Follow TV Tropes

Following

History Film / Sputnik

Go To

OR

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Trope was cut/disambiguated due to cleanup


* CoolGuns
** The guards are armed with AK-74 assault rifles with infra-red scopes.
** Colonel Semiradov uses a Stechkin machine pistol in the final act.
** Tatyana takes a TT-30 Tokarev pistol off the unconscious guard. [[spoiler:Konstantin later uses it to commit suicide.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


''Sputnik'' (Russian: "Спутник'") is a 2020 Russian science-fiction horror film directed by Egor Abramenko, set in the Soviet Union at the height of the ColdWar.

to:

''Sputnik'' (Russian: "Спутник'") is a 2020 Russian science-fiction horror film directed by Egor Abramenko, set in the Soviet Union at the height of the ColdWar.
UsefulNotes/ColdWar.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

* CowardiceCallout: Tatyana discovers that the alien monster is being fed with live prisoners. The doctor studying the alien protests that it's the military doing this and not him.
-->'''Rigel:''' What, do you think I'm a monster?
-->'''Tatyana:''' You're not a monster, you're a coward. A highly adaptive and hardy specimen.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* PintSizedPowerhouse: For something that's no bigger than a gibbon and just as lanky, the alien is ridculously strong for its size. It can rip a man's head off with its claws,just as easily as a child with a lego figure.

to:

* PintSizedPowerhouse: For something that's no bigger than a gibbon and just as lanky, the alien is ridculously strong for its size. It can rip a man's head off with its claws,just claws, just as easily as a child with a lego figure.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* Pint-SizedPowerhouse: For something that's no bigger than a gibbon and just as lanky, the alien is ridculously strong for its size. It can rip a man's head off with its claws,just as easily as a child with a lego figure.

to:

* Pint-SizedPowerhouse: PintSizedPowerhouse: For something that's no bigger than a gibbon and just as lanky, the alien is ridculously strong for its size. It can rip a man's head off with its claws,just as easily as a child with a lego figure.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* Pint-Sized Powerhouse: For something that's no bigger than a gibbon and just as lanky, the alien is ridculously strong for its size. It can rip a man's head off with its claws,just as easily as a child with a lego figure.

to:

* Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Pint-SizedPowerhouse: For something that's no bigger than a gibbon and just as lanky, the alien is ridculously strong for its size. It can rip a man's head off with its claws,just as easily as a child with a lego figure.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* Extra Eyes: The alien has eight beady eyes like a spider, in two groups of four.

to:

* Extra Eyes: ExtraEyes: The alien has eight beady eyes like a spider, in two groups of four.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

* Extra Eyes: The alien has eight beady eyes like a spider, in two groups of four.


Added DiffLines:

* Pint-Sized Powerhouse: For something that's no bigger than a gibbon and just as lanky, the alien is ridculously strong for its size. It can rip a man's head off with its claws,just as easily as a child with a lego figure.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* PlotHole: [[spoiler: Konstantin shots himself so the symbiotic alien will die along with him, this would be a DownerEnding, except the extraterrestrial creature was already shown to be able to [[HealingFactor repair its host]] from crippling injuries. A single bullet would be ineffective.]]

to:

* PlotHole: [[spoiler: Konstantin shots shoots himself so the symbiotic alien will die along with him, this would be a DownerEnding, except the extraterrestrial creature was already shown to be able to [[HealingFactor repair its host]] from crippling injuries. A single bullet would be ineffective.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

* PlotHole: [[spoiler: Konstantin shots himself so the symbiotic alien will die along with him, this would be a DownerEnding, except the extraterrestrial creature was already shown to be able to [[HealingFactor repair its host]] from crippling injuries. A single bullet would be ineffective.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Misused. Change the trope with the one that fits this example.


