By I’m always up for more sci-fi creature-features. Give me the schlocky, the cerebral, the campy; the good, the bad, the worst. More likely than not they’re aping Alien, and that’s enough for me. Russian sci-fi Sputnik looks like it might have the starch to rise above the rest, with a grim atmosphere and state secrets galore in the new trailer.
A Russian doctor (Oksana Akinshina) on the brink of career-failure is given a shot at redemption with a military contract, tasked with investigating the curious case of cosmonaut Konstantin (Pyotr Fyodorov), who’s returned from space with more than just a story to tell.
A parasite has (somehow) managed to attach itself to the space-farer, and naturally the military wants to make sure nothing… malicious comes of it. Given the trailer above, I’d say their worst fears come to pass.
Sputnik is being released “in theaters” and on VOD by IFC Films August 14th, and I’m here for it. The premise reminds me of classic Hellboy story ‘The Conqueror Worm‘, and generally the production, led by director Egor Abramenko, looks to be very good.
Time will tell whether Sputnik can bring gory glory to the sci-fi filmscape or relegate itself to the pile of Geiger-goofing misfits.