Monkeys see, monkeys chew.
The sheer, vast and hostile emptiness of space is enough to drive you insane, let alone how it's played up for its sheer terror in Ad Astra. Suspense isn't the only element of horror this film dips its hands into.As with all Moments pages, beware of unmarked spoilers!
- The initial destruction of the International Space Antenna is horrifying, seeing infrastructure break off and astronauts falling to their deaths, in addition to the screams of the terrified dying personnel on board. It's even worse from Roy's perspective, where he probably knew these people he heard screaming in horror as the antenna collapses.
- Roy himself barely manages to escape alive, having one major hole in his parachute, with debris around him threatening to perforate his lifeline even further.
- That scene with the baboons. Dear god, those baboons.
- To elaborate, Roy McBride and the Captain of the Cepheus are investigating a distress call from a Norwegian space vessel which has been seemingly abandoned. They decide to split up, all the while tension continues to build as they don’t know what has gone on on that ship. McBride eventually pushes back a metal plate to find the Captain wiggling unnaturally, with something unknown on him. Eventually, a horrifying-looking baboon peeks over the Captain’s shoulder and launches itself with surprising speed to tear him apart.
- The claw marks on some of the ship’s interior and our inability to see just what is eating the Captain’s face makes it unclear at first if the creature that got on the ship is even of Earthly origin.
- After a second Baboon charges McBride, him turning it into Ludicrous Gibs via Explosive Decompression offers no relief whatsoever.
- The Captain’s chewed on, mangled face isn’t exactly easy on the eyes, either...
- The fact that there are healthy-looking lab animals drifting about (a rat is briefly seen in one of the modules) while there's no sign of the human crew whatsoever implies that the baboons specifically targeted and devoured only the humans, which raises all sorts of horrifying questions about what the hell the Norwegians were doing on this station. It's eerily reminiscent of how the Zombie Apocalypse in 28 Days Later began.
- The last messages sent by Clifford McBride are obscured by a muddy, old cathode-ray effect that also distorts his voice. This, coupled with his Creepy Shadowed Undereyes, gives you a feeling that there's a much darker side to this man than it seems, and it makes you wonder about the horrible deeds he's done- and is still doing by the time the film starts.
- As Roy McBride travels through the Project Lima ship (with his father still alive on it), a lifeless corpse floats by (one of Clifford McBride's victims), truly enhancing the feeling that Roy is Alone with the Psycho.
- The first corpse has a spacesuit but no helmet, only a bloody bag over his head, suggesting he tried to prolong his life by covering his face, but was killed via Explosive Decompression before he could find a proper helmet.
- Both Clifford McBride and the baboons in the Norwegian station give the viewer one message: going into space will drive you batshit insane, as life was never built to go beyond Earth in the first place.
- There are no borders on the Moon, but rather than creating a spirit of international cooperation, this has only led to anarchy as nations try to pirate each other's resources and frighten off rivals with random attacks.