* EveryScarHasAStory: When she takes a shower, we see a scar running down the back of Tatyana's spine. [[spoiler:This serves as a ChekhovsGun when the crippled child in the hospital is revealed to be her.]]

to:

* EveryScarHasAStory: When she takes a shower, we see a scar running down the back of Tatyana's spine. [[spoiler:This serves as a ChekhovsGun {{Foreshadowing}} when the crippled child in the hospital is revealed to be her.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/71zlyc6lr3l_ri.jpg]]


Added DiffLines:

----
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* OminousWalk: A JustifiedTrope as the alien ''wants'' you to see it coming because the victim's fear makes the human brain release cortisol, which the alien feeds on. Once it's crawled close enough however, it makes a DeadlyLunge and rips your head off.

to:

* OminousWalk: [[OminousWalk Ominous Crawl]]: A JustifiedTrope as the alien ''wants'' you to see it coming because the victim's fear makes the human brain release cortisol, which the alien feeds on. Once it's crawled close enough however, it makes a DeadlyLunge and rips your head off.



* ParasiticHorror: The alien lives in the host's oesophagus and stomach, and secretes a toxin that knocks out the host and relaxes his muscles so the alien can [[OrificeEvacuation exit via the mouth]] to hunt and feed, which it does every night. Once outside the body and ingesting oxygen it grows from a snakelike form to a multi-limbed StarfishAlien 1.5 metres in length. It's speculated that the alien is using the host as a spacesuit until it becomes fully adapted to Earth's environment, whereupon it will [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness discard the host like a cocoon.]]

to:

* ParasiticHorror: The alien lives in the host's oesophagus esophagus and stomach, and secretes a toxin that knocks out the host and relaxes his muscles so the alien can [[OrificeEvacuation exit via the mouth]] to hunt and feed, which it does every night. Once outside the body and ingesting oxygen it grows from a snakelike form to a multi-limbed StarfishAlien 1.5 metres in length. It's speculated that the alien is using the host as a spacesuit until it becomes fully adapted to Earth's environment, whereupon it will [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness discard the host like a cocoon.]]

Added: 128

Changed: 69

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* UpCloseWithTheMonster: Tatyana does this ''twice'', both times voluntarily.

to:

* UpCloseWithTheMonster: Tatyana does this ''twice'', both times voluntarily.voluntarily (three times if you include the last time the alien enters its host).


Added DiffLines:

* WeaksauceWeakness: The alien is hurt by light, though appears to have no problem fighting in the open once it's fully adapted.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


In 1983 the space capsule Orbit-4 lands with one cosmonaut dead from horrific head injuries and the other, Konstantin Veshnyakov, unable to remember what happened. Psychiatrist Dr. Tatyana Klimova (Creator/OksanaAkinshina) is brought in to examine Konstantin, only to discover he is the unwilling host of an alien creature that has returned with him to Earth inside his body.

to:

In 1983 the space capsule Orbit-4 lands with one cosmonaut dead from horrific head injuries and the other, Konstantin Veshnyakov, unable to remember what happened. Psychiatrist [[TheShrink Dr. Tatyana Klimova Klimova]] (Creator/OksanaAkinshina) is brought in to examine Konstantin, only to discover he is the unwilling host of an alien creature that has returned with him to Earth inside his body.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* ParasiticHorror: The alien lives in the host's oesophagus and stomach, and secretes a toxin that knocks out the host and relaxes his muscles so the alien can [[OrificeInvasion exit via the mouth]] to hunt and feed, which it does every night. Once outside the body and ingesting oxygen it grows from a snakelike form to a multi-limbed StarfishAlien 1.5 metres in length. It's speculated that the alien is using the host as a spacesuit until it becomes fully adapted to Earth's environment, whereupon it will [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness discard the host like a cocoon.]]

to:

* ParasiticHorror: The alien lives in the host's oesophagus and stomach, and secretes a toxin that knocks out the host and relaxes his muscles so the alien can [[OrificeInvasion [[OrificeEvacuation exit via the mouth]] to hunt and feed, which it does every night. Once outside the body and ingesting oxygen it grows from a snakelike form to a multi-limbed StarfishAlien 1.5 metres in length. It's speculated that the alien is using the host as a spacesuit until it becomes fully adapted to Earth's environment, whereupon it will [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness discard the host like a cocoon.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

* GoThroughMe: Tatyana stands between the inmate who's being FedToTheBeast and the alien. It works until the inmate makes a loud noise that startles the alien into attacking him.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* HeroicSacrifice: Averted; Konstantin admits that he should kill himself, but he just wants to get out of his prison and see his mother and son again. [[spoiler:In the end he does kill himself, knowing TheSymbiote can't survive without him.]]

