History YMMV / Annihilation2018

** A seaside town with a lighthouse is slowly mutated by an Eldritch Abomination that takes over people, mutates them into creatures and has strange affects on their minds? Oh, and is filled with hazards and is inescapable once you go in? Sounds a lot like ''Manga / Uzumaki''.

** A seaside town with a lighthouse is slowly mutated by an Eldritch Abomination that takes over people, mutates them into creatures and has strange affects on their minds? Oh, and is filled with hazards and is inescapable once you go in? Sounds a lot like ''Manga/Uzumaki''.

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: Many of the visuals in the movie are seriously trippy, bordering on psychedelic. Combined with the ambiguous and even disorienting plot elements - not to mention the eerie soundtrack - it can certainly feel like a psychedelics-induced experience at times, ''especially'' in the third act.

* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Dr. Ventress is extremely blunt (often tactlessly so) in social situations, [[CreepyMonotone speaks in a monotone]] and has an odd, jerky vocal cadence, seldom makes eye contact, [[EmotionlessGirl rarely emotes]], and frequently responds in a manner that is either overly literal or misses the intentions of the other speaker, and several characters make note that she is completely friendless and has no real identity outside of her work.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** [[Franchise/StarWars Padme Amidala and Poe Dameron]] are husband and wife here, and the expedition is led by a doctor named [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars Ventress.]]
** We now have The Mighty Thor's two leading ladies, [[Film/{{Thor}} Jane]] [[Film/ThorTheDarkWorld Foster]] and [[Film/ThorRagnarok Valkyrie]], starring in a movie together. Even funnier when it was announced that Portman would reprise her role in a fourth movie, alongside Thompson.
** A plant-hybrid deer with flowers growing from its antlers? Hmmm, [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} where have we]] [[https://m.bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Sawsbuck_(Pokémon) seen that before?]]
** Having a SkullForAHead, the mutant bear has drawn some comparisons to the Demon Monkeys from ''VideoGame/TempleRun''.
** Plant-animal hybrids? Lush forests and flowers? And the natural world itself simultaneously acting as creator and destroyer? Think of the [[Anime/PrincessMononoke Great Forest Spirit]].

** The movie is probably the closest thing we'll get to another ''{{Film/Stalker}}'' film, though the similarities between the Zone and Area X bring to mind the more aggressive and wild version of the Zone [[spoiler:which may eventually cover the entire planet]] from the [[{{VideoGame/STALKER}} video games.]]

** To ''Literature/{{Solaris}}''. A hostile environment that copies whatever things and people coming into it meets a groups of adventurers with personal inner demons. The film and its source material can also be considered to be this or a SpiritualSuccessor to ''Film/{{Stalker}}'', which is also about a small team of people going into a bizarre EldritchLocation that was warped by an alien visit.

* OvershadowedByControversy: A minor example but the Netflix deal that has been made for the film after Skydance Executive David Ellison claimed the movie was "[[ViewersAreMorons too intellectual]]" has become a common talking point in regards to the film.

* SpiritualAdaptation: Ever wanted an adaptation of Creator/HPLovecraft's ''Literature/TheColourOutOfSpace''? Look no further. It even beat the [[Film/ColorOutOfSpace2020 official adaptation]] by two years.

** A sinister government organization seeking to quarantine a vast anomalous area with bizarre, physics-defying properties and submutations? Mentally assume that Lena and the rest of the team are a Mobile Task Force or D-Class personnel and replace every mention of "Southern Reach" in your mind with "The Foundation", and you pretty much have the best Wiki/SCPFoundation movie we're ever likely to get.

* UncannyValley: Kane looks fine when he returns in the beginning; it's his speech that's off. He speaks in a stilted, semi-poetic fashion and only answers questions in the most immediate way. When Lena asks him how he got back from his mission, his answer boils down to, "I walked through the door of your room." It's like he's learning how to talk to people. Considering [[spoiler:he might not be the real Kane]], this is most certainly deliberate. The Shimmer itself and anything descended from it are shining examples as well. The otherworldly dread is so deep, it makes the music this as well.

** A plant-hybrid deer with flowers growing from its antlers? Hmmm, [[Franchise/POKeMON where have we]] [[https://m.bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Sawsbuck_(Pokémon) seen that before?]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: ''[[BearsAreBadNews The bear]]'', of all things. Fans of the movie are split on whether [[spoiler: its roars being mixed with Shepherd's dying screams is a case of ItCanThink [[VoiceChangeling using her voice to lure in prey]], or if they're the unconscious, uncontrollable vocalizations of a [[FusionDance fused organism]] [[AndIMustScream screaming in agony]], possibly even as a result of Shepherd's mind ''[[FateWorseThanDeath still being alive inside it]]]]''. Or [[TakeAThirdOption some combination of the two.]] Generally, the opinion comes down to whichever the viewer [[RuleOfScary finds the most horrifying.]]

* AwardSnub: The film was completely overlooked at the 2019 Oscars, not even receiving nominations in the music, sound, or technical categories.

* SpiritualAdaptation: Ever wanted an adaptation of Creator/HPLovecraft's ''Literature/TheColourOutOfSpace''? Look no further.

** A sinister government organization seeking to quarantine a vast anomalous area with bizarre, physics-defying properties and submutations? Mentally assume that Lena and the rest of the team are D-Class personnel and replace every mention of "Southern Reach" in your mind with "The Foundation", and you pretty much have the best Wiki/SCPFoundation movie we're ever likely to get.

** Me watching the movie noticing the Star Wars connections: [[Film/StarWarsANewHope If this movie ends with them dropping explosives down a hole to destroy up everything, I'm gonna lose my mind.]] [[spoiler: It kind of did after Lena gives her doppelganger that phosphorus grenade and crawls down the lighthouse's hole]]

** The movie is the closest thing we'll get to another ''{{Film/Stalker}}'' film, though the similarities between the Zone and Area X bring to mind the more aggressive and wild version of the Zone from the [[{{VideoGame/STALKER}} video games.]]

** Yet another possibility is that [[spoiler:these ''are'' Lena and Kane, but they've had traits of their other squadmates refracted into them by the Shimmer - note that Lena comes home sporting Anya's tattoo, suggesting that the Shimmer isn't even limited to genetic traits in what it refracts. This possibility certainly raises [[{{Transhuman}} interesting implications]] for any children they might have, too]].