Sputnik

Monsters arriving from space is certainly not a new story, but Russian sci-fi thriller Sputnik places a chilling new twist on the genre.

Set in 1983 during the Cold War Sputnik opens with two cosmonauts preparing to return from space before their journey inexplicably derails as they are joined by a mysterious stowaway. Following their recently only on cosmonaut survives, but he is now a different man than the one who first arrived in space.

As Sputnik progresses we begin to learn how and why cosmonaut Konstantin (Pyotr Fyodorov) is acting strangely. It is at this point that psychologist Tatyana Klimova (Oksana Akinshina) arrives at a mysterious military facility to aid Konstantin.

With its symbiotic/parasitic notion of an alien monster this film feels very much like Venom would have had Marvel taken a much darker tone with their film.

Sputnik is clearly inspired by the genre defining Alien by Ridley Scott. However, rather than placing the alien as the central monster of the film Sputnik instead places human cruelty and immorality as the true evil.

★★★