to:

* HeroicSacrifice: Averted; Konstantin admits that as a Hero of the Soviet Union he should kill himself, himself to stop the alien, but he just wants to get out of his prison and see his mother and son again.family. [[spoiler:In the end he does kill himself, knowing TheSymbiote can't survive without him.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


In 1983 the space capsule Orbit-4 lands with one cosmonaut dead from horrific head injuries and the other, Konstantin Veshnyakov, unable to remember what happened. Psychiatrist Dr. Tatyana Klimova is brought in to examine Konstantin, only to discover he is the unwilling host of an alien creature that has returned with him to Earth inside his body.

to:

In 1983 the space capsule Orbit-4 lands with one cosmonaut dead from horrific head injuries and the other, Konstantin Veshnyakov, unable to remember what happened. Psychiatrist Dr. Tatyana Klimova (Creator/OksanaAkinshina) is brought in to examine Konstantin, only to discover he is the unwilling host of an alien creature that has returned with him to Earth inside his body.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* ForScience: Or for a Nobel Prize, in Rigel's case.
* GuiltComplex: Konstantin has repressed guilt for abandoning an illegitimate child for the sake of his career.

to:

* ForScience: Or for a Nobel Prize, in Rigel's case. \n Given that the Communist system discourages rocking the boat, it's easy for him to turn a blind eye to what Semiradov is up to on the grounds that he can't do anything about it.
* GuiltComplex: Konstantin has repressed guilt for abandoning an his illegitimate child for the sake of his career.career. When Tatyana sees the alien curl itself around a child's toy, she realises that the alien and the host have a shared consciousness.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* BodyAndHost: At first the alien inhabiting Konstantin is believed to be parasitic and it's assumed it will abandon him (dead or otherwise) once it's fully adapted to Earth's environment. However their relationship turns out to be [[TheSymbiote symbiotic]] with each sharing the same consciousness and dependent on the other. [[spoiler:When Konstantin realises this, he decides to KillTheHostBody so the alien will die as well.]]

to:

* BodyAndHost: At first the The alien inhabiting Konstantin is believed to be parasitic and it's assumed it will abandon him (dead or otherwise) once it's fully adapted to Earth's environment. However their relationship turns out to be [[TheSymbiote symbiotic]] with each sharing the same consciousness and dependent on the other. [[spoiler:When Konstantin realises this, he decides to KillTheHostBody so the alien will die as well.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


----

to:

----
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* ArtisticLicenseMedical: Cortisol is produced by animals as well, so it's not clear why the early attempt to feed the alien with pigs didn't work. On the other hand Semiradov is hoping to use the alien as a weapon, so he may be deliberately conditioning it to attack humans.

to:

* ArtisticLicenseMedical: ArtisticLicenseBiology: Cortisol is produced by animals as well, so it's not clear why the early attempt to feed the alien with pigs didn't work. On the other hand Semiradov is hoping to use the alien as a weapon, so he may be deliberately conditioning it to attack humans.



* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: Inverted when Tatyana is shaming Rigel into helping her. -->"You're a scientist, not any old doctor."

to:

* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: Inverted when Tatyana is shaming Rigel into helping her. -->"You're "You're a scientist, not any old doctor."
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

''Sputnik'' (Russian: "Спутник'") is a 2020 Russian science-fiction horror film directed by Egor Abramenko, set in the Soviet Union at the height of the ColdWar.

In 1983 the space capsule Orbit-4 lands with one cosmonaut dead from horrific head injuries and the other, Konstantin Veshnyakov, unable to remember what happened. Psychiatrist Dr. Tatyana Klimova is brought in to examine Konstantin, only to discover he is the unwilling host of an alien creature that has returned with him to Earth inside his body.
----
!!The movie has the following tropes:

