic childhood experience. One vision of an alluring woman leads Aurora into a New Age bookstore where she meets Natalie. Recognizing Aurora’s interest in alien encounters, Natalie points Aurora to a book titled “Cosmic Dawn” written by a woman named Elyse. From the author’s photo, Aurora recognizes Elyse as the mesmeric figure who seemingly led her into the store. Aurora also sees that a symbol in the book matches a tattoo on her arm.

Natalie invites Aurora to return later to meet some friends, which Aurora does. The event turns out to be a Cosmic Dawn UFO cult meeting led by Elyse. Aurora learns that the cult’s members had similar abduction experiences during blood moons. Elyse tells Aurora she wasn’t invited to their meeting, but rather she was “chosen.” Aurora ends up invited to join the cult for a retreat at their commune the following weekend.

Elyse’s right-hand man Dieter drives Aurora to the remote location of Cosmic Dawn’s compound. Natalie shows Aurora around the property, which features strange stone sculptures and underground quarters built from an old tunnel system.

Natalie introduces her husband Tom. Aurora and Tom form a bond as Tom confides in Aurora that he doesn’t fully believe in UFO abductions or Elyse’s teachings, which include ingesting odd concoctions and organic foods prepared by Tom.

Elyse escorts Aurora to a cliff she identifies as the landing site the aliens will use when they return for the cult members. Elyse claims she was specifically sent by Aurora’s mother Iris to find Aurora. In exchange for revealing Iris’s message, Elyse asks Aurora to jump off the cliff as a test of faith. Aurora doesn’t jump, but Elyse still relays a childhood endearment Aurora and Iris shared that Elyse was unlikely to know.

Tom continues to sow distrust with Aurora about Elyse’s supposed psychic insight. Natalie experiences a worrying seizure that Elyse and Dieter claim is actually Natalie’s ability to spiritually communicate with the aliens.

Tom uses a hidden cellphone to call Natalie’s father Frank. Tom tells Frank about Aurora and advises him to contact Aurora’s aunt Caroline as they plot to escape the cult.

Natalie catches Tom on the phone with her father, leading to a contentious confrontation between the couple. When Aurora asks her about their rift, Natalie claims Tom is merely in denial because he was actually abducted alongside her. Elyse also tells Aurora that Tom knows the truth about the aliens, but he refuses to consciously admit it.

Elyse has Aurora eat a flower that gives her a hallucinogenic experience. In her vision, Aurora seemingly crawls inside Elyse’s robe to enter an interdimensional portal.

Mizuki, who patrols the perimeter as Cosmic Dawn’s armed guard, warns that Frank and Caroline arrived outside. The commune goes into lockdown while Elyse, Natalie, and Aurora engage with Frank and Caroline. Frank warns that Elyse is actually Rosalda Salazar, a former nurse from Guadalajara who met Natalie when they were confined to the same psych ward for mental illness. Elyse claims Frank is lying. Mizuki forces Frank and Caroline to leave by threatening them with her gun.

After returning to the compound, Natalie collapses and dies. Elyse claims Natalie merely “arrived” at her next state of being. Elyse warns that Tom’s betrayal will result in her death, but she tells her cult they should have faith she will return again one day.

With her belief in Elyse shaken, Aurora flees past Mizuki to meet up with Frank and Caroline. Tom joins them. Mizuki shoots Caroline in a subsequent gunfight, but Caroline survives.

Tom returns to the compound to find Natalie dead. Tom angrily confronts Elyse. Elyse touches Tom’s forehead, causing him to become entranced as he sees his wife alive in a vision.

Frank enters the compound. Distraught upon finding his daughter dead, Frank shoots Elyse several times.

Four years later, Dieter tracks down Aurora. Dieter tries to give Aurora an envelope and claims that Elyse came back. Aurora warns Dieter to stay away from her.

Aurora goes to see Tom to tell him about her encounter with Dieter and his claim that Elyse supposedly returned. Aurora sees that Tom has the envelope Dieter tried to give her, and curiosity compels her to pocket a thumb drive found inside.

Aurora takes the thumb drive to her crippled aunt Caroline’s house. Worried that the cult may have followed her niece, Caroline warns that she has seen Dieter driving around recently. Aurora becomes shocked when she sees that the thumb drive contains video of the cult surrounding Elyse, who appears alive with glowing green eyes. After reminding Aurora that the footage could be from before Elyse’s death, Caroline gives her niece a gun for protection.

Tom finds Aurora to tell her that Dieter planted the thumb drive because he knew she would take the bait. Tom warns that the cult is merely playing mind games, but Aurora insists they have to do something.

Aurora and Tom visit Natalie’s father Frank. While Aurora showers, Tom secretly removes the bullets from her handgun. Frank helps Aurora and Tom secure a small boat that they use to return to the Cosmic Dawn commune.

Aurora and Tom infiltrate the compound to confront Dieter. Dieter takes them to a tent on the cliff where the other cult members surround Elyse. Aurora tries to shoot Elyse, but Tom confesses he removed the bullets from her gun. Tom reveals he had been conspiring with the cult because it was the only way to get Aurora to return.

