A 'Breaking Bad' Star's Underrated 2025 Sci-Fi Horror Movie Is a Quiet Streaming Hit

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Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul in Breaking Bad with Giancarlo Esposito behind them.

In over three years at Collider, senior author Jake has now penned over 2500 articles covering a wide range of TV and film for the resources, lists, utilities, news, and interview teams. Alongside interviewing stars such as Selin Hizli, Rose Ayling-Ellis, and Chelsea Peretti, Jake was lucky enough to visit the set of Aardman and Netflix's Wallace and Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl in 2024, getting the chance to chat with four-time Academy Award winner Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. Jake has also worked for other publications, including Agents of Fandom.

From Guillermo Del Toro's long-awaited take on Frankenstein and the latest Knives Out installment, Wake Up Dead Man, to Zach Cregger’s horror gem Weapons and the Leonardo DiCaprio-led One Battle After Another, 2025 was stacked with memorable movies. With theaters consistently packed with box office hits, there are many titles that fell under the radar of general audiences, sadly finding financial disappointment. Case in point: the sci-fi horror film Ash, musician-turned-director Flying Lotus' follow-up to his 2017 debut, Kuso.

Thankfully, at the time of writing, Ash is finding the greater audience it deserves, as the film officially ranks among the top ten titles on Hulu in the U.S. In fact, on the movie charts, the film is currently in second place, losing out on the top spot only to the unmissable horror Together. Starring Eiza González and Breaking Bad icon Aaron Paul, Ash first debuted at SXSW 2025, before embarking on a fairly limited release in theaters across three weekends in March and April. Appearing in a maximum of 1,136 theaters, the movie made just over $1 million in domestic revenue. A synopsis of Ash reads:

"When a woman wakes up on a distant planet and finds the crew of her space station viciously killed, she must decide if she can trust the man sent to rescue her. But as their investigation into what happened sets in motion a terrifying chain of events, he begins to wonder how innocent she really is...."

Was 'Ash' a Hit With Critics?

With just 52%, Ash received a frustratingly middling reception from audiences, as per review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Thankfully, critics proved more positive, awarding a 71% score, with the consensus on the site reading, "Flying Lotus' Ash delivers the phantasmagorical goods with vivid visuals and a throbbing soundscape, elevating a predictable sci-fi story into a memorably stylish head-trip." Reviewing the movie for Collider was Nate Richard, who awarded the film a 6/10 score and specifically praised the movie's more violent moments. In conclusion, Richard wrote:

"Ash feels too familiar, which is disappointing coming from such an idiosyncratic filmmaker like Flying Lotus. This material feels like it's too derivative to be effective, but the video game-like atmosphere, bonkers direction, and reliable cast make it far more watchable."

Ash is currently one of the ten most-streamed titles on Hulu. Make sure to stay tuned to Collider for the latest streaming stories.