* ArtisticLicenseMedical: Cortisol is produced by animals as well, so it's not clear why the early attempt to feed the alien with pigs didn't work. On the other hand Semiradov is hoping to use the alien as a weapon, so he may be deliberately conditioning it to attack humans.
* BaitAndSwitch: [[spoiler:The crippled child in the orphanage appears to be Konstantin's son, but is actually a young Tatyana, who as an adult adopts Konstantin's son after his death.]]
* BirdsOfAFeather: At the start of the film Tatyana is facing a review board for her controversial treatment of a patient, and is [[KangarooCourt about to be kicked out of the medical profession]]. Semiradov recruits her because he thinks she's a kindred spirit, willing to do what is necessary despite the Communist system discouraging such initiative. They turn out to be NotSoSimilar.
* BodyAndHost: At first the alien inhabiting Konstantin is believed to be parasitic and it's assumed it will abandon him (dead or otherwise) once it's fully adapted to Earth's environment. However their relationship turns out to be [[TheSymbiote symbiotic]] with each sharing the same consciousness and dependent on the other. [[spoiler:When Konstantin realises this, he decides to KillTheHostBody so the alien will die as well.]]
* CameraSpoofing: To enter a restricted area of the facility, Konstantin removes a magnet from the television in his room and places it on the side of a CCTV camera. The guard leaves the monitoring room to investigate why the camera isn't working, and they're able to slip past while he's walking from one place to the other.
* CoolGuns
** The guards are armed with AK-74 assault rifles with infra-red scopes.
** Colonel Semiradov uses a Stechkin machine pistol in the final act.
** Tatyana takes a TT-30 Tokarev pistol off the unconscious guard. [[spoiler:Konstantin later uses it to commit suicide.]]
* CurbStompBattle: Semiradov wasn't wrong when he said the alien could be used as a weapon, as it absolutely slaughters his reaction team.
* CutPhoneLines:
** When Tatyana tries to place a call to Moscow, she's told the only phone with an outside line is in Semiradov's office. [[spoiler:Rigel later uses this phone to alert the authorities as to what's really going on.]]
** When Konstantin is finally let out of his cell to sleep in the medical wing, he finds his television is connected to a VCR player but has no TV antennae. He's able to [[MacGyvering MacGyver]] a makeshift antennae, and isn't happy to see a news report announcing that he and his fellow cosmonaut returned alive after a successful mission.
* DullSurprise: Konstantin barely reacts when Tatyana reveals the truth. At first it seems that's because BigBrotherIsWatchingYou, but it turns out he's known all along what's going on.
* EnemyEatsYourLunch: Tatyana gets a mug of tea and walks in to interview Konstantin. When she asks if he wants tea as well, he says yes and takes her mug for himself.
* EveryScarHasAStory: When she takes a shower, we see a scar running down the back of Tatyana's spine. [[spoiler:This serves as a ChekhovsGun when the crippled child in the hospital is revealed to be her.]]
* {{Fanservice}}: A ShowerScene where Tatyana shows some {{sideboob}}.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Colonel Semiradov prefers to use persuasion rather than intimidation, seems to have a genuine liking for Tatyana, and comes across as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who's risking a court martial to save Konstantin's life. Turns out he wants to use the alien as a weapon and is willing to commit murder to achieve his goal.
* ForScience: Or for a Nobel Prize, in Rigel's case.
* GuiltComplex: Konstantin has repressed guilt for abandoning an illegitimate child for the sake of his career.
* HealingFactor: The alien can repair injuries to both itself and its host, curing the severe injuries Konstantin received (presumably from ExplosiveDecompression) in just two days. [[spoiler:This bites Semiradov in the ass (well, the head actually) when he brings the wounded alien to Konstantin to force them back together and the alien recovers a lot faster than anticipated.]]
* HeroicSacrifice: Averted; Konstantin admits that he should kill himself, but he just wants to get out of his prison and see his mother and son again. [[spoiler:In the end he does kill himself, knowing TheSymbiote can't survive without him.]]
* HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier: Tatyana talks to Rigel in Latin so the guard will assume they're using medical jargon.
* HumanResources: Criminals are being fed to the alien to keep it supplied with the cortisol it needs to survive. When Tatyana objects, Semiradov shows him the file of an [[AssholeVictim inmate who raped and murdered his underage neighbour]].
