Read @ Joe’s

Title: Wellwood (2025) Director: Eliza Hooper Writer: Reid Collums Studio: Pro Machina // Motion Picture Exchange (MPX) IMDb Plot: Nick makes an extraterrestrial discovery that he decides will cure his wife of her terminal illness. Joe Says: A bittersweet meditation on love and loss that unfolds through the lens of sci-fi horror complete with gorgeous practical f/x. That said, Wellwood also felt like it needed warp drive to ignite the extraterrestrial horror.

Indie filmmaking can be wonderfully weird and unexpectedly poignant. Where else could a bittersweet meditation on love and loss unfold through the lens of sci-fi horror? Wellwood, written by Reid Collums and directed by Eliza Hooper, has your answer. The production is gorgeous, the practical f/x a delight, and the on-screen romance between the two leads could make a chemistry lab combust. That said, the star-struck love story simmers a little too slowly, it sometimes feels like it needs warp drive to ignite the extraterrestrial horror.

Collums and Camille Balsamo star as newlyweds Nick and Laura, retreating to a most excellent woodland Vrbo rental for what should be a blissful honeymoon. Instead, the couple face the crushing reality of Laura’s terminal brain cancer. Nick wants to give his wife more than memories — he wants a miracle. And one crashes out of the sky. A UFO crashes nearby, and inside isn’t your average Spielbergian stowaway. This little E.T. offers more than a glowing finger; its bioluminescent blood has regenerative powers that would make Wolverine envious.

Nick comes up with a plan: extract the alien blood to cure his wife.

Collums pulls double duty as both screenwriter and lead, and while his performance as Nick pouts perhaps too much, his portrayal of a desperate husband is sincere. As a writer, he gives both characters the emotional weight required to showcase the opposite ends of the decisions they are facing. The sci-fi romance adds to their moral dilemma that makes for a horror-tinged homage to the John Carpenter classic Starman. However, both his characters accept a little too easily and quickly that their path to happiness comes from the result of the pain of an alien creature. 

The film’s blend of VFX and practical effects, led by Alec Gillis, make the otherworldly appear real with tangible, skin-crawling realism. The creature design—enhanced by puppetry, makeup, and costuming—elevates the story beyond typical indie fare, sidestepping the low-budget camp that often haunts genre blends like this. Daniel Kenji Levin’s cinematography is absolutely stunning, bathing the forest in rich, moody lighting that captures the quiet awe of this story about pain and sympathy. Balsamo’s emotional range is a standout. She delivers a cool and collective performance that resists the easy route of melodrama.

The subplot involving local law enforcement feels a convenient—more true-crime podcast than essential plot point—but even that plays into the film’s thematic offering: everything has a cost, and someone always has to pay the price.

Wellwood is an evocative, metaphor-rich story about grief, longing, and the alien lengths we’ll go to for love. Wellwood doesn’t shy away from the slow, sometimes melancholy beats of its narrative, and while it may not zoom at warp speed, it delivers a contemplative what if that lingers long after the credits roll. Just don’t expect a Lucasfilm ending—this one’s got more heartache than hover bikes.