The Superdeep

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The Superdeep
Movie poster
Russian	Кольская сверхглубокая
Directed by	Arseny Syuhin
Written by	Arseny Syuhin
Produced by	Alexander Kalushkin Andrey Shishkanov Sergey Torchilin
Starring	Milena Radulovic Maksim Radugin Nikita Dyuvbanov Vadim Demchog Kirill Kovbas
Music by	Dmitry Selipanov
Release date	4 November 2020 (2020-11-04)
Country	Russia
Languages	Russian English
Budget	₽150 million (US$2 million)

The Superdeep (Russian: Кольская сверхглубокая, romanized: Kol'skaya sverkhglubokaya, lit. 'Kola Superdeep') is a 2020 Russian horror film directed by Arseny Syuhin,^[1][2][3] based on the real-life Kola Superdeep Borehole.

The film focuses on a group of researchers and soldiers who investigate the mystery surrounding reports of a disease outbreak at a secret underground research facility in 1984 Russia.

Plot[]

Set in 1984, Anna Fedorova, a Russian epidemiologist, tries to resign after her research associate Dr. Zotoff volunteered to test a vaccine on himself without preliminary or animal testing which resulted in his death. Colonel Morozov of Military Intelligence who is overseeing the project, persuades her to continue human trials without preliminary or animal testing in an effort to quickly provide the vaccine for Russian forces in Africa.

Later, Anna is celebrating New Year's eve with the family and friends and is congratulated on her being able to quickly develop a vaccine. She receives a call from the colonel telling her that they will leave shortly for the Kola bore hole. Sounds of an unknown origin were recorded deep beneath the surface and shortly after 20 people went missing. The bore hole is not only as the public believes it, but also a deep underground research lab. The Head of Research of the facility Dr. Grigoriev has been denounced after reports of his hiding an unknown disease within the facility. Anna is tasked with retrieving samples and is promised to be the head of the Military Biological Defense Institute if she succeeds.

Anna, the Colonel and a squad of soldiers led by Major Sergei Makeev are flown by helicopter to the ice covered facility in Murmansk. Upon landing, their helicopter is approached by a man in a lab coat who refuses to obey instructions. He is shot several times but continues towards the helicopter. He detonates a hand grenade, killing himself and causing minor damage to the helicopter and its passengers. Anna inspects the body of the man and notices that the tissue has a faint red glow, and that the samples she collects from the corpse quickly decay.

Anna inspects the other employees of the facility who are being evacuated and while they show no symptoms, one of the men named Zimin tells Anna that they are being lied to. He states that it isn't a disease and that the lower levels of the facility are Hell. Anna, the Colonel, and the squad are met by the Deputy Head of Research of the facility Peter Kuznetsov and the man who reported Dr. Grigoriev′s secrecy surrounding the disease. Dr. Grigoriev wants guarantees that the remaining employees sealed in the lower levels of the facility during the evacuation be rescued and in return he will assist them since he changed all of the security pass codes before the squads arrival.

The group drives by truck underground to an elevator into the facility. The former director demonstrates that the pass codes have indeed been changed and he is the only one that knows them. An elevator key is also needed with the pass codes and if an incorrect password is entered 3 times then the elevator will plummet as a security precaution. He types the correct pass code and activates the elevator.

The group descends into the facility which is located roughly 5220 meters down. During the descent the elevators brakes don't respond and Dr. Grigoriev depressurizes the elevator and puts on an oxygen mask. The group passes out while Dr. Grigoriev escapes into the facility with the elevator key. The group comes to on the "Yalta" level which is the living quarters of the facility. A nearby map explains that there is an elevator from the surface to the Yalta and another elevator on the other side of the Yalta down to the research level called “Tashkent”. There are also switchback pathways in a shaft leading from each level up to the surface but they are sealed and the temperatures within are 200 degrees facilitating the need for protective suits in order to traverse them.

Upon searching the Yalta level, they find an engineer named Nikolay and a doctor named Kira in the cafeteria who were left behind during the initial evacuation. There is still no sign of Dr. Grigoriev. Anna performs tests on Kira and Nikolay in the med lab and they show no signs of infection. Anna encounters Dr. Grigoriev who begs her to evacuate the others up the shaft and that he can't give her the elevator key. Anna yells for the others and Dr. Grigoriev is wounded and flees using the elevator down into the Tashkent research level. The Major suggests that they use the shaft to descend into Tashkent in pursuit of Dr. Grigoriev. The group finds the access door to the shaft leading to the research level but Dr. Grigoriev had ordered it welded shut before the evacuation. The door is covered in scratches spelling out ominous warnings such as "help us", "deliver us from evil", and Latin translating to "insatiable hunger". A group of soldiers lead by Egorov put on temperature protective suits and are about to descend through the shaft to the Tashkent research level when the doors are opened from within the shaft. A lone lab assistant named Olga is found without any protective gear and is taken back to the med lab for observation and tests while Egorov and his team descend the shaft.