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: While UpCloseWithTheMonster, Tatyana sings "Million Scarlet Roses", the song she heard Konstantin singing earlier, knowing his consciousness is linked to the alien.
* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: Inverted when Tatyana is shaming Rigel into helping her. -->"You're a scientist, not any old doctor."
* ImmuneToMindControl: When Tatyana first sees Konstantin, Rigel is using a metronome to hypnotise him to find out what happened, only to find Konstantin is just playing along to troll him.
* MentalFusion: Turns out Konstantin isn't suffering from amnesia; he shares the alien's consciousness so knows what's been going on the whole time. Semiradov hopes to make use of this to [[JustThinkOfThePotential turn the alien into a weapon]]. [[spoiler:This becomes BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor when Konstantin--having finally achieved full symbiosis with the alien--uses it to slaughter Semiradov and his men to stop him killing Tatyana.]]
* NothingIsScarier: In the opening scene, the two cosmonauts on the Orbit-4 have just recovered from some kind of impact when they see a glimpse of ''something'' outside their capsule, followed by the [[OminousKnocking sound of it crawling across the hull to the entry hatch.]]
* OminousWalk: A JustifiedTrope as the alien ''wants'' you to see it coming because the victim's fear makes the human brain release cortisol, which the alien feeds on. Once it's crawled close enough however, it makes a DeadlyLunge and rips your head off.
* OvertRendezvous: Tatyana takes Konstantin jogging by the perimeter fence to reveal the truth about what's happening to him.
* ParasiticHorror: The alien lives in the host's oesophagus and stomach, and secretes a toxin that knocks out the host and relaxes his muscles so the alien can [[OrificeInvasion exit via the mouth]] to hunt and feed, which it does every night. Once outside the body and ingesting oxygen it grows from a snakelike form to a multi-limbed StarfishAlien 1.5 metres in length. It's speculated that the alien is using the host as a spacesuit until it becomes fully adapted to Earth's environment, whereupon it will [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness discard the host like a cocoon.]]
* PuppeteerParasite: Subverted; the alien looks like this at first, and Tatyana's goal is to separate the two so the alien will die and Konstantin will live. She eventually realises this is impossible as the alien is actually TheSymbiote.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Rigel is eventually guilt-tripped into helping Konstantin escape, but rather than leave with them he stays to alert Moscow as to what's been happening, for which he's murdered by Semiradov. Konstantin in turn kills himself so he and the alien won't be used as a weapon to kill others.]]
* ScaryTeeth: The kind that can rip a man's skull open in an instant.
* SlimeSnailsAndMutantTails: Tatyana enters the cell in a HazmatSuit to make contact with the alien, only to startle it when she slips on the slime trail it leaves on exiting the host's body. She's lucky to get out of there with just a nasty bite.
* SlippingAMickey: Konstantin regurgitates one of the sleeping pills he's been forced to take, grinds it up and puts it in the tea of the nurse.
* SpacePeople: Given that the alien boarded the capsule outside the Earth's atmosphere, this is implied.
* SymbioticPossession: The alien was able to repair Konstantin's injuries. When Tatyana comes up with a way of forcing the alien out of his body and tries to drive Konstantin to a hospital, she realises it won't work as they've become fully symbiotic and will die if kept apart.
* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Tatyana notes the signs of PTSD in Konstantin and assumes it's linked to why he has no memory of what happened on the Orbit-4. Turns out he remembers just fine.
* TheyWouldCutYouUp: Averted; Semiradov is sending false reports to his superiors in Moscow because he's worried [[WeComeInPeaceShootToKill they'd order Konstantin and the alien killed if they knew about it]].
* UpCloseWithTheMonster: Tatyana does this ''twice'', both times voluntarily.
* VomitIndiscretionShot
** Tatyana drops her infra-red binoculars and retches after witnessing the alien kill. This draws a guard in her direction and she's shown HandGagging herself until he leaves, whereupon she finishes vomiting.
** No doubt with this in mind, Semiradov asks Tatyana is she's eaten recently before showing her the alien for the first time, [[OrificeInvasion especially as it's going to come out of Konstantin's mouth.]]
** Konstantin vomits BloodFromTheMouth after crashlanding his capsule on Earth, and later when the alien is shot, showing [[{{Synchronization}} he's achieved full symbiosis]].
* YourHeadAsplode: The alien's attacks are [[DeadlyLunge so sudden and violent]] it looks like the victim's head explodes.

Top