Director Arseniy Sukhin (Lockout) takes us deep underground in his sci-fi horror The Superdeep, inspired by a true story and location.
The Russian Kola Superdeep Borehole is the largest drilling project in the world, attempting to drill as far as possible into the Earth’s crust. After reaching depths of nearly seven miles below the surface, unexplained sounds resembling the screams and moans were reported and the borehole was shut down. This is where the fiction kicks in. When a small team of scientists and military personnel set out to unearth the source of a terrible illness, they end up discovering the greatest threat that humanity has ever faced.
Milena Radulovic (The Balkan Line) stars as Doctor Anya, the scientist who is part of the mission. After a terrible event in the past that forever scarred her, she takes the assignment hoping to redeem herself. Unfortunately, her character makes stupid decisions after stupid decisions throughout the entire movie. Let me ask you a question if you knew you were coming in contact with a deadly virus, would you examine the infected without protection, knowing just how lethal it is and how easy it is to transmit? No, I don’t think so. She does this time and time again. In fact, the entire cast of characters makes dumb decisions over and over and it makes them look ridiculous. I was left thinking “What the hell?” over and over to the point where I didn’t care if they lived or died, which is not a good thing. There are better ways of furthering a story than depending on characters making moronic choices. That ruined the movie for me, which makes me sad, it had so much potential.
As for the special effects, they were great. And if you’re a fan of body horror, you’ll love that aspect of the movie. There are a ton of scenes featuring grotesque sights as the bodies of the infected mutate into nightmare-inducing oddities. The underground facility where the movie takes place is fantastic. The special effects are not the problem here.
In the end, I have to say, the movie was a disappointment. Will I warn you not to watch it? No. If you can get past the characters’ stupidity it’s a decent watch. You can find Superdeep now streaming on Shudder.
