Спутник (aka Sputnik) (2020)

Set in 1983, a young female doctor (Oksana Akinshina) is recruited by the military to assess a cosmonaut (Pyotr Fyodorov) who has recently returned from space but not alone. Apparently, he returned with a dangerous organism inside him. Directed by Egor Abramenko, this is one of the best sci-fi horror films I've seen in years! There have been attempts to compare the film to ALIEN (1979) but other than the creature living inside of a human, there's very little to connect the two. This intelligent piece of science fiction/horror stands on its own. While it definitely falls into the horror category, the film makers are obviously not interested in "Boo!" moments. There was only one scene where I "jumped". Like the best horror movies, the film has underlying themes like the moral choices one is forced to make and the immorality of a soulless military. The film benefits from the performances of Akinshina and Fyodorov whose characters' strong bond give the movie a backbone. The creature design is a marvel of CGI and Oleg Karpachev's score is sensational. An absolute must for fans of sci-fi horror. With Fyodor Bondarchuk and Anton Vasiliev.