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We don’t get enough material set in the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The era is so fraught with mystery and intrigue, it benefits more than just spy thrillers. This weekend’s new release Sputnik, for example, manages to use the period for a science fiction / horror outing. The already potential laden field of space horror mixes with a creature feature to form something pretty unique and often a lot of fun. Things fall apart a bit at the end, but this is a great little under the radar title. You’d do well to give it a look, especially if you’re keen on genre offerings. The movie is sci-fi horror picture, set in the former Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. Cosmonauts Konstantin Veshnyakov (Pyotr Fyodorov) and Kirill Averchenko (Aleksey Demidov) are returning home from space when something interacts with their capsule. Veshnyakov...

A quick question: How much do you like Alien? Let’s rephrase this slightly: Do you dig Ridley Scott’s masterpiece so much that you’d be perfectly fine watching something that owes a massive debt to it, just to kill time between your 999th and 1000th viewing of the original 1979 groundbreaker? The differences would be subtle — say, an alien slithering out of a host’s throat rather than bursting through his chest, and instead of resembling a walking, hissing penis-head with retractable chrome jaws, it would look more like...

“Sputnik” is a word that means, most prominently, two things: various Soviet spacecraft which began with the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, and the origin of the word from Russian meaning “companion” or “fellow traveler.” This is a title that’s perfectly fitting to director Egor Abramenko’s first feature, the sci-fi horror film Sputnik, about two cosmonauts sent into orbit at the height of the Cold War, who return to Earth with a third passenger.

Set during a time of uncertainty and in a state on the brink of collapse, the film opens with the end of a space mission in 1983. Commander Konstantin (Pyotr Fyodorov) and co-pilot Kirill (Aleksey Demidov) are executing their descent when they’re hit with unexpected turbulence and power failure. Looking through the small, circular windows of their pod, they realize they’re not alone in the darkness. The film then cuts to...