Some would say that horror is having a moment — Obsession and Backrooms are both doing quite well with general audiences (as of the time of this writing), other high-quality works (I Saw The TV Glow; And Her Body Was Never Found) were received well upon release in recent years, with some films of the genre winning awards last year (Sinners). Even with the ebb and flow of subjective quality, horror has almost always done well, with titles franchise-based and totally original releasing throughout the year for decades now. Whether its “elevated horror” (what a bullshit description) like Hereditary or cult classics like Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988), horror has come in all shapes and sizes, seeking to either brutalize you with your worst fears or just entertain you with a good ole atomic-age scare. Sometimes both. In the case of new sci-fi horror Our Effed Up World from director/co-writer Alice Maio Mackay (T Blockers; The Serpent’s Skin) and collaborator/co-writer Ben Pahl Robinson (T Blockers; The Serpent’s Skin), having its world premiere during Frameline Film Festival 2026, it’s a combustible mixture as trashy cult horror meets the personal when killer extraterrestrials run up against unprocessed grief.
Sara Thompson as Sheri in OUR EFFED UP WORLD. Photo courtesy of One Manner Productions.
Since the death of her grandmother, Sheri’s (Sara Thompson) been in a weird place in her life. She’s angrier, more nihilistic, and generally feeling lost as she struggles to process her grief. Philosophically speaking, the universe doesn’t wait until you’re ready for a challenge, it just places one before you. At least, that’s one way to interpret the sudden arrival of space invaders bent on total domination of Earth with Sheri, her father, and her friends on the first and only line of defense the world has — if she can bring herself to care enough to do something.
L-R: Annapurna Sriram as Poppy, Jess McLeod as Finn, and Sara Thompson as Sheri in OUR EFFED UP WORLD. Photo courtesy of One Manner Productions.
There are two converging concepts within Mackay and Robinson’s Our Effed Up World, those of the scientific and of the emotional. The first, the scientific concept, is established in the opening as we meet Sheri; her father, Hank (Scott Major); and grandmother, Grace (Kerry Armstrong), as the three watch a meteor shower from their backyard. Here, the core trio are established: Hank’s specialty in meteoric astronomy, Sheri’s disinterest, and Grace’s umbrella-like warmth. It’s a cozy scene wherein the fantastical and the informed connect so that the audience feels at-once comfortable with this family and aware that they have the knowledge for whatever atomic age threat comes for them as the magic of space can be met with reason. When the title cards are complete and we’re brought back to the characters, specifically Sheri as our central protagonist, there’s a different energy to the world, which, we learn fairly quickly, is due to the passing of Grace. This is where the second, the emotional concept, is introduced as Sheri isn’t taking it well and, as we’re not given a time frame as to when it happened, we don’t know if her seething disquiet is from a healthy period or if it’s festering due to larger resentments that come to bear later in the film at a consequential moment (as they are wont to do in a story). Where Major (The Serpent’s Skin) has the difficult job of making the scientific jargon related to meteoric astronomy interesting or ominous, depending on the narrative need of the moment, Thompson (Night Hunter) must find the balance in being rational amid the incredible while also regulating her emotions which remain easily triggered. Smartly, Mackay and Robinson surround Sheri with a small supporting cast — primarily Annapurna Sriam (Fucktoys; Cont;nue) as best friend Poppy and Jess McLeod (Normal; It’s a Wonderful Knife) as close friend Finn — so that the world feels populated before the sci-fi elements kick off and that Sheri isn’t a final girl without a support system.
As with quite a number of horror tales, the world in which Sheri inhabits plays a massive part in her ability to survive, brought to life via Dyl Kyriacou’s (The Serpant’s Skin) production design. Specifically, the movie store that Finn operates that serves as an important location is littered with great genre easter eggsthat communicate the tone and intention of Effed. Surrounding the characters as they talk are posters for the aforementioned Killer Klowns, as well as the 2026 Australian sci-fi adventure Lesbian Space Princess, BBC’s television series Doctor Who, and others. In a manner of speaking, what Mackay and Robinson have produced is a bit of an amalgamation of Klowns and Lesbian Space Princess (LSP) because of the way it requires the protagonist to overcome their own insecurities in order to combat invaders seeking to feast on humanity. This is, of course, where the similarity ends as Effed is neither full silly camp like Klowns nor satirical like LSP, opting for a more sincere approach that often undercuts itself. On the one hand, this affords Effed to make unique choices in how it handles the invaders, opting for seemingly unconventional choices that make sense within the modern context that the people in charge have proven to be incapable of handling emergencies well. This is comical at first, but it really helps sell the intimacy of Effed as a means for Sheri to confront the grief she’s been avoiding, especially when the film starts bringing in some of the potentially less widely known astronomy theories as they relate to intelligent life.
L-R: Sara Thompson as Sheri and Jess McLeod as Finn in OUR EFFED UP WORLD. Photo courtesy of One Manner Productions.
Where the film struggles most, however, is the executed structure of the story. At just over an hour, the film is economical in its approach, finding ways to keep things moving for the characters so as to develop the world, bring in the attackers, and make their threat realized. However, the film utilizes flashbacks that, at least twice, halt the forward momentum with their inclusion. One of them, specifically, works to establish one character’s related experience with this phenomenon, but, rather than it being introduced via the start of a conversation between characters (as an example), a way to keep it expositional without being obtrusive, one scene ends and this flashback begins with a small title card at the bottom indicating it’s a flashback. The inserted sequence helps raise the stakes in a way that the film struggles to do without it (the scene where the characters argue about taking action is ended by bedtime) because it demonstrates the severity of the threat in a way the film doesn’t show us. The invader is scary and unrelenting, but the characters don’t unify to treat it as such unless it’s right in front of them. Perhaps this is due to balancing Sheri’s own struggles with the wider conflict, but it becomes difficult to take the invasion as seriously as we do in other name-dropped titles in Effed.
Sara Thompson as Sheri in OUR EFFED UP WORLD. Photo courtesy of One Manner Productions.
The concept that, I think, courses through Our Effed Up World is the question of whether or not living is worth it. It’s easy to see the value in existence when things are going your way, when you’re cradled in the loving support of your grandmother and father, when you can see past the things you miss or lost along the way because safety remains. It’s another thing entirely to have hope, to want to stay, to want to fight for life when little seems to matter. Such is the nature of grief that even a possible world-ending threat postulated within certain corners of astronomy may be welcomed upon its reveal. It’s a fascinating question that makes for a moving place to ground a horror tale. If only all the pieces around it were as sound.
Screening during Frameline Film Festival 2026.
For more information, head to the official Frameline Film Festival Our Effed Up World webpage.
Final Score: 3 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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