The plot is lean and mean: Ismael (Martín Garabal), a veteran pilot with a world-weary edge, and his atypical, rookie co-pilot Daniela (Elena de Lara) are mid-flight when the sky decides to break. They aren’t just dealing with turbulence. They’ve stumbled into the front lines of an invasion by the Audryes, an interdimensional alien species looking to wipe out humanity. It’s up to our mismatched duo—trapped inside the cockpit—to keep the plane in the air and the universe from imploding.

Garabal brings a fantastic, grounded comedic timing to the role. He’s the anchor of this madness, delivering lines with the weary precision of a man who has seen it all and is now being asked to deal with things he wasn’t trained for in flight school. And as the trainee co-pilot, de Lara starts off shaky, perfectly capturing that thrown into the deep end energy. As the film progresses and the layers of her character peel back, she becomes the wild card that the movie desperately needs.

Despite being set almost entirely within the confines of a cockpit, the production team skipped the cheap, flat look of standard chroma key. Instead, they used LED technology to project interdimensional backgrounds in real time. This isn’t just window dressing; it bathes the actors in the actual, vibrant light of the horrors they are facing.

And for the true heads out there, pay attention to the alien evidence: the proof of the Audryes’ arrival is a mutant, man-eating peanut. It’s a hilarious, direct nod to the short film Gritos en el pasillo, directed by writer Juanjo Ramírez Mascaró, proving that this guy has a very specific, very welcome obsession with killer legumes.

La cosa en la niebla is a fast, punchy ride. While it’s a shame we don’t get more time with the secondary characters—especially the insufferable Borja—the central chemistry between Garabal and de Lara keeps the engine running. It’s a respectful, slightly absurd love letter to sixties sci-fi comics that treats the genre with both humor and heart. I love the neon.

You can watch this either in-person or virtually at the Chattanooga Film Festival. For more info, visit the official site.