- Director: D.J. Webster
- Writers: Carey W. Hayes, Chad Hayes
- Stars: Robert Sampson, Will Bledsoe, Joe Turkel
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 27 Minutes
- Link:
Synopsis
In the far-flung future of 2022, the exposition on the screen says that the maintenance ship SPACECORE 1 is on a refab mission to repair a nuclear armed satellite far above the Earth. A mission considered dangerous. Very dangerous.
On the bridge, we are quickly introduced to Captain Flynn Harding and co-pilot Giles Stewart who are having trouble finding the satellite and having even more technical problems with their controls shorting out. They call Paxton, the science officer, to get a control override through Leslie, the onboard AI that has a robot interface in the form of a beautiful woman. Leslie says there is no problem detected, and Paxton heads to the bridge as lights short out and sparks fly.
The chief engineer, Jennings, pops in and says everything is failing, including their backup power, and they’ve got less than 24 hours. In comes Alex McInny, operations officer, who gets filled in. And Doctor Steiner happens to be walking by, and he also gets filled in on the situation. They are trouble, and they can’t even get solar power, and they are drifting toward Centrus B40- the Dark Side of the Moon!
After a few minutes getting to know the characters, Harding puts folks to work trying to figure out what’s wrong. The ship is getting cold, air is running out, and things still aren’t working for unexplained reasons- Paxton says everything checks out and should be functional. The time to impact the moon is in 15 or so hours.
Time for a hot tea break, served up by Alex. Paxton has a moment with her, clearly infatuated, as she yanks her hand away. Doc gets served cream in his tea and spits it out quick, he’s deadly allergic, he explains. Alex spots something out the window heading their way. It’s…. A space shuttle.
There is no response as the derelict-looking ship approaches and pulls up alongside and docks with them. Harding and Giles suit up to go over to the shuttle with big guns, just in case. Alex stays on the horn with the pair and there are hints of her being a little sweet on Giles. The shuttle door has a lock code that they’re able to look up in their database, and they head inside.
The inside is warm and wet, with lots of water damage. And it’s strangely huge, though I don’t think we’re supposed to notice that. There’s something on the floor that seems to be a dead fish. The shuttle has air, so they decide to send over a long tube that extends out of the shuttle, and slurps into the receiving hole in SPACECORE1. “It’s in!” Alex exclaims, and the mournful looks from Paxton and Jennings are great.
The duo explore room to room (again it’s massive inside this space shuttle) and find things more or less intact with family photos from the crew and core samples from the moon. Alex and Paxton pick up some odd readings. Anything nearby? No, we’re in the middle of the cargo bay. Then they look up to see a body falling from above.
Cut to sickbay where Doc is lamenting that he signed up for a relaxing trip. The body of the astronaut in a flight suit has a triangle-shaped wound on his chest that the doctor can’t immediately explain. Then the lights come back on.
Giles goes to talk to Leslie, and it’s clear Paxton is a bit protective of her but doesn’t protest. He reluctantly gives Giles access and leaves. Giles asks about the shuttle, the mission, the dead astronaut Michale Gotier. Turns out, the shuttle was lost in 1992 and splashed down in the Bermuda Triangle. So, how is it in space? Two of the three astronauts were recovered, dead. Gotier was not. Doc comes in and tells Giles that Gotier checks out normal, except for being dead and having a perfectly triangular hole in him. Giles continues to quiz Leslie. There’s a triangle on the moon where the shuttle was, and that lines up with the Bermuda Triangle and SPACECORE1 is in the corridor.
Meanwhile, Gotier sits up and gruesomely goes after Alex, while speaking in a demon-sounding voice, saying he has many names and has come to take what is his. “Alas, the day of reckoning is upon you all,” he says, then quotes Revelations to the camera and Giles is watching, “count the number of my name.” The doors and comms work again, and Giles calls everyone to sickbay, and they think he’s nuts, saying Gotier is alive. He goes in. Gotier is still laying there like he was. Alex seems to be comatose.
The ship is mostly working again, but they are still drifting toward the moon. Giles goes back for another round with the robot Leslie interface who goes into the Bermuda Triangle history. Doc calls Giles to come quick, Alex is spazzing out and seizing in bed, then goes back to normal. The weirdness just gets weirder.
Desperate, Harding decides he’s going to the shuttle again to get relay circuits that might get their ship engines online again. So, he goes alone. What could go wrong? Bad things happen as Flynn falls into a room flooded with saltwater and seaweed and something else.
Jennings pops in to say he tapped into the satellite they were looking for and have control of it remotely. They can use it to call for help, though that will take three days for a rescue.
Giles heads over to wander the maze-like corridors of the shuttle, with Doc tagging along. Paranoia begins to set in. They find Flynn strung up from a hook.
Meanwhile, one of the guys pays a visit to Alex, in shadow. Paxton or Jennings? Both were creeping on her. Fortunately, she’s awake and tells them to come closer.
Flynn has a triangular wound on his chest too, and seems quite dead. Back to Alex, who is luring the shadowy figure closer with her seductions, and it ends very poorly for him as she kicks in with the demon’s voice.
Just to Paxton, it was poor Jennings. Wait, Alex is dead with a triangle wound now and Jennings appears to be okay. It’s a thing that is being passed from person to person. We still don’t know if it was Paxton or Jennings. Guns are pulled, and accusations fly among the four remaining men. Who is the host of the demon thing now?
One final visit to Leslie from Giles for more information. There have been 665 ships lost. SPACECORE1 is number 666. Some numerology happens, and Leslie quotes the 666 Mark of the Beast thing from Revelations.
Tensions rise as the survivors fall one by one into the clutches of their demonic passenger.
Commentary
This is one of Kevin’s favorite movies for some reason that he still can’t quite put his finger on. It’s not really a great movie. And yet…
The acting is solid, the script is decent, the special effects aren’t that elaborate but are effective and still hold up pretty well 30 years later. We get to know about the characters enough to care about them. The AI Leslie being in a robot body is pretty cool – though realistically unnecessary and a waste of space on the ship. The devil-demon, when he gives us a peek, is very effective. There are some real creepy moments, some tension and suspense, an interesting mix of horror and science fiction.
Brian’s addendum: I think the filmmakers liked Alien a lot, and they obviously borrowed as much as they could from it. The atmosphere of the ship, the small crew that we take time to know, the chest-bursting, the computer who has its own room and personality, the flashing strobe warnings, the airlock, and lots of other similarities persist. Still, there’s no “Alien” here— instead, it’s the devil himself! The Bermuda Triangle aspect is pretty dumb, but it does give a more-or-less logical reason for all of this. It really is pretty good, especially if you liked Alien as much as I do.