What lurks inside of The Gorge? A new sci-fi horror movie from Apple TV+ and Skydance doesn’t directly ask that question, but in teasing otherworldly horror, this new movie is also smartly holding back what exactly it is we’re supposed to be worried about. Directed by Scott Derrickson (who helmed the first Doctor Strange) The Gorge teases a minimalist sci-fi premise, which is taking a cue from early press materials for the original 1979 Alien. Back then, the winning strategy was simple: Don’t show anybody the creature. Will this trick work again?
Arriving in 2025, The Gorge tells the story of two snipers, Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Levi (Miles Teller) who each guard one side of a massive gorge, somewhere in the world. What they guard is a secret, but each is tasked with ensuring it never escapes. IGN recently dropped first-look photos from the movie, which were followed by images released by Apple.
The movie sounds wild — two snipers teaming up to fight a creature — but the presence of Sigourney Weaver in the cast also lends The Gorge some legit science fiction credibility. And the minimalist marketing of this movie also will remind longtime genre fans of another famous sci-fi thriller featuring Sigourney Weaver: Alien.
Though the titular Xenomorph alien in Alien is famous now, it wasn’t remotely part of the marketing campaign for the original film. Zero trailers showed the Xenomorph in Alien, magazine articles only provided hints of its nature and appearance, and even Alan Dean Foster’s novelization had to be written without any visual reference for what the creature was like. In short, Alien successfully hid its biggest spoiler and was better for that decision.
It’s too early to say if The Gorge will take a similar approach from now until its release in 2025. But so far, this poster only shows us the claws of a strange creature, and nothing else. The photos released only feature Taylor-Joy and Teller dressed all in black, ready to take out whatever Lovecraftian creature is lying in wait for them, and the rest of us. Unlike a lot of big sci-fi projects, Apple’s next sci-fi stand-alone movie is banking on star power and mystery. This strategy worked for Cloverfield in 2008. And it worked perfectly for Alien in 1979. The gulf between this tease and the moment The Gorge actually hits screens may be filled with a lot more information. But for now, the lack of understanding about this mysterious film is exactly what is making it seem interesting.
