Nearly a decade after occupation by an extraterrestrial force, the lives of a Chicago neighborhood on both sides of the conflict are explored. In a working-class Chicago neighborhood occupied by an alien force for nine years, increased surveillance and the restriction of civil rights have given rise to an authoritarian system -- and dissent among the populace.
Direction
Wyatt treats aliens like background noise — the humans are the horror.
Production
Dystopian Chicago feels lived-in, not glossy — rust and resentment everywhere.
Acting
Goodman walks a razor's edge between sympathetic and sinister.
Director
Rupert Wyatt
John Goodman
William Mulligan
Ashton Sanders
Gabriel Drummond
Jonathan Majors
Rafe Drummond
Vera Farmiga
Jane Doe
Kevin Dunn
Police Chief Igoe
Kevin J. O'Connor
Kermode
Alan Ruck
Rittenhouse
Ben Daniels
Daniel
James Ransone
Ellison
D. B. Sweeney
Levitt
mgk
Jurgis
Madeline Brewer
Rula
Caitlin Ewald
Anita
Lawrence Grimm
Evan Hayes
Guy Van Swearingen
Eddie the Priest
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The alien 'Legislators' were physically played by contortionists in prosthetics, not CGI — Wyatt wanted uncomfortable, non-human movement.
This bombed in 2019 because audiences expected an action blockbuster; it's actually a slow-burn surveillance thriller wearing sci-fi drag. The marketing lied.
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