Elyse touches Aurora’s forehead with one finger. Aurora flashes back to an alien creature similarly touching her during her mother’s abduction. Elyse tells Aurora that she, not Natalie, was actually the “Zena” capable of communicating with the aliens. After everyone ingests more psychedelic drugs, Aurora leads a final cult ceremony that opens a mystical portal over the cliff. Everyone enters the portal one at a time. Aurora seemingly reunites with Iris on the other side.

---

Review:

“From the producer of ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘Get Out’.” “Starring Academy Award-winning actors Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey.” “Based on the bestselling novel by Stephen King.” We’ve all seen the same boilerplate marketing taglines repeatedly reused to generate interest in one horror movie or another. But “Cosmic Dawn’s” use of “Featuring music by MGMT” might be the first time a thriller ever touted an alt rock band’s soundtrack contributions as a primary “why to buy” in a PR campaign.

I’m only teasing because the truth is, I enjoy MGMT. That bizarre bullet point about the movie using their music is actually what pushed me off the fence to take a chance on an under-the-radar cult conspiracy film I otherwise would have ignored if something more attractive took my attention that afternoon instead.

Back in the summer of 1997, when “The X-Files” was still sowing imaginary seeds of irrational worry about men in black and intruders from outer space, Aurora had a close encounter of her own. While watching a blood moon eclipse during her mother-daughter camping trip, a UFO apparently washed the woodland area in entrancing lights before whisking away Aurora’s mesmerized mother to parts unknown.

Aurora never really recovered from the experience. Years later, she deals with the ongoing trauma of her mother’s disappearance by dulling her brain with drugs to keep haunting visions at bay.

One night, a vision of an alluring woman leads Aurora into a boutique bookstore where she meets Natalie. Recognizing Aurora’s interest in alien abductions, Natalie recommends a book titled ‘Cosmic Dawn.’ Aurora can hardly believe her eyes when she sees that the book’s author, Elyse, resembles the fleeting figure she followed from the street. Aurora has a second “wait, what?” moment when she notices that Cosmic Dawn’s symbol matches a tattoo on her arm. Natalie smiles, and invites Aurora to meet some like-minded friends. Aurora of course doesn’t realize it yet. But she’s about to join a group of fellow abductees led by none other than the enigmatic Elyse.

Fast-forward four years. Aurora is long done with Cosmic Dawn, but they’re far from done with her. Elyse’s right-hand man Dieter has finally found Aurora to deliver an unwelcome, and unexpected, message. Elyse has supposedly returned from the dead, and it’s time for Aurora to return to the fold so she can fulfill her prophesized purpose in Cosmic Dawn’s plan to transcend space and time by rejoining the alien beings.

At this point in the movie, “Cosmic Dawn” tries a trick by branching into alternating timelines so we simultaneously see what led to Aurora having to escape from the cult in the past, and what’s bringing her back in the present. It’s a smart narrative strategy since it helps build more of a mystery out of a straightforward story that wouldn’t simmer as much suspense if it were told linearly. We’re not in M. Night Shyamalan twist territory or on a “Pulp Fiction”-styled plotline that’s dependent on such a structure for a big reveal or anything. This merely helps the movie create an artificial, yet effective, momentum it otherwise wouldn’t have.

“Cosmic Dawn” hits a creative hitch here however when each timeline transition comes with a wipe that includes an Ed Wood “whoop-whoop-whoop” sound effect. It’s about as unsubtle as Wayne and Garth waving their hands while warbling “doo-loo-doo-loo-doo,” and just as goofy too. I snickered with a raised eyebrow every single time it happened, which is probably in the neighborhood of 15 times. One can’t help but think there had to be a better way to handle the back and forth without something that unintentionally “sillies” up what’s supposed to be a serious story.

It makes sense that MGMT’s involvement became a talking point, perhaps out of “how else are we supposed to sell this?” desperation. “Cosmic Dawn” can’t be considered commercial in traditional terms. I imagine publicists had a tough time pinning down how best to bill the film. There’s more drama than dread. More psychological suggestion than concrete chills. Since the movie isn’t manufactured to be true horror or strict sci-fi, watching Aurora’s experience with Cosmic Dawn develop is uneasy without being outright unsettling. It’s kind of akin to spending time with Heaven’s Gate before they considered killing themselves to board a spaceship cruising in the tail of the Hale-Bopp comet. The feeling is consistently uncomfortable, as all cults are before cyanide spikes the Flavor-Aid, yet it never feels fully sinister, nor does it ever intend to.

“Cosmic Dawn” doesn’t possess the multi-layered paranoia to compete with “Sound of My Voice” in terms of top-tier “who’s telling the truth?” cult intrigue. However, it still stays eerie enough to hold your attention for 95 minutes, even though there isn’t a whole lot of intense action to dazzle your eyes and ears. Rather, your mind will have to make do with a mildly moody little spooker that fills it to the rim with vaguely hallucinogenic vibes, colorfully strobing lights, and a deeply dreamy texture that’s as entrenched in an indie aesthetic as any movie can possibly get.

Review Score: 60

---