Mantis Review: A Smart Sci-Fi Horror Concept With Uneven Cohesion

A detective confronts the dead through experimental tech in Mantis.

Review: Mantis Brings a Strong Sci-Fi Horror Concept That Struggles to Stay Cohesive

Independent sci-fi horror asks a lot from both filmmaker and audience. You’re not just building tension—you’re asking viewers to buy into rules, systems, and consequences. With Mantis, Adam Justice Hardy introduces a concept that’s immediately compelling, even as the film works to maintain internal consistency around it.

The story follows Rana Lawson, played by Ali Stolar, a detective navigating grief while being pulled into a case tied to a serial killer she’s been chasing. Her reintroduction to former partner Victor (Matthew Pettigrew) brings her into contact with experimental technology that allows communication with residual brain activity after death.

That premise carries weight.

The idea of interviewing the dead—of pulling information from what’s left behind—opens up a lot of narrative tension. Ethical questions, emotional fallout, and the instability of tampering with something that shouldn’t be touched all sit right under the surface. For a good portion of the film, that tension is handled with care.

Visually and structurally, Hardy shows discipline. The film is organized, controlled, and aware of its limitations. Scene composition, shot selection, and pacing all reflect a filmmaker who understands how to build a scene and keep momentum moving, especially within confined spaces.

The relationship between Rana and Victor is where the film feels most grounded. Their shared history gives the story a sense of lived-in reality, and their interactions provide some of the film’s most natural moments.

Where Mantis begins to feel less stable is in how its elements connect.

Rana’s emotional arc—grief, denial, and obsession—comes through clearly. But the professional layer, particularly the detective framework, doesn’t carry the same weight. It creates a disconnect where the emotional story feels more defined than the procedural one.

The larger challenge comes from the film’s central idea and how it evolves.

The rules around the technology, the nature of the threat, and the escalation of danger are all introduced with intention, but not always with enough reinforcement. As the film pushes deeper into its sci-fi horror territory, certain choices feel more implied than fully supported. The mechanics are there—but the reasoning behind them isn’t always as firm as it needs to be.

That’s where the film creates distance.

Not because the ideas aren’t strong—they are—but because the connections between those ideas don’t always feel fully articulated. You understand what’s happening, but not always why it’s happening this way.

And in sci-fi horror, that distinction matters.

Still, there’s a lot here that works. The concept is engaging, the pacing keeps you involved, and Hardy clearly has a strong grasp on how to structure a film. This feels like a filmmaker who knows what he wants to explore and has the technical foundation to do it.

It just needs sharper alignment between concept, character, and consequence.

For fans of contained, idea-driven sci-fi thrillers, Mantis offers enough intrigue to stay invested—even as it leaves some of its bigger questions less defined than they could be.

Score: 3/5 (concept and ambition) | 2.5/5 (overall cohesion)