SPUTNIK (2020)
Label: Scream Factory/IFC Midnight
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 114 Minutes
Audio: Russian and English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Director: Egor Abramenko
Cast: Oksana Akinshina, Fedor Bondarchuk, Pyotr Fyodorov, Anton Vasilev, Aleksey Demidov, Anna Nazarova, Aleksandr Marushev, Albrecht Zander, Vitaliya Kornienko, Vasiliy Zotov
Set in 1983 the Russian-made sci-fi horror Sputnik (2020) opens with cosmonaut Konstantin (Pytor Fyodorov, The Duelist) and a fellow cosmonaut returning to Earth in a cramped space capsule. During re-entry the cosmonauts hear a strange sound coming from outside the capsule, as if something out there was trying to get in. The action then moves to Earth where the capsule has landed in a rural area of the Soviet Union. A farmer happens upon the capsule, finding Konstantin's partner dead while he appears gravely wounded. The cosmonaut then finds himself locked away in an observation cell at a military facility under the command of Col. Semirandov (Fedor Bondarchuk). He is confined tot he cell and put through a series of physical and medical tests, observed 24-hours a day via closed circuit TVs, where his miraculous recovery from his injuries and irregular behavior have not gone unnoticed.
Semirandov recruits Dr. Tatiana Klimova (Oksana Akinshina, The Bourne Supremacy) who has recently been reprimanded by the medical establishment for her unorthodox treatment of a patient, but whose life she ended up saving. Arriving at he facility Semirandov brings her up to date without revealing all the details of the case, and she sets about examining the cosmonaut, only to realize that something important is being kept from her. When pressed Semirandov invites her to return to he facility later that night where she witness a stunning sight, an alien creature emerging from a sleeping Konstantin through his mouth!
The alien creature lives in the stomach and esophagus of the host, emerging only at night when the cosmonaut is asleep, and it has a terrifying appetite. The film is laser focused on these three principle characters; the colonel, the cosmonaut and the doctor, which allows for a multi-faceted set of character dynamics. Tatyana continues to study the cosmonaut while developing a trust and a friendship. Likewise she develops a rapport and trust with the controlling Semirandom, each secretly working against the other towards their own goals. She is tasked with studying the creature and determining if the alien is a parasite or a symbiote, and to develop a way to separate it from the cosmonaut without killing him. It's quite clear that Semirandov seeks to create a Cold War weapon with the alien, while Tatyana struggles to condone the myriad of moral and ethical lines being crossed in her scientific pursuit of answers, while Konstantin himself struggles with deep-seated personal regrets and the notion of giving into the terrifying killer-instincts of the alien creature inside him. It all makes for some interesting drama while we enjoy a cool alien creature flick.
This is a smaller scale alien movie, it starts of with a sense of claustrophobic tension and atmosphere that never lets up, plus it is a bit more thoughtful and has more character development than your average alien creature feature tends to offer, taking a few tasty cues from Ridley Scott's Alien (1979), but eventually the flick delivers on and delivers well on the xenomorphic carnage we've been expecting all along. The alien creature design is pretty cool, it brought to mind an amalgam of the aliens from Alien Covenant (2017) and Independence Day (1997), the digitally created creature which is semi-translucent looking with a flatworm-type broadhead that initially slithers around like a gastropod complete with an icky slime trail. The creature looks quite good from start to finish, and as it starts to evolve and acclimate to it's surrounding we all sort of cool little new features, becoming more menacing with each new level-up.
Audio/Video: Sputnik (2020) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory and IFC Midnight framed in 2.39:1 widescreen in 1080p HD. This is a digital shot film so there's no film grain or celluloid based imperfections to deal with, a very clean and crisp looking image with good looking moments of fine detail in the close-ups. Colors are string and the black levels are solid, there are quite a few dark scenes in this one throughout and we get some nice shadow detail with it. Audio comes by wat of both the original Russian and an English dubbed DTS-HD MA 5.1 with optional English subtitles, as well as a descriptive audio track.
Unfortunately the only extras on the disc is a handful of IFC Midnight trailers: Tesla, Centigrade, Rent-A-Pal , and
Sputnik. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a reversible sleeve with the reverse side not featuring that annoying Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh stamp on it. The Blu-ray disc features the key artwork, as does the accompanying slipcover, which also has that damned Rotten Tomatoes stamp on it.
I accidentally deleted by screenshots for this one, but they can all be found in this video I made before I idiotically permanently deleted them from my laptop. While your watching it please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel, it would be much appreciated.
Special Features:
- Theatrical Trailers: Tesla (2 min), Centigrade (2 min), Rent-A-Pal (2 min), Sputnik (2 min)
Sputnik (2020) is a terrific slice of Russian made sci-fi horror that is well-directed by Egor Abramenko (The Passenger). It has a strong cast and thick layer of tension and atmosphere with top-notch creature design and special effects. This was one of my favorite films of 2020, highly recommended, and among the best that IFC Midnight have released so far, I would put it right up there with The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) and The Babadook (2014).
