Annihilation Featurette Offers Clues to the Mysterious “Shimmer” Phenomenon

Unless you’ve read the Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer, the trailer for Alex Garland’s (Ex-Machina) new movie Annihilation probably left you scratching your head. Does the suspenseful action take place in the future, on a parallel world or in another dimension, and what exactly is “the Shimmer” anyway?

Well, we don’t get all of the answers in this new featurette promoting the movie — and we really don’t want them! — but we do get to hear from stars Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Tessa Thompson about the mysterious and terrifying phenomenon that is spreading and mutating everything in its path and see some of the strange creatures it creates.

Annihilation was adapted for the screen by Garland. Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novtny, Benedict Wong and Oscar Isaac also star.

The movie opens in theaters on February 23rd.