The Superdeep

Gorbachev era Soviet Union is the background for The Superdeep, a rescue and reconnaissance mission sci-fi/horror set in labs and tunnels 12km into the earth. Soviet experts may glean more from this setting than I did and its relevance to the plot though my relative ignorance didn’t hamper my understanding of the film.

Opening in black and white a man is injected with something and clearly goes wrong. It’s deemed a failure so the project is abandoned. Flash forward to New Year 1984 and Anya (Milena Radulovic) is assigned to investigate the Kola Superdeep Borehole and the complex of tunnels, chambers and labs it leads to (the borehole does exist albeit now sealed) to recover information that will be useful to the Soviet authorities. Getting there through an elaborate lift sequence the team find that some areas have been shut off and there are warnings from the remaining members of the team.

What then develops is a very familiar science v military scenario where each has vital matter that takes precedent over the other, lots of secrecy and thus a source of conflict. Anya has something of a murky past herself and is the only character that has any sense of development in a film that stretches to two hours, and the attention.

The slow pace isn’t helped by the clumsy dubbed dialogue in which the cast just blurt out cliches. If this is an accurate transcription then it’s unlikely that an original language version would help as for the most part the script is dull. As a spectacle however it has its moments with some very good creature effects and set-pieces.

Unfortunately debut writer and director Arseny Syuhin doesn’t seem to have full control of the project as it tends to lumber about without much of a structure. It becomes a little confusing as it progresses with time dragging badly and very little tension is created from a setting that ostensibly has much to offer.

This bleeds into the characterisation which, other than Anya, lacks depth (sic) therefore doesn’t stimulate a lot of interest or sympathy. This may well have been picked up by the actors as we end up with a combination of straight-faced, ultra-serious and over-hammed performances.

Influences are legion and seasoned (or not so) watchers and gamers will draw references to The Thing and Alien though The Superdeep appears to have a closer kin to various alien invasion, escape or mission games.

That’s not to say that it is bereft of original ideas it’s just they are buried by the requirement to fill an overlong running time. A more judicious preparation at early stages could have benefitted the final film.

The Superdeep is available now on Shudder.