There are ample reasons to be both excited and concerned about Annihilation. It’s the writer-director Alex Garland’s follow-up to his hugely acclaimed breakout Ex Machina and its $55m budget catapults him into a bigger, riskier league, the stakes immensely higher than before. For his studio-funded debut, he’s chosen to adapt Jeff VanderMeer’s award-winning novel, packed with visceral horror, weighty ideas and unusual storytelling. While its fanbase is passionate, it’s difficult, some say “unfilmable” territory and the result has caused problems for Paramount, which was reportedly spooked by test audiences finding it too “intellectual” and “complicated”. The film finished production almost two years ago and to avoid what was seen as a box office risk, the company ended up selling the rights internationally to Netflix, who will debut it just weeks after the US release.

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It’s a similar strategy to the one behind the surprise streaming launch of The Cloverfield Paradox, which saw global audiences all enjoy the same feeling of intense disappointment simultaneously earlier this month. But Garland’s insistence that the film remain true to his vision, avoiding studio tweaks, suggests that perhaps this might be a different case. Rather than offloading a turkey, might the studio recently wounded by the box office failure of Mother! be scared by another fascinating yet audience-unfriendly oddity?

Lena (Natalie Portman), a biologist, is in a daze. Her soldier husband (Oscar Isaac) is missing in action and without him, she is struggling to focus on what remains of her life. But when he suddenly returns, her brief hope that normality will ensue is shattered when his odd behavior turns into something far more destructive. He’s hospitalized and she’s whisked away by a psychologist (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who informs her that his mission took him inside “the shimmer”, a rapidly expanding area that’s taken the lives of everyone who has entered, bar him. She soon joins a new mission to find out what’s inside and discover whether she can save her husband’s life.

While it reportedly takes giant left turns from its source material, there’s still something admirably uncompromising about Annihilation. The well-trodden formula of a group of experts/soldiers/horny teens being picked off by a malevolent force is structurally present but it’s not presented in the same generic package we’ve grown tired with. Garland has far more on his mind than how to creatively dispatch a list of ciphers and his film is wonderfully unknowable, a crackling tension underpinning the unpredictable narrative. There’s an unnerving chill about the horror that lies ahead because we’re never really sure what form it will take.

It’s hugely refreshing, and remarkably uncommon, to watch a genre film that revolves around intelligent characters reacting intelligently to fantastical events. The team is made up of briskly efficient problem-solvers who remain practical and focused while dealing with otherworldly mayhem. Unlike with so many superficially similar films, as an audience we understand and empathize with the decision-making process, the script never sacrificing its smarts for suspense. It’s tightly constructed and devoid of unnecessary exposition yet the characters mostly feel like they are more than their various professions. This is also down to a strong set of performers and while it’s rare to see an all-female ensemble in a film of this ilk, Garland has little time for gender, imagining a future where such distinctions don’t warrant recognition.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tessa Thompson and Gina Rodriguez in Annihilation. Photograph: Peter Mountain/AP

Portman is a strong, fiercely compelling presence, investing us in both her mission and her interlinked marriage (flashbacks to her relationship with Isaac are surprisingly sweet, witty and sexy), providing an emotional center without the need for sentimentality. As the secretive psychologist of the group, Leigh proves perfectly cast, hypnotically hard to read, in a performance so well-measured and tantalizingly restrained that it’s criminal we don’t see her on screen more often. There’s also great work from their other crew members, played by Gina Rodriguez, so charming in Jane the Virgin and so striking here; Tessa Thompson, quietly affecting and deserving of her Bafta-nominated rising star status; and the Swedish actor Tuva Nuvotny, who makes a piercing impression in a small role.

Tonally there’s a lot here but it never feels overstuffed or incongruously meshed together. There are some gruesomely well-orchestrated scenes of body horror (one particular dissection is nightmarishly staged) and Garland’s knack for gonzo imagery ensures that many scenes in the film will make a lasting impression. He’s ably assisted by some atmospheric sound design and an insidiously effective score from Ben Salisbury and the Portishead instrumentalist/producer-turned-composer Geoff Barrow.

While the film’s narrative thrust is unwavering, it’s still depressingly easy to see why Paramount would worry for its box office chances. Annihilation, while reminiscent of other sci-fi and horror films, remains an unusual proposition for a studio. It’s scary at times but then also contemplative and opaque and the intriguing ending will prove divisive. Garland spoke of his disappointment that most international audiences (bar those in China) won’t get to see the film at the cinema, and given the ambitious scope, one can understand such frustration. But Annihilation is more than mere visuals and it will shock, fascinate and haunt audiences, whatever screen it’s watched on.