Peter Cilella steps behind the camera for his feature directorial debut Descendent, an affecting look at hereditary illness and alien abductions. The Resolution and The Endless actor reteams with Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead, and David Lawson Jr. through their production company Rustic Films—a perfect fit considering the film’s existential heartache. It’s of the waning “Trauma Horror” movement, non-derogatory. Cilella’s screenplay finds an interesting parallel between extraterrestrial unknowns and mental unrest, finding a unique in-point for horror-themed discussions about traumatic topics. It takes familiar feelings to unfamiliar places—the same architecture, a shiny new coat of paint.
What Is 'Descendent' About?
Ross Marquand stars as Sean Bruner, husband to pregnant wife Andrea Bruner (Sarah Bolger), preparing to welcome a child into the world. Sean works as a school security guard, but he’s trying to transition into a better paying private role. He’s visibly stressed about financials and his family’s well-being, which he tries to manage when not darting out to complete odd jobs assigned by his boss. Late one night, Sean is called to another maintenance job—but something strange happens. He spots a blinding light in the sky, finds himself in a bizarre dream, and then wakes up in the hospital with a head contusion. From here on, Sean’s mood changes. Childhood demons surface, and he’ll stop at nothing to silence the unwanted noise.
There’s an instability in Cilella’s storytelling and direction that works in Descendent’s favor. An inevitable breakdown in sanity drags viewers into Sean’s world, which becomes less stable and more erratic. Viewpoints slide into out-of-body experiences, flash forward like short circuits, and other delusional aspects convey the dissonance in Sean’s life. Cilella wants you to experience Sean’s spiral into madness for yourself, not just witness his odd behaviors. It’s a participatory horror film that uses atmosphere and mood to stoke destabilization within the audience but, more importantly, does so without losing strong narrative hooks that keep us anchored in what’s happening.
Alexander Chinnici’s cinematography adds to Descendant’s unsettled visual style, as the camera modifies perspective depending on what’s happening. Sean’s encounter with the bright light and subsequent “bad dream” is a by-the-books alien abduction and probing scene, filmed with shakiness and close-ups as he tries to wriggle off the experimentation table. It’s juxtaposed against the steadier shots of Sean trying to feign normalcy like his head injury didn’t unlock “Accidental Savant Syndrome” powers that make him a world-class artist. Then you’ll get sequences where Sean is out of a blurry frame, and we hear characters talking about him from afar through radio static like he’s acquired heightened hearing. Cilella pays attention to visual storytelling concerning Sean’s stability—when to stay soft and subtle versus loud and chaotic.
Marquand’s performance has a lot to say about control as a construct. Sean is obsessed with controlling things he cannot--his baby’s health, and his mental unspooling. Marquand shows command over when to blow a gasket versus when to play normal-passing, bringing depth to the continued downfall of a frantic man. Bolger adds a compassionate intensity as a pregnant woman who sees her husband grow more distant by the day, hardly even seen by Sean at points despite her belly bump. Sean becomes obsessed with his drawings of mystery houses, alien entities, and everything else he sketches in hopes of the illustrations leading to ultimate truth (a therapy tactic)—but Andrea’s left behind. The way both actors navigate these terrifying emotions, whether together or alone, is charged with a toxic notion of control that does infinitely more harm than anything good.
'Descendent' Is an Interesting Take on "Trauma Horror"
Then there are the horrors of Descendent. It’s more Relic than Hereditary regarding scare levels in “Trauma Horror” terms. The inciting incident of pointy implements and stringy netting holding Sean in place stirs a fright, and from there, alien imagery becomes interspersed as Sean starts seeing his loved ones with bulgy, buggy eyes. He’s tormented by childhood memories that he will replicate as a father, keying into the cyclical terror of a generational curse. Cilella’s approach to horror speaks Rustic Films’ language, having hardly anything to do with jump scares, instead using disturbing imagery that lingers in plain sight. It’s a sneakier brand that delves into the obscure and might lack punch at times, but it’s all part of an overall mission to drag audiences kicking and screaming into Sean’s anything-but-stable mindset.
Descendent is paced with precision, but even so, it can drift off its axis. It’s the nature of any psychological submergence into cryptic supernatural thrills. Marquand’s performance keeps us grounded despite ideas flying off into space, but pandemonium can become overwhelming. As Sean grasps at straws, trying to doodle his way back to reality, so do we reach for plot threads that continue to fray. The film intends to chip away at what we deem normal, but it can do so a little too well. Momentum isn’t an issue; Cilella fearlessly takes risks that stray from conventional horror structures, and ebbs and flows come with that.
As “Trauma Horror” seems to be falling out of popularity—at least as coined by The Babadook and Hereditary standards—Descendent wrings creative juices from a shriveling fruit assumed to be bone-dry. Cilella’s debut is confident and composed, prying open wounds that are sustained through everyday existence. Plenty of genre explorations have been about the ghoulish voices that take over inside our heads, but Descendent is no copycat. Little gray men are the catalyst for conversations about locked-away traumas and the “sins” of our fathers. It’s a clever reinvention of commonly distraught themes, teaching an old dog new tricks with a dreadfully cosmic twist.
Descendent had its premiere at the 2025 SXSW Festival.
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Descendent
Descendent is a chilling blend of aliens, anxiety, and humanity’s false sense of control that provides a refreshing wade into “Trauma Horror” waters.
Mystery
Sci-Fi
7 10
- Release Date
- March 8, 2025
- Runtime
- 93 minutes
- Director
- Peter Cilella
- Writers
- Peter Cilella
Cast
-
Ross Marquand
Sean Bruner
-
Sarah Bolger
Andrea Bruner
Descendent follows a father-to-be who, after suffering a traumatic brain injury, experiences frightening visions of extraterrestrials and develops a talent for drawing. As his perceptions of reality blur, he becomes increasingly focused on safeguarding his family from an enigmatic threat.
Pros & Cons
- When it?s freaky, it?s freaky.
- Cilella finds the balance between delusion and meaning, letting things get weird, but not weird enough where we?re lost to nothingness.
- Ross Marquand and Sarah Bolger, no complaints.
- There can be sight disconnects at times scene to scene.
- It?s a ?vibe? experience over anything, which may lose some.
- Scares only push so far, and they?re largely frontloaded.
