The Hive is a 2014 horror film directed by David Yarovesky and starring Gabriel Basso, Kathryn Prescott, and Sean Gunn. It begins with camp counselor Adam awakening inside a boarded-up room with no memories, covered in sores and tumors, and occasionally vomiting a tar-like substance. Working from the clues that have been left in the room, he must work backwards to discover exactly what happened to him and his friends, and to the camp as a whole before whatever is infecting it spreads.
This film contains examples of the following tropes:
- Amnesiac Hero: Adam, and later Katie, become this when initially freed from possession.
- And I Must Scream: The Hive virus lapses into periodic remission, allowing its victims anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours as themselves before it seizes control of their minds and bodies again.
- And Starring: Sean Gunn as Dr. Baker.
- Antagonist Title
- Apocalypse How: Humanity is doomed to be overwhelmed by a telepathic hive mind that can anticipate its every move.
- Bad Black Barf: The Hive's most visible symptom and vector of transmission.
- Batter Up!: Adam defends himself with an aluminum baseball bat for most of the film.
- Big Damn Heroes: Katie's timely use of Car Fu to thwart a Hive attacker and rescue a friend.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: The Hive breaks Clarke's will by informing him that not only did his girlfriend cheat on him with his best friend, but that this trope was in play at the time.
- Bittersweet Ending: Adam and Katie are safe but their friends are dead and they are facing a temporary reprieve at best as the Hive rapidly spreads throughout the entire world.
- Body Horror: In addition to the Bad Black Barf mentioned above, Hive infectees become riddled with gruesome skin tumors, black veins, and visibly mutated eyeballs.
- Dying as Yourself: When infectees die the Hive can be seen leaving their bodies as its symptoms vanish. This actually enables Adam and Katie to save one another by killing and then resuscitating each other once the infection leaves their bodies.
- Face-Revealing Turn: Done by Dr. Baker at the climax of his story arc.
- Hate Plague: Hive infection is accelerated by strong emotions.
- How We Got Here: Adam unravels the film's events based upon the clues that he himself left for him.
- Hive Mind: Soviet scientists created one in liquid form and now it's out of control.
- Improbable Infant Survival: Subverted. None of the children technically die, but they all become absorbed by the Hive.
- Jerkass with a Heart of Gold: Adam, by his own admission, is a womanizing douchebag. But when the lives of the children and his friends are on the line he does the right thing.
- Magical Defibrillator: Cunningly invoked at the climax when Adam suffocates Katie, then does this to revive her once the virus leaves her system. He even observes an improvised procedure performed on a battlefield so he can learn how to do it with the materials at hand.
- Male Gaze: Even with godlike power to tap into anyone's mind Adam still can't resist looking through the eyes of an attractive woman while she takes a shower.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: After causing and narrowly escaping the initial outbreak of the Hive, Yuri makes it his mission to destroy it once and for all. Naturally, he gets the entire world infected in the process.
- Oh, Crap!: The Hive's reaction to being told it's not as smart as it thinks it is followed by Adam smothering Katie instead of beating her to death as predicted, enabling him to revive her free of the Hive's influence.
- Once More, with Clarity: The film's multiple plotlines converge through a series of flashbacks to explain how Adam found himself in the situation he woke up in.
- Our Zombies Are Different: They seem incapable of smooth, graceful movement, are riddled with tumors, and ooze copious amounts of black fluid but that is where the infectees' resemblance to conventional zombies end. Rather than mindless undead, they are in fact members of a highly intelligent telepathic hive consciousness.
- The Power of Love: It allows Adam to find the "pocket" and regain his memories.
- Rule-Abiding Rebel: Clarke constantly seethes against the rich children at the camp and the wealthy culture they represent. His plan to get revenge on them and topple the system? Chase them around with squirt guns.
- Russian Guy Suffers Most: Dr. Yuri went through hell dealing with the Hive the first time around. The second time sees him reduced to a severed hand by a plane crash as he accidentally infects the entire world.
- Sassy Black Woman: The camp infirmary is staffed by one and she's not impressed by Adam's shenanigans.
- Screw Yourself: When Adam interacts of the memory of his affair with Jess, he accidentally gets the shock of experiencing intercourse with himself from Jess's point of view.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Soviet experiment ends with the Hive contained in vials. It doesn't last.
- "Uh-Oh" Eyes: Infectees who have reached the stage of full possession sport huge, irregularly-shaped red irises that skew and stare off in opposing direction.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The camp director and nurse seem to vanish even before the outbreak occurs and they are not seen or mentioned again.
- Worf Had the Flu: Adam barely survives his fights with the Clarke, and Jess, and pilot zombies, but easily overpowers and suffocates the zombified Katie due to the latter being weakened from several days of starvation.
