When done correctly, horror and science-fiction go hand-in-hand. Even if the sci-fi in question isn’t overspilling with blood or frights, the right story can still elicit chills. You only have to look to the early years of Black Mirror to see how easily the pair of genres marry up. One film screening at this year’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest that manages just this is A Million Days. The film presents a very chilling science-fiction story that could house truths to humanity’s future, and it doesn’t look good for us.
Set in the startlingly close year of 2041, A Million Days paints a bleak picture for mankind. Earth is in ecological collapse. The continued existence of humanity rests on becoming an interplanetary civilisation. The Seed programme has been created to settle new worlds in the Cosmos, from our moon to the Jovian moon Europa. Its mission has been made possible by a single entity – an Artificial Intelligence system known as Jay, which has been calculating the odds of success, survival, and resilience. Over the course of one night, an astronaut (Simon Merrells) must decide between pursuing his life’s work or sabotaging it for the greatest cause in the entire universe.
A Million Days director Mitch Jenkins is no stranger to FrightFest, having previously screened both Show Pieces and The Show at the festival. His latest film is very different to what has been screened before, but is still sure to entertain the sci-fi hungry in the audience. Ahead of the screening at FrightFest, THN spoke with Jenkins to find out what it was about A Million Days that hooked him, the importance of reinventing one’s directorial style, and just how long humanity has left on the clock…
A Million Days screens at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest on Friday 25th August 2023. Tickets are still available here.