Olga show signs of fever but declares that she is very cold. Her back is covered with mold-like growths which weren't present 15 minutes prior which Anna takes a sample of. The sample is shown to grow rapidly and is discovered to be a highly virulent form of mold. Olga and the mold sample show the same faint red glow as the corpse of the man who blew himself up. Egorov radios back periodically saying that something doesn't seem right during their descent through the shaft. Dr. Grigoriev announces over the intercom that since they didn't evacuate to the surface through the shaft, that he has no choice but to seal them all within the facility. Dr. Grigoriev causes an explosion that damages the facilities pressure pump and will cause the facility to collapse within an hour. Upon returning to the med lab, Anna and the Major find the walls covered with mold with Olga half melted to the floor but still alive. Olga releases a cloud of spores and Anna is able to get to a gas mask but is soon attacked by Kira having been heavily infected and mutating in the same way as Olga. Anna discovers that the mold dies when exposed to cold and uses a fire extinguisher to leave the med lab and decontaminate herself while the Major is already showing signs of infection.

Peter theorizes that the mold might behave similar to Cordyceps, a fungus that forces ants to return to their colony which in turn releases spores and infects the entire colony. Anna discusses the situation with the Colonel and explains that the mold can't survive in cold conditions and that the permafrost surrounding the facility is what is keeping it from spreading. The only way the mold can live is within a warm bodied host but if the host dies in a cold environment then the mold dies as well. Anna attempts to urge the Colonel not to attempt to bring anyone infected or any samples out of the facility but he insists that with the waning power of the Soviet Union, a new biological weapon which will guarantee their power and global influence is needed.

As the group prepares to ascend through the shaft while wearing protective suits with the infected Major, they receive a radio broadcast from Egorov saying that they are under attack and not to open the door to the lower level shaft, even if it's them. The major insists that they go back for Egorov and the rest of his squad. Three soldiers go into the shaft leading to the lower level in search of Egorov and the rest of the squad. Gunfire is heard shortly after and only two of the soldiers return saying they encountered something big, their weapons had no effect, and it now knows where they are. The soldiers mention that the shaft is also destroyed. The third soldier returns missing an arm and slits his own throat before the door to the shaft closes. Something starts pounding on the shaft doors and breaks through. Nikolay suggests that they drop the elevator to the lower level to escape whatever broke in from the shaft which can only be heard as human screams and heavy footsteps. The soldiers, including the Major stay behind to fight whatever is chasing them while the rest descend in the elevator.

Anna, Nikolay, Peter, and the Colonel successfully make it to the lower level which is frozen and seemingly abandoned. They find a tape recorder that plays Dr. Grigoriev′s last words. He theorizes that the mold was stopped by the ice age millions of years ago and that it has the ability to not only control the muscular and nervous systems of the infected but to also meld the infected together. The group finds a wall of infected melted together, killed by the cold. Dr. Grigoriev states that before he dies he will leave the research level and see the organism one last time. The Colonel decides to go into the 200 degree environment to try and retrieve the elevator key that Dr. Grigoriev took with him. The protective suits have all been sabotaged by Dr. Grigoriev so the Colonel must go without protection. Before he leaves he says that Anna was right in that the mold must not be allowed to leave the facility and that she can do more good than he can. Since he is an officer, he is duty bound to report what took place in the facility. Anna, Peter, and Nikolay agree that even if they make it back, they must not tell anyone about the mold since someone will eventually try to research it and could endanger all life on earth. Dr. Grigoriev and the rest of the researchers on the lower level had tried to keep the mold a secret and when it was discovered, Dr. Grigoriev tried to seal the facility to keep the mold and any knowledge of it from escaping.

The Colonel does not return within a reasonable amount of time so Anna goes out into the 200 degree environment where the organism lives in order to retrieve the elevator key. She finds the Colonel dead with the key and the entire environment is a giant cave with the glowing mold covering the walls. Upon returning with the key, Peter forces the other two by gunpoint to give him the key so he can return to the surface and become famous for discovering the mold. The three of them return to the Yalta level and can hear periodic screams and moans. Peter is attacked by a large creature made up of screaming infected hosts that have all been melted into one organism. Anna hides in the cafeterias freezer, takes off her sweater and pants, and dumps ice water all over herself to get past the creature as well as take the elevator key from Peter who has been absorbed. Now only in her tank top and underwear, Anna finds Nikolay and together they barely escape the creature by getting on the elevator to the surface. They use the elevator key to begin their ascent but discover the Major melted into the floor just out of sight. The Major begs that he not be allowed to the surface since it would cause the death of all life on the planet. Nikolay insists on escaping the facility no matter the cost and violently fights Anna over the elevators controls. The Major saves Anna by stabbing Nikolay through the neck, killing him. The major states that he can feel Anna and to crush the elevator. Anna, clearly infected and now showing the red glow of the mold, attempts to enter the elevators code incorrectly 3 times to cause the elevator to plummet but the mold will not let her as it attempts to control her. Anna is able to enter 2 incorrect sequences before the elevator stops and she is dragged off by a hazmat team but not before being able to enter the third incorrect sequence. Anna is rescued while the elevator plummets. While being taken to the surface, Anna steals a grenade from one of the hazmat soldiers and forces them to let her go. Now outside in the cold and surrounded by soldiers, Anna pulls the pin on the grenade in order to kill the mold within her and keep its existence a secret.

Cast[]

Other members of Mikheev's unit include Ilya Ilinykh as an unnamed Sergeant, Vladimir Kolida as a radio operator, and Evgeniy Tscherkashin as a sniper.

References[]

External links[]

• The Superdeep at IMDb